Apple

roundup Apple has the world's attention once again as it delivers new versions of the iPhone and its operating system.

Smaller crowds line up for iPhone 3G S on first day

The turnout is noticeably less frenzied and the activation problems that plagued last year's iPhone 3G launch appeared a thing of the past.
(Posted in Apple by CNET News staff)
June 19, 2009 11:30 AM PDT

364 days and counting to iPhone 4G

If history is any indication, we have less than year to go before we see a new iPhone. Let the official countdown begin.
(Posted in iPhone Atlas by David Carnoy)
June 19, 2009 10:11 AM PDT

Live blog: iPhone 3G S launch day

At Apple and AT&T stores in Manhattan, eager first-day buyers of the iPhone 3G get their hands on Apple's upgraded smartphone first thing Friday morning.
• The iPhone 3G S arrives
• Buy an iPhone? No thanks, I'm going Nokia
• Apple releases iPhone Configuration Utility 2.0
(Posted in Apple by CNET News staff)
June 19, 2009 8:21 AM AM PDT

iPhone 3G S: First peek under the hood

The 3G S sports a 600MHz Samsung processor based on the ARM Cortex 8 design and integrates a PowerVR SGX graphics chip.
(Posted in Nanotech: The Circuits Blog by Brooke Crothers)
June 18, 2009 10:00 PM PDT

iPhone OS 3.0: What else is new?

Beyond the big changes like cut, copy and paste, what other changes have you noticed with iPhone OS 3.0.
(Posted in iPhone Atlas by Kent German)
• Flickr for iPhone, Android gets location awareness
• iPhone OS 3.0: The new podcast controls
• An overview of iPod updates in OS 3.0
June 18, 2009 10:25 AM PDT

iPhone 3G S hits stores Friday: Will the crowds follow?

This year's launch of the latest model iPhone could be different since many people are not yet eligible to upgrade their phone through their carrier.
• Analyst expects 500,000 iPhones sold this weekend
• Apple: iPhone OS 3.0 plugs 46 security bugs
(Posted in Apple by Erica Ogg)
June 18, 2009 4:00 AM PDT

iPhone 3.0 a cut-and-paste win for Twitter

Almost no one else will see a bigger boost from the most-heralded feature in the new iPhone OS than the hit microblogging service.
(Posted in Geek Gestalt by Daniel Terdiman)
June 17, 2009 10:41 PM PDT

Some apps have age restriction warnings in iPhone OS 3.0

Due to the parental controls on the new iPhone OS 3.0, it seems that Apple has added age restrictions/warnings to a few apps in the App Store.
(Posted in iPhone Atlas by Nicole Lee)
• Latest Shazam lets you track musical journey
• iPhone OS 3.0 hamstrings popular iPhone syncing app
• AP Mobile pushes top news in iPhone 3.0
June 17, 2009 5:52 PM PDT

AT&T loosens its iPhone 3G S upgrade policy

Carrier has come around and will now offer some existing iPhone 3G customers a better upgrade price for the new iPhone 3G S.
(Posted in Apple by Jim Dalrymple)
June 17, 2009 4:03 PM PDT

First Impressions: iPhone 3.0 on the original iPhone

Several of the highly touted features of iPhone 3.0 will not be available on the original iPhone. Here's what to expect.
(Posted in iPhone Atlas by CBS Interactive staff)
June 17, 2009 1:29 PM PDT

Scattered reports of iPhone OS 3.0 update problems

Most iPhone and iPod Touch users say they've had success in updating their devices with the new operating system, but a smattering have hit roadblocks.
(Posted in Apple by Erica Ogg)
June 17, 2009 12:01 PM PDT

CNET Review: Apple iPhone 3G S

It doesn't offer quite the same leap that the iPhone 3G offered over the first model, but the latest Apple handset still is a compelling upgrade for some users.
(Posted in CNET Reviews by Kent German)
June 17, 2009 10:00 AM PDT

Updated at 12:15 p.m. PDT

While the majority of commenters on CNET and around the Web are reporting success in downloading iPhone OS 3.0 Wednesday, there were scattered reports of problems.

My colleague Stephen Shankland, a CNET News reporter, tried several times to download the OS update around 12 p.m. Pacific to his iPhone and received the same error message, pictured above, each time.

A handful of CNET commenters reported problems accessing iTunes. "I see that the upgrade is now available, but four times the message I get after a couple of minutes is that the download has 'timed out,'" said one reader, and another reported, "Same issue here, cannot connect to the iTunes store to activate so the phone won't work."

A quick perusal of Twitter showed a smattering of people with the same issue.

This, of course, is a repeat of what happened last year, when Apple's iTunes servers couldn't withstand the barrage of traffic when customers tried to update to iPhone 2.0 software at the same time new iPhone 3G buyers were attempting to activate their phones.

Anyone else having problems with the update today?

Update 12:45 p.m. PDT: Reader Michael Samstag wrote in to say his iPhone was rendered unusable when he tried to install the update. "It has the 'connect to iTunes' message and will only allow emergency calls," he says. "I signed up for the 'Apple callback' for tech support and they called back and put me on hold for 20-minutes. Then the call got disconnected and now the earliest callback time is between 6:15 p.m. EDT and 6:30 p.m. EDT. So, I'm looking at having no cell for a minimum of three hours, probably longer."

Gizmodo is also hearing reports of phones "bricked" from the update. We're still waiting for comment from Apple.

Update 1:05 p.m. PDT: We're also getting feedback about general sluggishness and intermittent problems accessing Apple's Mobile Me service. But it sounds like the situation isn't as bad as last year. That was when the simultaneous launch of the iPhone 3G and Mobile Me wreaked havoc on across Apple's servers and related Web services.

Update 2:26 p.m. PDT: My colleague Stephen now reports success in installing the update--after 30 tries over the course of 2.5 hours. Samstag, the reader who earlier reported his phone had been bricked by the update, also says it's working now.

Seems like things are getting back to normal now.

If you can't bear the thought of waiting another two days for Apple's iPhone 3G S, CNET can offer a look ahead in our full iPhone 3G S review. The iPhone 3G S promises faster processing and network speeds, extended battery life, more memory, the OS 3.0 update (available today), and additional features.

In many ways, the iPhone 3G S delivers on its promises. It did run faster, the video recording is a treat, and the battery lasted longer. Yet we still have concerns about call reception and we're still waiting for a few features. The iPhone 3G S offers enough to get our attention, but not enough to get us completely excited. And our recommendation depends greatly on your purchase price.

To get the whole story, please see our iPhone 3G S full review. And check out our iPhone 3G S slideshow for a gallery of beauty shots.

Updated at 10:20 a.m. PDT June 17: The software update is now available.

Many of the iPhone's long-awaited features will finally become reality Wednesday when Apple rolls out iPhone OS 3.0.

Current iPhone owners can download the software from iTunes for free, and iPod Touch users can get it as well, but for a fee of $9.95, just like the last OS update. What time exactly, we don't know yet. Apple will only say iPhone OS 3.0 will come out sometime Wednesday.

The update includes many functions other phones have had for a while, including multimedia messaging (if supported by your carrier--AT&T won't offer it until later this summer), voice recording, buying and renting movies and TV shows over the air, full system search, tethering (again, if your carrier allows it), and push notifications.

Apple has also bundled in some extras, like landscape virtual keyboard for certain apps, more extensive parental controls, in-app purchasing, and a feature for MobileMe customers called Find My Phone.

There will also be stereo Bluetooth available, as well as the capability to create applications specifically for interfacing with third-party hardware. That could lead to a boon in the accessories market for the iPhone as well as the iPod Touch, as my CNET colleague Donald Bell has pointed out.

As anticipated as Wednesday's OS 3.0 launch is, it's only the second most important product rollout for Apple this week. The new iPhone 3G S is scheduled to hit stores Friday morning. In the meantime, check out our full review of the iPhone 3G S and our detailed look at OS 3.0.

Editors' note: This live blog, which began at 10 a.m. Monday, has concluded.

At 10 a.m. PDT, we'll be live-blogging Phil Schiller's keynote speech that will open Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. Bookmark this page, and come back then for up-to-the-minute updates on what Apple is announcing.

9:52 a.m.: Welcome to CNET's WWDC live blog. I'm here in Moscone West with Kent German, CNET Reviews' cell phone editor. We're seated and ready to go, just waiting for the event to get started.

10 a.m.: Kent: Things I'm hoping for today: release date for iPhone 3.0, more features for 3.0 than what were announced in March, announcement and release date of third-generation iPhone.

OK, lights are dimmed. Here we go. John Hodgman of the "I'm a Mac" ads is onscreen. He's wishing WWDC attendees a week with "some innovation, but not too much please." Justin Long then wishes us "a great conference," to wild applause.

10:02 a.m.: Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, takes the stage in an all-denim outfit. There is more applause. He says an incredible week is planned for the 5,200 developers here, from 52 countries around the world. He says Apple is seeing the most anticipation for its developer conference yet, and he shows a chart with Mac OS X active users from 2002 to now.

10:03 a.m.: Over last two years, OS X users have grown from 25 million to 75 million, Schiller says. "No wonder everyone is trying to race behind us," he says. He will talk about Mac, iPhone, and iPod Touch.

10:05 a.m.: Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of OS X software, and Scott Forstall, senior vice president of iPhone software, are going to speak today too. But first, Schiller is going to talk about the Mac: "I'm really happy to show you a brand-new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro."

10:07 a.m.: The MacBook Pro has unibody architecture and a built-in lithium polymer battery like the 17-inch MacBook Pro. It has better battery life, he says, and should get 1,000 recharges. That should be about five years of life for the notebook now, according to Schiller. Customers shouldn't need to change the battery in a notebook at all in five years. It has "the nicest display we've ever put in a notebook."

10:08 a.m.: Schiller shows the ports on the side. Instead of an ExpressCard slot, there is a new SD card slot. Why? Most MacBook Pro customers have digital cameras today. They prefer popping out SD cards and putting them right into a laptop.

10:10 a.m.: It's the fastest notebook Apple's ever made, he says, with up to a 3.06GHz processor from Intel. Expandable memory up to 8GB--that brings lots of applause. It can fit up to 500GB inside and starts at $1,699.

10:11 a.m.: That's a $300 price cut for the low-end configuration. It also comes in $1,999 and $2,299 configurations. Apple is also updating the 17-inch MacBook, which has 2.8GHz of processing power and a 500GB hard drive but keeps the ExpressCard slot. Its price is cut to $2,499. Both the new 15-incher and the updated 17-incher are shipping Monday. The 13-inch MacBook is also getting an update.

10:11 a.m.: The 13-incher will have seven-hour battery life now, and it will also get a new high-color display, as well as the SD card slot now. So how is this not a MacBook Pro, Schiller asks. It can now expand with up to 8GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive, and it has the LED-backlit keyboard.

10:14 a.m.: Plus, it gets a FireWire 800 port. The 13-incher is now considered a MacBook Pro as well, Schiller says, and it starts at $1,199. Cheaper than the 13-inch aluminum MacBook it replaces, he notes. That one will also be available today.

10:15 a.m.: Apple is also updating the MacBook Air. It starts at $1,499 with a 1,86GHz processor. With 128GB SSD, it will now start at $1,799, representing another price cut.

10:16 a.m.: Now Schiller's talking up the environmental aspects of the notebooks. He says they'll all meet the Energy Star 5.0 ratings that will arrive sometime this summer.

10:17 a.m.: "Great hardware deserves great software," Schiller says. He brings Serlet up on stage. Serlet runs through the features of Leopard, comparing it with Vista. "They're trying to get out of it with Windows 7," he says, referring to unfavorable reviews of Vista. He points out features of Windows that users should never have to deal with: user account control, disk defragmentation.

10:19 a.m.: "Windows 7 is just another version of Vista," Serlet says. We have a different approach. We're "proud of Leopard." Now he's going to discuss Snow Leopard, which will have Exchange support. Says Kent: "We've had the obligatory Microsoft comparisons. I wonder if Forstall will mention the Palm Pre?"

10:20 a.m.: Serlet says Expose is now built into the dock. Click and hold on a tile, and it selects the window you want. It's 45 percent faster to install Snow Leopard, Serlet says, and it will recover 5GB of disk space after you install the OS.

10:22 a.m.: You can now draw Chinese characters with your fingers on the trackpad. The mail program is now faster, he says. The new Safari 4 will ship today for Leopard, Tiger, and Windows. Safari 4 is faster for HTML and JavaScript than Chrome 2, Firefox 3, and Internet Explorer 8, he says.

10:24 a.m.: In Snow Leopard, you get a few extra features. He says it's "crash resistant." He says the No. 1 cause of crashes in OS X is the browser plug-in. These get closed, but your browser windows stay open.

10:26 a.m.: QuickTime has a new logo. QuickTime 10 is now "super efficient" and has HTTP streaming. It will work with any Web server. With such a change, Apple decided to change the interface of the player as well. The onscreen controls disappear when you play content in QuickTime now.

10:27 a.m.: Now we're getting a demo of Snow Leopard, led by Craig Federighi, vice president of Mac OS engineering.

10:28 a.m.: You can magnify thumbnails and click through documents as thumbnails, and also play videos as thumbnails. Federighi shows a very cluttered desktop with lots of open windows. Click Expose, and it lines up all open windows. With Dock Expose, you click and hold, and can see all open windows in each application.

10:28 a.m.: You can also drag thumbnails into an e-mail message in Mail.

10:30 a.m.: Now onto Safari 4. Federighi shows Google Maps loading very quickly. It can also track your top sites. Get a grid of all the sites you visit the most. Safari 4's full-history search gives a Cover Flow view across all the sites you've visited.

10:32 a.m.: It also integrates spotlight search of browser history.

10:33 a.m.: Now, a QuickTime player demo. You can edit video inside QuickTime using a video timeline ribbon that appears along the bottom of the screen.

10:35 a.m.: Serlet returns to talk new technologies in Snow Leopard that take advantage of more memory and GPU power. All major Snow Leopard applications run in 64-bit. (CNET News' Ina Fried has a look at how Apple's comments on Snow Leopard stack up to what Microsoft is doing with Windows 7.

10:39 a.m.: Serlet is now running through developer tools like Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL. OpenCL is an open standard, he says to lots of applause from developers.

10:41 a.m.: Now Serlet's going to talk Exchange. He says Macs can run Windows apps fine, but Exchange was missing. It will be into Mail, iCal, and Address Book in Snow Leopard. Federighi is back up to demonstrate hooking up a Mac to Exchange for your work mail.

10:43 a.m.: Exchange to-dos, folders, and e-mails appear within Mail. You can also preview docs or spreadsheets using MS Office inside Mail, even if you don't have MS Office installed.

10:44 a.m.: iCal and Address Book show integrated persona and Exchange calendars and contacts. The most requested feature was the ability to schedule using availability information, Federighi says. You can now do that by searching address lists and calendars.

10:45 a.m.: Serlet notes that Apple is not charging extra for Exchange support in Snow Leopard. However, he did note that it requires that a company be running Exchange Server 2007--the latest version of the software.

10:46 a.m.: Now we're talking price. Snow Leopard will be $29 to upgrade to, for Leopard users. There's wild applause from the crowd. The Family Pack upgrade will be $49. It will be available in September, but the near-final developer preview will be available today.

10:47 a.m.: Scott Forstall comes up to talk iPhone. Less than a year ago, we released OS 2.0 and the SDK, he says. There are currently more than 50,000 apps in the App Store.

10:49 a.m.: Apple has sold 40 million iPhones and iPod Touches, Forstall says. He also brings up the familiar 1 billion app download mark, which was reached in April. Forstall thanks everyone, customers and developers. Now we're seeing a video of developers talking about building iPhone apps.

10:51 a.m.: Various developers of games, medical apps, and sports-tracking apps talk about how they created their programs and how much their lives have changed since their apps got accepted to the App Store. It's standard product-marketing video fare.

10:53 a.m.: The video ends, and Forstall is back up front. He's going to talk about iPhone OS 3.0. There are more than 100 new features, he says. He starts with cut, copy, and paste.

10:56 a.m.: A bubble appears with cut, copy, or paste options wherever you select. There are also undo commands. Kent: "All right, the good stuff--100 new features, though we still don't know all 100." Now onto landscape mode. The keyboard will be in landscape for all key apps, like mail, notes, and messages.

10:57 a.m.: Multimedia messaging requires carrier support--29 carriers will support it on launch. AT&T plans to support it "later this summer."

10:28 a.m.: (Kent: In beta form, MMS was not able to actually send a message. We still need carrier support from AT&T.) Spotlight will be its own app on the phone. In iTunes, you can rent and purchase movies right from the phone.

11 a.m.: You can watch TV shows, and purchase videos and audiobooks. There's also support for iTunes U, Apple's educational service that offers podcasts of university classes. Parental controls will be expanded to include movies, TV shows, and apps in the App Store. It can limit kids to rent G-rated movies, for instance, or only buy age-appropriate apps.

11:01 a.m.: Apple also announced that iPhone 3.0 supports tethering--using the phone's Internet connection to add Web access for your Mac or PC. Tethering will work over USB cord or Bluetooth, and won't require any special software on the computer. The big news, though, is that although Apple has a number of carriers committed to supporting tethering, and AT&T isn't one of them.

11:02 a.m.: Forstall now runs through JavaScript support in OS 3.0 and HTTP streaming. The OS also has autofill for remembering your usernames and passwords.

11:04 a.m.: There will be a button that will allow autoswitching to use a different language on the keyboard. It is now adding Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Korean, and Thai. Now more than 30 languages are supported. All have a portrait or landscape keyboard options.

11:06 a.m.: There's a new feature called Find My iPhone. We're seeing a quick example of a lost iPhone demonstrated by the episode in which Liz Lemon of "30 Rock" loses her iPhone. Find My iPhone is available only to MobileMe customers, but it will allow you to see on a map where your phone is. There are huge cheers from the crowd. You can send an alert tone to your phone that will play, announcing that it's lost. It will play even if you left your phone in silent mode.

11:08 a.m.: If your phone is really lost, there's a remote kill switch to wipe your phone of all your data. Kent says, "Find My iPhone is pretty cool. I also like that the sound plays even in silent mode. It would be really cool if it played the sound when the phone is off."

11:09 a.m.: Now onto the in-app purchase feature. People can renew magazine subscriptions within the app or buy additional levels in games. The same terms apply for in-app purchase. Free apps must remain free--free app makers can't sell upgrades within that app. P2P support will find people playing the same game as you via Bluetooth and will autoconnect the two players. This works for any application.

11:10 a.m.: Accessory developers can now build companion software applications. The app can talk to the hardware over the dock connector, or wirelessly over Bluetooth.

11:11 a.m.: Google Maps can be embedded right into applications. You can pan and zoom, add custom annotations, and geocoding. Developers can build turn-by-turn directions into apps.

11:13 a.m.: Now onto push notifications. Will have generic push notification service. Users can push text alerts, numerical badges, and custom alert sounds. Forstall demos the familiar ESPN Sports Center sound as an example.

11:14 a.m.: Developers have had access to this feature in beta for a bit. Gameloft is one of them. Gameloft's Mark Hickey comes up to talk about a game called Asphalt 5, a 3D-racing game. He shows how, when you're racing in the car in the game, you can get into your iTunes playlist and play that music directly in the game.

11:17 a.m.: Notes Kent: "In-app purchase will be convenient, but talk about impulse buying."

11:19 a.m.: Now up is Airstrip Technologies, which makes medical software that monitors patient data on mobile devices. Dr. Cameron Powell takes the stage and shows how he can monitor patients' vital signs directly on his phone in real time.

11:20 a.m.: Digital-book maker ScrollMotion's Josh Koppel is now up. His bookstore app takes advantage of in-app purchases.

11:22 a.m.: Textbooks will now be available on the App Store, via the Iceberg Reader. GPS maker TomTom gets its turn onstage.

11:23 a.m.: Peter-Frans Pauwels, CTO of TomTom, shows how the company's navigation app works on the iPhone. It combines TomTom's map data with turn-by-turn navigation. "Nice move roping in TomTom to supply navigation. Big question is, how much?" Kent asks.

11:25 a.m.: The TomTom maps and car kit for the iPhone will be available this summer, but we're not getting price talk at all.

11:27 a.m.: Ngmoco's Neil Young, another game maker, is up. He's talking up StarDefense, a new 3D game. Ngmoco is also taking advantage of buying new expansion packs of levels within the game.

11:29 a.m.: The app maker parade continues. Educational science equipment maker Pasco is now up.

11:30 a.m.: Oops, first demo fail by Pasco. It was trying to blow up a balloon and show how the pressure increases, but the balloon refused to inflate. Oh well; the company moves on.

11:34 a.m.: Kent says what everyone here is thinking: "One and a half hours in, and time is beginning to get short. New iPhone, please?"

11:35 a.m.: Zipcar gets its turn onstage to demo its app. Using geocoding, Zipcar users get a map readout of the location of available cars to rent. They can see what type of car it is, plus price and spec. Reservations can also be made via the app. When searching for the car you've reserved, you can cause the car's horn to make an alert sound. When you find the car, you can unlock it via the app.

11:37 a.m.: Forstall promises just one more demo. It's two companies: Line 6 and Planet Waves. Their app lets users control a guitar and an amp right from an iPhone.

11:38 a.m.: Uh oh, second demo fail. The guitar is supposed to be switched to sound like an acoustic instrument via the app, but it still sounds electric. Oops.

11:41 a.m.: Forstall reappears. He says the Line 6 app is cool and assures us that it totally worked before, even though it didn't work that well just now.

11:43 a.m.: iPhone OS 3.0 is free for iPhone customers, but $9.95 for first- and second-gen iPod Touch owners. It will be available worldwide June 17. And developers in the developer program get the near-final version today.

11:44 a.m.: Forstall is done. Schiller reappears onstage. Let's see how they end this. He's talking about the iPhone 3G, saying it changed how people think about their phones. Phones used to be "crappy devices," he says.

11:45 a.m.: Schiller shows a graph indicating that 65 percent of mobile browsing is done on an iPhone or iPod Touch. That stat might be a bit dubious, given Opera Software's claims of having more mobile usage than Apple.

11:46 a.m.: Meet the new iPhone 3G S (the S stands for speed). It has the same design as iPhone 3G from last summer, but what's inside is entirely new. Messaging apps, games, and attachments all load faster, Schiller says.

11:48 a.m.: They've gauged the speeds measured on the iPhone 3G S using OS 3.0 software.

11:49 a.m.: The 3G S is ready for AT&T's faster 3G network, Apple says. As expected, there's a better built-in camera too--a 3-megapixel autofocus camera.

11:50 a.m.: There's a feature called "Tap to Focus," with which users can tap an item in a photo, and it focuses immediately. There's better light sensitivity, so you can take indoor photos better. There's also auto macro focus. And it captures video, he says. The crowd loves it.

11:51 a.m.: A new switch in the bottom of the camera app enables you to choose still or video mode. There's auto focus, auto white balance, and auto exposure for both still and video.

11:53 a.m.: You can edit the videos by tapping with your finger. Also, you can send videos via e-mail or text--if your carrier supports it, Schiller says. Developers can also build video cameras right into their applications.

11:54 a.m.: Now he's talking voice control. Wave form shows voice amplitude directly onscreen. "It took two years to get native voice dialing? Ridiculous," Kent says.

11:55 a.m.: Clever: You can ask your phone, "What song is playing?" and it will tell you. You can also tell the phone, "Use Genius playlist to play more songs like this." Digital compass, as widely rumored, is indeed in the new iPhone.

11:56 a.m.: There's a compass app. With it, you can tap the screen, and it will orient the map you are looking at to face north. Kent says, "Compass looks pretty cool. Speaking of location, will we get geotagging of photos?"

11:57 a.m.: Schiller says NikePlus will have built-in support. You can track your runs and choose songs. In addition, to cater to businesses that want hardware encrypted, the iPhone 3G S will have it. This is back to the remote-wipe feature. Battery life is also extended. "Hallelujah," says Kent.

11:58 a.m.: The phone has between zero and 50 percent better battery life on video, Wi-Fi usage, and talk time than the previous version.

11:59 a.m.: Price: $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB, which is what we expected.

12 p.m.: There are more affordable phones now. There will indeed be a $99 iPhone. It's 8GB. This will allow more people to get an iPhone now, Schiller says. The $99 version is available today; the iPhone 3G S will be available June 19, in just a week and a half.

There will be rolling launches of the phone every couple of weeks, until the phone reaches 80 countries by August. The United States is obviously getting it on the first day, June 19. "A short wait this time. Nice indeed," Kent says.

12:02 p.m.: They're showing us the new TV ad for the new iPhone.

12:04 p.m.: Schiller wraps up and reviews what we've gone over so far today: the MacBook Pro lineup, Snow Leopard, iPhone OS 3.0, and iPhone 3G S.

12:05 p.m.: He thanks everyone at Apple and then developers. "Keep making great applications. Thank you."

12:06 p.m.: OK, that's it. No Steve Jobs appearance. Thanks for joining us today. The entire CNET team will have ongoing coverage for the rest of the day, so be sure to stay tuned. Thanks!

Trying to predict what we'll see at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference this year gives one the slight feeling of deja vu.

Heading into the annual conference last year, we knew there would be three basic topics covered in the event's opening keynote speech: OS X 10.6, the iPhone platform, and new iPhone hardware. You can bet that WWDC 2009--sold out for the second straight year--will hit on those same three areas. But there are still plenty of questions surrounding the specific details of what we'll see Monday morning when the conference opens at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

We know that the human headliner of the kickoff event, the conference keynote speech, will be Phil Schiller, vice president of marketing. Apple has promised he will discuss iPhone OS 3.0, which should be available this summer, as well as Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

The other headliner, that will invariably steal the show, will be new iPhone hardware, if it is indeed introduced. It seems a good bet since it's practically Apple tradition now to introduce the latest update to its incredibly popular smartphone at WWDC. The device may not be immediately for sale, and Apple could wait to roll them out in July, like last year. But the No. 1 reason Apple is likely to debut the phone Monday is that the point of WWDC is to teach developers how to work with Apple's mobile and desktop operating systems. It wouldn't make much sense to bypass the opportunity to familiarize them with new application programming interfaces (APIs) for new iPhone hardware.

Of course, rumors have been bubbling since at least January about a second-generation iPhone 3G. Some of the more credible leaked photos and uncovered clues seem to point to a more evolutionary update to the phone's hardware, instead of a major change like last year's upgrade to an iPhone that could handle 3G wireless service. Things that appear likely:

• It's easy to see Apple keeping the 16GB model of the iPhone, and introduce a 32GB version, while keeping the prices the same: $199 for the smaller, $299 for the larger.

• A new camera with the ability to take video.

• A magnetometer built into the phone's hardware.

Speculation regarding a discount version of the phone in a smaller capacity with fewer features for $99 has cropped up also, mostly from Wall Street analysts. Apple already has a 10.8-percent share of the smartphone market, and lowering the price by $100 would be a way to expand the user base even further. But like most things with Apple, we won't know what they're going to do until they decide to tell us.

Beyond rumor, speculation, and grainy photos appearing online, it's impossible to know exactly what to expect. Despite that, some are already saying the anticipated keynote will be underwhelming compared with most years, with Steve Jobs sidelined, and no early signs of any sort of monumental update to the iPhone hardware.

Most of the updates to the iPhone will have to do with the operating system update, which Apple already detailed at a special event in March. We know for sure iPhone OS 3.0 will add some features iPhone users have been demanding since the phone's debut in 2007: background processing, system-wide search, the ability to copy, cut, and paste, multimedia messaging, and an option for a landscape virtual keyboard. There will also be 1,000 new APIs available to developers creating applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch platform. Apple didn't discuss every single one of those at the March event, so it's certainly possible Schiller and whoever else joins him onstage could have saved one or two of the best things to unveil Monday.

Apple has also promised to give more details on Mac OS X 10.6, which the company announced at WWDC last year, and promised it would be ready in "about a year." Apple will likely give us the release date on Monday.

Leading up to the event, rumors of a Verizon service plan option on the iPhone, and the unveiling of an Apple touch-screen tablet have surfaced. Those are likely wishful thinking--for now. Though those rumors could both become reality, it's not likely they'll appear at WWDC. AT&T's contract with Apple to offer the iPhone is said to guarantee exclusivity for five years. And most agree a touch-screen tablet wouldn't be available until 2010 at the earliest.

Of course, many WWDC attendees may still be holding out hope that Jobs will make an appearance Monday. Apple has been clear that Jobs' return as CEO is scheduled for "the end of June," though it's impossible to say for sure whether he would simply attend the conference or not.

We'll be live-blogging the keynote speech, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. PDT on Monday. So please be sure to come back and read about what Apple is announcing as it happens.

Apple has started decorating San Francisco's Moscone Center in anticipation of the Worldwide Developers Conference, which opens Monday morning.

And as has become tradition, when the banners go up, the seemingly round-the-clock guessing game of what Apple will announce intensifies. This year, the banners say "WWDC: One year later. Light-years ahead." Now the objective for many is parsing that phrase and poring over every image on the banner to extract some sort of meaning.

The phrase itself, plus all the application icons on the banners, indicate the centerpiece of the conference will be the App Store and the new features of the iPhone OS 3.0. Apple said as much in its announcement of the conference keynote address, which is on Monday at 10 a.m. PDT. We know there will be discussion of the updated mobile operating system as well as more details on OS X 10.6, or Snow Leopard. And of course, there have been previous indications that a new iPhone is on the way.

The iPhone Blog points out that the App Store did launch in July, not in early June at WWDC last year, so it hasn't technically been "one year later." Gizmodo thinks "light-years ahead" is a snarky reference to the jumble of competing smartphones debuting soon--particularly the Palm Pre, which launches two days before WWDC opens.

TUAW took out its copy editor's pen, noting that "a year is a measure of time while a light year is a measure of distance." Of course, anyone who remembers "Think Different" knows Apple slogans haven't always been bound by the traditional rules of grammar.

In any case, all the mysteries will be solved by the end of Monday's keynote speech, which we'll be live-blogging. Until then, check out the gallery of photos below that we snapped Wednesday morning.

Apple is well known for its simplicity, but the upcoming version of the iPhone's system software is exhibiting usability weaknesses that companies like Nokia solved years ago.

Earlier this week, as part of the ramp-up towards releasing this software to the public, Apple began running a stress test of push notifications--the hallmark feature of the new operating system. This system sends notifications to your phone whenever there's an update from an application, even when it's not running.

To manage the onslaught of notifications from each application, Apple added a new menu that lets users manage push notification settings for each application, as well as providing a quick switch to turn them all on or off. While handy, this introduces an annoying problem for business users that Nokia solved a decade ago by providing a quick way to toggle multiple settings without the hassle of menu hopping.

User sound profiles, something that Nokia has had in its phones for over a decade, do just that. These let you change multiple settings on the device with just two button presses, and include things like ringer volume, vibration, keyboard tones, and control over how much attention each type of alert can get.

The best part is, you can switch between these profiles by quickly tapping the power button and choosing from a pop-up menu. You're also able to make your own custom profiles with settings you choose. There's even the option to have them automatically turn on and off during certain times of day, so you can have it switch to silent after 10 p.m. so it won't wake you or your significant other up when you're trying to go to sleep.

On the iPhone, you have one profile, and one profile only. Even if you turn the ringer sound off by flipping the volume silencer switch, you will still receive alerts and vibrations for incoming calls, e-mails, text messages, etc. Worse, with iPhone OS 3.0, Apple has embedded some of the options to turn these things on and off a little deeper than they were in version 2.0.

The new notification settings now live where the e-mail push notification used to reside. That menu has been pushed ever deeper into the mail settings, which means that to tweak things like how often it fetches e-mail and pops up with calendar items and invitations, you have to dive three settings menus deep (not including the two or more actions required to wake and unlock the phone and get to the settings menu).

So here's my problem with all this: when I start my work day I want to turn all this stuff back on after having to have turned it off so I wouldn't hear a buzz or have the screen light up every few minutes while I was asleep. I want it to get my work and Yahoo e-mail via push, and fetch all other mail every 15 minutes. I want to flip the push notifications back on, too. Now I have to go through two different settings menus, flipping each one of those things on, when there really should be one where I can manage both.

Even better would be ... Read more

In an e-mail sent to iPhone developers Monday, Apple asked them to try out the AP's news app for the iPhone, the first third-party application to incorporate long-awaited "push" notification on the device.

The e-mail asked developers who would like to participate to install the AP News application on an iPhone running iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5. Apple has already said that the OS 3.0 release next month will include an expanded notifications service for third-party applications. Currently, the service only works with the device's core applications: incoming calls, texts, and calendar appointments.

The service was originally set to be introduced by October last year, but Apple missed the deadline. Instead, it was rolled into the wider revamp of the phone's operating system.

The forthcoming Palm Pre smartphone is also set to launch soon. Industry observers have noted that the Pre's sophisticated multitasking could give the iPhone's notification service a serious challenge.