Steve Jobs’ Macworld 2008 Keynote

We’re down at BBC Television Studios in London to cover Steve Jobs’ Macworld 2008 Keynote Address via a live satellite broadcast.

The event starts at 9:00AM PST (5:00PM GMT) and we’ll be live-blogging the major announcements as they happen – check back for regular updates once the keynote is underway.

In the meantime, feel free to speculate in the forums.

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16:39 GMT: OK, we're sat down waiting for the thing to start... the last few people are still making their way to their seats.

16:46 GMT: The lights have dimmed and the music stopped. Pascal Cagini, General Manager and Vice President of Apple Europe, is on stage introducing the keynote.

16:48 GMT: He's wrapping up what Apple has announced in the last four months. iPod touch, Leopard, etc

16:49 GMT: Two million copies of Leopard shipped in the first two days. Also talking about the iPhone launch across Europe in November.

16:53 GMT: Pascal is now talking about Apple's retail strategy through EMEA. Filling time... seven minutes to go.

16:54 GMT: Apple plans to expand to 516 stores across EMEA during 2008.

16:58 GMT: Theme for the keynote is "There's something in the air" - that'll be something related to what is going to be announced. Screen has now switched live to the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Now we're just waiting for Stevie....

17:05 GMT: Still no sign of Steve... People are still walking into the conference room - looks like they're running a little late. The camera is doing a good job of showing off everyone with their iPhones while we all wait here in anticipation.

17:13 GMT: Alright, lights have dimmed... looks like it's going to start any second.

17:14 GMT: Steve's up - w00t!

17:15 GMT: He's recapping what Pascal has just gone over!

17:15 GMT: Steve says "Thank you for an extraordinary 2007."

17:16 GMT: He's got four things to talk about today... first is Leopard.

17:16 GMT: Leopard has shipped more than five million copies in the first 90 days - the most successful OS release Apple has ever had.

17:16 GMT: Microsoft is now shipping Office Mac 2008 - this is the last big app to go native on Intel Macs

17:17 GMT: He's now talking about Time Machine in Tiger

17:18 GMT: Steve has announced the Time Capsule - Airport Extreme (802.11n) and a Hard Drive. Allows you to back up your notebook wirelessly.

17:19 GMT: You can back up all Macs in your house to this device. Two models - 500GB and 1TB at $299 and $499 respectively. Will ship in February.

17:20 GMT: Showing an ad for Time Machine now.

17:21 GMT: "That's Time Capsule - a perfect companion to Leopard."

17:21 GMT: Now the iPhone...

17:21 GMT: Apple has sold four million iPhones since its launch... exactly 200 days ago.

17:22 GMT: Smartphone marketshare after just 90 days - Blackberry - 39%, 19.5% iPhone, 9.8% Palm

17:23 GMT: Reckons December quarter will be even better.

17:23 GMT: New features for the iPhone today

17:24 GMT: Maps with location, Webclips, Customise the home screen (upto 9 and you can flip between), SMS multiple people at once, Chapters, subtitles, languages and lyrics.

17:25 GMT: Maps has a new UI - showing off the locate function. Looks pretty swish.

17:26 GMT: Can also drop pins anywhere on the map.

17:27 GMT: Now showing off the multi-person SMS functionality.

17:28 GMT: Now showing off how to send SMSs to more than one person and then track the conversation between those people.

17:29 GMT: Safari has also changed - showing off Webclips now. There's a plus button at the bottom that allows you to select Add Bookmark, Add to Front Screen. Just touching the icon on the home screen allows you to return right back to the website you've just saved to the Front Screen.

17:30 GMT: You can drag icons around on the home screen. Can create upto nine of these home screens and can flip between them like you'd flick through photos.

17:31 GMT: Now explaining how Maps with location works - it's done with the help of Google and Skyhook. The two have been driving around and mapping out using WiFi access points and Mobile Phone Antennae.

17:33 GMT: You can now navigate through videos with chapters if the information is available. Can also change languages and lyrics (and so on). Available today as a free software update for every iPhone user.

17:34 GMT: "The iPhone isn't standing still."

17:34 GMT: Now is the iPod touch.

17:34 GMT: Five new apps - Mail, Stocks, Notes and Weather. Maps with WiFi location, <missed the last bit...>

17:35 GMT: $20 update for current iPod touch owners. Free for everyone that buys a new iPod touch.

17:35 GMT: Number three is iTunes... sold the four billionth song last week.

17:36 GMT: Sold 20 million songs on Christmas day - new record.

17:36 GMT: 120 million TV shows and 7 million movies

17:37 GMT: Not satisfied with the movie sales figures... so Apple is introducing iTunes movie rentals

17:37 GMT: 11 movie studios supporting it - every major studio.

17:38 GMT: All of the top films from last year, as well as lots of what Steve refers to as "library movies".

17:39 GMT: Going to launch with over 1,000 films in February - will have them 30 days after the DVD release

17:40 GMT: Watch anywhere - Macs, PCs, all current iPods/iPhone... Watch instantly, less than 30 seconds with a modern broadband connection

17:41 GMT: Once you've purchased it, you have 30 days to start watching... 24 hours to finish once you've started watching. Can also transfer to other devices halfway through.

17:41 GMT: Transfer movies via iTunes

17:41 GMT: Library release $2.99, New release $3.99

17:41 GMT: Launches today in the US, Internationally "later this year."

17:42 GMT: Big flatscreen TV on the screen now.... "what about this?"

17:43 GMT: Everyone has missed when it comes to getting TV onto HDTVs via the Internet. Announcing AppleTV take two. No computer required.

17:44 GMT: Can rent movies on Apple TV, HD movies with Dolby 5.1, Podcasts (both Audio and Video), Photos from Flickr and .Mac

17:45 GMT: Now talking about YouTube on Apple TV. You can also buy TV and movies on the new Apple TV. HD movies are $3.99 and $4.99 respectively. Over 100 titles in HD - going to build really fast.

17:46 GMT: Entirely new user interface for Apple TV. Now showing demo on screen.

17:48 GMT: Before you rent, you get a preview/trailer for free.

17:49 GMT; Interface is swish as you'd expect.. simply select "Rent" and then confirm and it starts to download - after about 20 seconds, it indicated that it was ready to play. Can skip through chapters too... Not sure if you can skip back though...

17:50 GMT: Now playing some HD footage...

17:51 GMT: Showing off the Apple TV search functionality now - looks really well polished.

17:54 GMT: He's now demonstrating Podcasting on Apple TV. Some crazy dude Skiing down a mountain and then parachuting off... pretty crazy.

17:55 GMT: Now demonstrating photos functionality. He's streaming a slideshow live from .Mac servers.

17:56 GMT: There's also movies on .Mac... so he's going to show off Apple TV streaming video from .Mac - again, Stevie says it's all live.

17:57 GMT: With Apple TV, there's no computer involved... they can do this all from their sofa on their HDTV.

17:57 GMT: Now showing Flickr functionality...

17:57 GMT: Browsing to some photos and then.... the demo isn't working... Black screen... Brilliant. I guess that's live!

17:59 GMT: To recap 1,000 movies for rental (100 in HD) 600 TV shows, 6 million songs, over 125,000 podcasts, photos from .Mac and Flickr (when it works, heh), 50 million YouTube videos too...

18:00 GMT: Apple TV 2.0 is a free software update - free for every Apple TV owner.

18:00 GMT: Wants to make Apple TV even more accessible... dropped from $299 to $229 in two weeks. Software update will hit at the same time.

18:01 GMT: He's recapping Apple TV and iTunes movie rentals.

18:02 GMT: 20th Century Fox was the first to sign up to iTunes movie rentals...

18:03 GMT: Jim Gianopulos, CEO of Fox is on stage...

18:04 GMT: He's talking about the basic features of iTunes movie rentals...

18:04 GMT: "Homer's on board" - he's referring to The Simpsons Movie.

18:04 GMT: Jim says when Steve came to him with this idea, it was a no brainer...

18:05 GMT: Thinks this will be a transformative version of the movie rental model

18:06 GMT: Jim's now talking about DVD... he said "after that it will be Blu-ray"

18:06 GMT: He's holding Family Guy: Blue Harvest which contains a digital copy that you can instantly move to iTunes and your iPod/iPhone/etc... "and it's free!"

18:07 GMT: He thinks this is an exciting move for the entertainment industry... maybe we're finally going to get back on track?

18:07 GMT: iTunes movie rentals was the third thing he wanted to talk about... Number 4: "There's something in the air..."

18:08 GMT: Introducing a third Macbook - the Macbook Air....

18:08 GMT: "World's thinnest notebook"

18:09 GMT: Talking about the Sony TZ... which is about 3lbs and 0.8-1.2 inches with a 11-12 inch display... compromise on keyboard too (miniature)... Compromise on performance too...

18:09 GMT: Too many compromises... 3lb is a good weight though...

18:10 GMT: 0.76" to 0.16" tick - holy moly!!

18:11 GMT: Fits inside a jiffy bag... LOL... he's holding up a jiffy bag with one inside...

18:11 GMT: THIS THING IS INSANE!!

18:12 GMT: LED backlit 13.3" display with iSight camera and full sized keyboard.

18:13 GMT: Also backlit

18:13 GMT: Multitouch gestures in the trackpad... you can turn on multiple gestures in the options screen.

18:13 GMT: Battery change, brb

18:17 GMT: 80GB hard drive, Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz (option for 1.8GHz)... using a smaller packaging than a standard Core 2 Duo. It's 60 percent smaller than the standard Core 2 Duo packaging.

18:34 GMT: Apologies for the delay... one dead/damaged battery to throw out.

Anyway, to sum up what Steve finished with, he said that the Macbook Air would cost $1799 with 2GB of RAM as standard. It will ship in two weeks. Pre orders are being taken from the webstore already. The notebook doesn't have an optical drive, but it can share another Mac's DVD drive wirelessly. He saved battery life until last - he says that you'll get five hours of battery from the Macbook Air with WiFi enabled.

18:41 GMT: Steve says he's looking forward to a very innovative 2008 - he's now left the stage.

That's all folks... I'm sorry I missed the last few minutes! The Air looks absolutely amazing though - I'm off to see if I can find one to take some pictures!