Apple Event Highlights….But No Camera For The Touch???

At 10:00 am today (US time) Apple held their much anticipated “Rock Out” Event. There has been much speculation as to what will be announced, the main being whether the 3rd Generation iPod Touch will be equipped with a camera.

To start it off a welcome figure took the stage, albeit looking rather thin and waif-like, in the form of Steve Jobs played in with “It’s Only Rock’N'Roll” by the Rolling Stones.

He started off saying that he now has the liver of a healthy 20′s person who tragically died in a car crash but was kind enough to donate their organs.

He then went on to give the usual statistics concerning the App Store and downloads, but added that 30,000 ringtones will be available in iTunes, from all 4 major labels, priced at $1.29 each with free preview.

Firmware OS 3.1 Update

iPhone/iPod Touch firmware 3.1 update is available today in iTunes. Remember, don’t update yet if you wish to keep your Jailbreak and Unlock, the Dev-Team will release their tools soon enough.

The update is free for all iPhone and iPod Touch models.

iTunes9 – Major Update

As previously documented, Apple has released a major update in the form of iTunes 9. Some features are;

• Genius – now smarter than ever, includes mixes
• Improved syncing – now sync genres, artists and new genius playlists
• Arrange Springboard – At last!!! You can now rearrange your springboard icons in iTunes using drag-and-drop method and sync to your iDevice. This will help those who love the iNav style themes, yet think that it is just way too time consuming to set up
• iTunes LP – Buying an iTunes LP will get you video, liner notes, credits, lyrics etc. all the things you would normally get when buying a normal LP.
  
• iTunes Extra – Just like LP, when purchasing a DVD, you will also receive special feature type extras, right there in iTunes
• Home sharing – share iTunes library amongst home network computers. Any purchases made in one library automatically adds a copy to the other.

New iPods

At this point Steve handed over to Phil “The Thrill” Schiller to talk about the iPods. More statistics – Apple holds 73% market share in digital media players to Microsofts 1% (lol).

Says how great the iPods are, wifi, iTunes built-in, Safari, e-mail etc. “Not everyone’s computer fits in their pocket” he says as the image to the right pops up (oops – Dell…).

He then gives more statistics, games this time.

iPod Pricing

The $299 and $399 versions will be 50% faster, and run OpenGL ES 2.0 – like the iPhone 3G[S].

iPod Classic getting revamped. Now 160GB, same size, same $249 price.

iPod Shuffle new range of products coming out “with an integrated controller for shuffle, as well as an adapter so you can plug in any headphones” and some new colors (silver, pink, green, blue, black). Pricing will be $59 for 2GB and $79 for 4GB.

“One More Thing…”

Oh those 3 little words that we all hang for near the end of any Apple event.

The iPod Nano is getting an integrated video camera AND speaker.

It will sync videos to your computer, into iPhoto on Mac, videos folder on PC. One-click sending to YouTube.

8GB for $149, 6GB for $179, all available today.

The Event ended there….wait, no camera for the iPod Touch??? The announcement we were all waiting for didn’t come…

The case developers had better go back to the drawing board and plug a few “holes”.

We will keep you updated with any further developments regarding today’s event.

Remember, DO NOT UPDATE TO 3.1 OR ITUNES 9 until the Dev-Team confirm it is safe to do so or releases the necessary tools for the Jailbreak and Unlock.
Image and Source info thanks to ModMyi, Engadget, Gizmodo, Ars Technica and Wired