Apple September 12th iPhone Event: Live Blog

Posted September 12, 2012 at 5:00pm by iClarified · 99684 views

ArsTechnica 14:42PM:
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Now whenever we have a music event, we like to remind ourselves and our customers of why we do what we do

and there's no better way to do that than to have one of our favorite musical artists perform

we are truly honored to have an incredible band join us

Foo Fighters

Verge 14:40PM:
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"So let's recap what we introduced today."

New iPods, new iTunes. The iPhone 5. "Powered by iOS 6." "Now with 200 new features."

"Now when you look at each of these, they are incredible industry leading innovation by themselves. But what sets them apart and what places us way ahead of the competition is how well they work together."

"Only Apple could do this. Apple has never been stronger. And that's because of our employees."

"They are doing the best work of their lives."

MacWorld 14:39PM:
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There are Product RED models as well, of the shuffle, nano, and touch. To date Apple has contributed over $50 million to fighting AIDS in Africa, via Product RED devices.

Engadget 14:39PM:
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Okay, pricing. 2GB Shuffle is $49 still.
iPod nano is 16GB for $149.
4th gen iPod touch stays around, 16GB for $199 or 32GB for $249.
5th gen iPod touch 32GB is $299 or 64GB for $399.

New nano and touch are available in October.

ArsTechnica 14:38PM:
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we're going to start shipping theses as a standalone accessory, starting today. but you might've guessed we're including them with other products too.

including EarPods with the new 5th gen iPod touch, the new 7th-gen iPod nano, and with the new iPhone 5

14:35PM:
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Video about Earpods is showing...

Verge 14:33PM:
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"Apple is one of the biggest providers of speakers in the world. We put them in just about everything we sell."

"Doing a great headphone is hard. Ears are challenging. Everyone's are different, but you have to make one size."

"We spent 3 years designing new headphones. EarPods."

MacWorld 14:32PM:
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HD video is better as well. 1080p HD video recording, image stabilization, and face detection.

Improved front camera to a FaceTime HD camera, 720p HD video, backside illumination, face detection, etc.

Improved wireless capabilities as well. Upgrade Bluetooth to 4.0 with low energy. 802.111 a/b/g/n and dual band N, with up to 150Mbps performance.

AirPlay Mirroring for the first time on the iPod touch.

Naturally, it's running iOS 6, too. And it's got Siri, too. And for the first time, it comes in colors. Silver black, blue, yellow, and red. Each comes with its own color-coordinated loop.

Engadget 14:30PM:
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Mystery button on the back of the iPod. It's called the iPod touch loop. You can attach a little wrist strap to the back if you like, "for the added security when you're taking pictures or just walking around town."

ArsTechnica 14:27PM:
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So with all this performance, we didn't sacrifice battery life. up to 40 hours of music playback for iPod touch. we've increased video playback to 8 hours. the A5 chip takes performance to the next level for iPod touch.

for the first time, it has an iSight camera. 5 megapixel camera with backside illumination. hybrid ID filter, five-element lens, f/2.4 aperture.

Gdgt 14:23PM:
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A6, as you'd expect, with up to 7x the performance of previous touches. Makes sense, because the touch has kind of lagged behind the curve a bit.

Verge 14:22PM:
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"Only 6.1mm thin."
"It's almost as thin as the nano, but it's a touch!"
"The lightest iPod touch we've ever created."
"We made it out of high quality anodized aluminum."
"But I know you noticed the display. It's the same display as the iPhone 5." So larger display here too.

MacWorld 14:20PM:
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Next up, iPod touch. Most popular iPod Apple makes, and the world's most popular music player-and world's most popular game player. With access to over 175,000 game and entertainment apps. Game Center connects you to over 150 million players.

All new, fifth generation iPod touch is here. Only 6.1mm thin. Thinnest iPod touch ever, but almost as thin as iPod nano. It's just 88 grams. Lightest iPod touch ever.

Engadget 14:19PM:
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Plus you can look at photos and video, too. There's fitness and a pedometer built in, so no accessories needed for Nike+. Bluetooth now! So, wireless audio streaming is enabled.

ArsTechnica 14:18PM:
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new home screen, and there's a home button (doesn't look like iOS though). Seven different colors. white, black, purple, green, blue, yellow, red

the wallpaper on the screen matches the color of the nano. integrated an FM tuner that has live pause.

Gdgt 14:17PM:
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"When we looked to create a new iPod nano, we wanted to reinvent it." Big display!

"The new 7th-generation iPod nano."

"It's incredibly portable and incredibly light. Almost 50% thinner than the nano it replaces."

"It's the biggest display we've ever put in a nano at 2.5-inches. And it's multi-touch."

Verge 14:16PM:
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"The iPod is the most popular music player of all time. We've sold 350m of them."

"But we don't do this just for the numbers. We love music."

"And we have the most loved family of music players there is. But we're gonna make some changes."

"Let's start with the nano. We've had 6 generations of it. But we wanted to reinvent the nano - we thought, what elements do we want to add?"

MacWorld 14:12PM:
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Improved search as well; iTunes will search across entire library.

Improved the new mini-player too. There's an icon in the top right corner. Miniplayer is totally resdesigned; rollover for the controls.

There's built-in search in the mini-player, as well as Up Next, so you can queue up songs.

iCloud's built right in, so all purchases are right in your library. Switch to movies and you can see everything on your computer as well as what's on iCloud.

Verge 14:09PM:
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All available with iOS 6 on September 19th.

Gdgt 14:07PM:
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"In addition to announcing the iPhone 5 we have something near and dear to our hears to talk to you about today. It's about music."

"Music is in our DNA."

"We get really excited that make enjoying music even better, or even simpler. Today we're announcing some exciting changes with both IPod and iTunes."

ArsTechnica 14:05PM:
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Same prices at the 4S. $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB, along with 2-year carrier contract.

Verge 14:01PM:
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Same price for the iPhone 4S. $199 $299, $399.

iPhone 3GS is gone. New lineup is iPhone 4, 4S, 5.

September 14th is when preorders start.

Ships September 21st.

13:53PM:
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Showing the iPhone 5 introduction video...

ArsTechnica 13:39PM:
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Improved speaker design too. now five magnets (up from two) transducer. Now updated earpiece too: noise-canceling earpiece. we do noise cancelation on both ends, including receiving end

MacWorld 13:36PM:
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Shared photo streams in iOS 6 let you share photos with friends. But new feature in iPhone 5 is Panorama.

Tap and say you want to take a panorama, hold your phone vertical, and just sweep your scene. Software tells you what pace to move it at.

28 megapixel panorama taken on an iPhone 5 camera. In real time, while you're panning, the phone can do it all on the fly.

Gdgt 13:35PM:
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And it's better: dynamic low-light mode, up to 2 f-stops greater light performance, five element lens. "The team is now measuring down to the micron level to create better lenses. And for the first time we cap off this camera with sapphire crystal lens cover."

New image processing chip, too. Spatial noise reduction, smart filter that figures out which areas are best for noise reduction and which should be left alone. Photo capture is now 40% faster. "It all adds up to simply using it and seeing what kind of photos you can take."

Engadget 13:29PM:
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Rob Murray from EA is up to show us some gameplay action on the iPhone 5! He's going to show us the "ultimate racing experience on iOS" -- it's Real Racing 3.

"You're going to see the Porsche GT3 racing on the legendary raceway, Laguna Seca."

MacWorld 13:28PM:
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Brand new processor is next. Apple A6. Compared to A5 is 2x faster at CPU, 2x faster at graphics.

It's also 22% smaller, freeing up more space and making it more energy efficient.

Faster app launching, saving images, load music app, viewing attachments in keynotes, ~2x performance across board.

Verge 13:27PM:
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"So ultrafast wireless doesn't stop at LTE."

New Wi-Fi, 2.4ghz and 5ghz on 802.11n.

ArsTechnica 13:26PM:
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single baseband chip for voice & data, and single radio chip as well

it can automatically switch antenna connections on the same antenna

in the US: great partners with AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint to support LTE
in Canada: Rogers, Telus, Bell, Virgin, Fido, Koodo
Asia: Softbank, KDDI, SKT, KT, smartptone, M1, singtel
Aussies: telstra, Optus, Virgin MObile
Europe: Deutschte Telecom, EE in the UK

Engadget 13:24PM:
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All that just for the display! Now, let's talk wireless. "Ultrafast Wireless" they're calling it.

GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE!

HSPA+ is 21Mbps, DC-HSDPA is 42Mbps, and LTE is a max of 100.

Verge 14:14PM:
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New iTunes is available in late October. Interesting.

Verge 13:22PM:
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"But what about the App Store apps? Well here's an app that hasn't been updated. It runs at the same size. We center it and place black borders on either side."

"All your software works just like before. But we have given some devs early access."

"We learned that they can update their apps quickly, and they want to do more with the display. Let me show you some examples."

ArsTechnica 13:20PM:
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with added vertical pixels, we can add a 5th row of icons to your home screen

all the software on the iPhone 5 has been updated

so you can see more of the web when surfing safari, more e-mail in Mail, more events in Calendar

Engadget 13:16PM:
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It's the world's thinnest smartphone, says Phil. Weighs 112 grams. 20% lighter than the 4S.

"Can you make a phone that has everything the iPhone 4S has, before you add new features, in a design that is smaller and lighter than the previous product."

"The challenge is to make it better and smaller."

Engadget 13:16PM:
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It's the world's thinnest smartphone, says Phil. Weighs 112 grams. 20% lighter than the 4S.

"Can you make a phone that has everything the iPhone 4S has, before you add new features, in a design that is smaller and lighter than the previous product."

"The challenge is to make it better and smaller."

Gdgt 13:15PM:
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"It's made entirely of glass and aluminum."

It's built to the most exacting standards Apple has ever taken on. Thinnest, lightest phone Apple's ever built.

7.6mm thin, 18% thinner. "It's the world's thinnest smartphone."

Engadget 14:11PM:
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Managing playlists is a lot easier now. You can quickly hop back to your library without closing the playlist and then just drag and drop tracks to where you want them.

Interesting, whenever you click on a song or album and start to drag it the app automatically brings up a list of your playlists, so that you can add it.

There's a new "coming next" button that you can use to change the order of upcoming tracks.

Or, anywhere in the interface you can click "Play Next" and it'll enqueue the song to be the next one.

ArsTechnica 14:09PM:
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Today we're introducing a brand new iTunes. we've built iCloud right in. Rather than walking through all the features, I'd like to invite Jeff Robin up to do a demo.

Edge-to-edge design. when you click on an album, it expands in place and iTunes automatically analyzes the album cover to provide a themed experience.

each album now comes with a feature called "in the store". where you can see the top songs from that album and recommendations.

Can also browse the library by artist down the left, albums down the right.

Verge 14:09PM:
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All available with iOS 6 on September 19th.

MacWorld 14:08PM:
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More than 66% of their downloads come from iTunes devices. So all stores have been redesigned for iOS.

Beautiful new design on iPad. Everything is faster, with large showcases on top to show you things. TV shows, movies, App Store, and iBookstore. Also on iPhone 5.

Tap on charts to see top songs, things automaticaly. update as you scroll. Facebook Likes are integrated into every product page.

New stores on iOS are completely redesigned; faster, easier to use; you can preview a song and keep browsing, and it'll keep playing; improved search results; and you can share directly to Facebook and Twitter.

13:53PM:
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Showing the iPhone 5 introduction video...

Gdgt 13:52PM:
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"We've taken FaceTime beyond WiFi, now you can use it wherever you are… These are just 10 of the over 200 new features in iOS 6, and we think you're going to love it." Applause, and Phil's back.

Verge 13:50PM:
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"There's one more thing I'd like to demo for you, and that's great enhancements to Siri."

you can get sports scores, standings... "Siri has also learned a lot more about movies, so I can ask 'can you recommend a good movie in theaters?"

"Find a sushi restaurant for 4 at 8 o'clock." Sure enough, Siri pulls up the info. Hardly any lag here at all. "I can post right to my wall with Siri 'post looking forward to sushi tonight'"

MacWorld 13:50PM:
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Passbook is next. This is the way to collect all your passes in one place: movie tickets, airline boarding pass, coupon, store card with a balance, ticket for a concert, a ticket for a baseball game.

Shred a ticket when you're done with it. Boarding pass automatically appears on the lockscreen when you're nearby.

ArsTechnica 13:49PM:
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Mail: we've added a new feature called VIPs. it allows you to mark people as VIPs, and then all the messages from them in the inbox are collected in one place. it's also a lot easier to flag something

Engadget 13:48PM:
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We're seeing Safari, a new full-screen view similar to the desktop version. Just tap the arrows pointing at corners. Surprise surprise, you can share your tabs from your desktop to your phone. It's called iCloud Tabs.

MacWorld 13:47PM:
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Here's a demo of a few features. The map now has vector-based maps that are speedy, 100 million points of interest in a search engine. Info card includes info, reviews from Yelp, and photos. Also built in free turn-by-turn directions. Beautiful 3D turn-by-turn directions, use a cinematic camera angle to fly you around corners. Footprints of buildings are correct. At any time to get an overview, zoom out to see the whole route.

Verge 13:43PM:
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"Perhaps one of the most important features of the iPhone is the software it runs. And we have iOS 6. It's been designed from the beginning to take advantage of the iPhone 5."

"So we'd like to show you iOS 6 running on the iPhone 5."

"We are really excited about iOS 6. It has so many new features in it, and I'd like to demo it here on the iPhone 5."

Gdgt 13:42PM:
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Connector: "It's served us well for almost a decade. So much has changed. So many things we used to do over the wire we now do wirelessly." It's called Lightning. All-digital, 8 signal design, just as we'd seen leaked.

"We're working with accessory makers to have them integrate Lightning into their products this holiday season… but what about all the devices you have now that use the 30 pin connector.?"

Well, they've got an adapter for that. It's big and ugly, but here we are. This was going to happen sooner or later.

ArsTechnica 13:39PM:
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Improved speaker design too. now five magnets (up from two) transducer. Now updated earpiece too: noise-canceling earpiece. we do noise cancelation on both ends, including receiving end

ArsTechnica 13:39PM:
----------------------------
Improved speaker design too. now five magnets (up from two) transducer. Now updated earpiece too: noise-canceling earpiece. we do noise cancelation on both ends, including receiving end

Engadget 13:37PM:
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"While the camera is amazing for taking pictures, it's also a lot better for video as well."

It's 1080p still but with better video stabilization, and there's facial recognition. You can grab photos, too, still.

The front-facing camera is now 720p, backside illuminated.

MacWorld 13:36PM:
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Shared photo streams in iOS 6 let you share photos with friends. But new feature in iPhone 5 is Panorama.

Tap and say you want to take a panorama, hold your phone vertical, and just sweep your scene. Software tells you what pace to move it at.

28 megapixel panorama taken on an iPhone 5 camera. In real time, while you're panning, the phone can do it all on the fly.

Gdgt 13:35PM:
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And it's better: dynamic low-light mode, up to 2 f-stops greater light performance, five element lens. "The team is now measuring down to the micron level to create better lenses. And for the first time we cap off this camera with sapphire crystal lens cover."

New image processing chip, too. Spatial noise reduction, smart filter that figures out which areas are best for noise reduction and which should be left alone. Photo capture is now 40% faster. "It all adds up to simply using it and seeing what kind of photos you can take."

Verge 13:34PM:
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"Next, the camera. If you know anything about camera design [and] vertical height. Making something thinner is the worst thing you can do."

"We asked our team to try and design something better than the iPhone 4S... and they've done that. 8mp, backside illuminated, hybrid IR filter..."

25% smaller. "But they didn't stop there. They enhanced it even further. Dynamic low light mode, precision lens alignment, sapphire crystal."

ArsTechnica 13:33PM:
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Battery life. 8 hours of 3G talk time and 3G browsing. 8 hours of LTE browsing, 10 hours of WiFi. 10 hours video playback, 40 hours music playback, 225 hours of standby.

Engadget 13:29PM:
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Rob Murray from EA is up to show us some gameplay action on the iPhone 5! He's going to show us the "ultimate racing experience on iOS" -- it's Real Racing 3.

"You're going to see the Porsche GT3 racing on the legendary raceway, Laguna Seca."

MacWorld 13:28PM:
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Brand new processor is next. Apple A6. Compared to A5 is 2x faster at CPU, 2x faster at graphics.

It's also 22% smaller, freeing up more space and making it more energy efficient.

Faster app launching, saving images, load music app, viewing attachments in keynotes, ~2x performance across board.

Verge 13:27PM:
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"So ultrafast wireless doesn't stop at LTE."

New Wi-Fi, 2.4ghz and 5ghz on 802.11n.

ArsTechnica 13:26PM:
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single baseband chip for voice & data, and single radio chip as well

it can automatically switch antenna connections on the same antenna

in the US: great partners with AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint to support LTE
in Canada: Rogers, Telus, Bell, Virgin, Fido, Koodo
Asia: Softbank, KDDI, SKT, KT, smartptone, M1, singtel
Aussies: telstra, Optus, Virgin MObile
Europe: Deutschte Telecom, EE in the UK

Engadget 13:24PM:
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All that just for the display! Now, let's talk wireless. "Ultrafast Wireless" they're calling it.

GPRS, EDGE, EV-DO, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSDPA and LTE!

HSPA+ is 21Mbps, DC-HSDPA is 42Mbps, and LTE is a max of 100.

MacWorld 13:23PM:
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Here's CNN, for example. Works fine, but with update, they take more advantage of display and have more areas to present stories.

OpenTable, another example. Works just like before, but with the new update, it's got a new UI, bringing some of their iPad UI to the iPhone.

Everything looks good, like videos and movies. 44% more color saturation. Full sRGB color specification. Most accurate display in the industry.

Verge 13:14PM:
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"Today we're introducing iPhone 5."

"We'd like to show it you right now."

Gdgt 13:13PM:
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Fastest upgraded OS X to date! And the Retina MBP. "Together with MacBook Air, our notebooks now rank #1 in the US for market share for the last three months." Big applause for that one. Well, well, well.

"For the last six years the Mac has significantly outgrown the PC!" Duh. "The iPad is driving the post-PC revolution at a breathtaking pace."

"We sold more iPads than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire PC line." What! 84 million total units sold. "This is shocking considering this is a category that didn't even exist a few years ago."
Engadget 13:06PM:
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Now, time to talk Mac. "We've had a very busy summer for the Mac. We launched Mountain Lion in July. Mountain Lion is the ninth major release of the best OS on the planet."

Seven million Mountain Lion upgrades have been sold! That's the fastest-selling version of OS X yet.

Verge 13:05PM:
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"Our stores offer the best experiences on the planet." "We're opening in our 13th country on Friday." "We welcomed 83m visitors to our stores last year."

13:02PM:
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A video shows off Apple's new retail stores

Engadget 13:01PM:
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We're going to get a few updates first, talking Apple Retail. It's Apple's beautiful new store in Barcelona.

Verge 13:00PM:
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Tim Cook is out!

"Good Morning"

We will be providing coverage of Apple's special event here using a compilation of sources to make sure that you get an uninterrupted feed.

The event begins September 12th at 10:00am PST / 1:00pm EST and takes place at the San Francisco Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Apple is widely expected to unveil a new LTE iPhone and new iPods at the event.

Check back in soon!!