AAPL – iPhone launch update - Bottom Line $AAPL

AAPL – iPhone launch update - Bottom Line - new iPhone hardware launched, as expected (Apple says this is the biggest hardware has most improvements since the original version launched).  Much thinner, much better display, much improved camera (has front-facing camera and can do video conferencing) and much improved battery.  Some new features for iPhone OS (which is now called iOS 4).  Added MSFT Bing as a search option, which was expected (Google remains default search).  Pos. comments on iBook market share - says now up to 22% share of e-book market in just few wks (and they are rolling out iBook to iPhone).  Pricing unchanged ($199 for 16 and $299 for 32) - there was some spec would cut price (so slight disappointment).  3GS iPhone cut to $99 (as expected as WalMart did this few days ago already).  New iPhone 4 Available June 24 in US and will be available in 88 countries by end Sept.  Looks like staying exclusive at AT&T - no new carrier announcements (wasn’t expected would have new carriers today….spec is CDMA could come in Nov).

new iPhone & iOS 4: says the new iPhone, "iPhone 4", is the biggest improvement since the original iPhone.

· the new model is 24% thinner than the 3GS - "thinnest smartphone on the planet".

· New display technology, dramatically increases pixel density (called "retina display"). 4x as many pixels in same amount of space - "we set the standard for displays for next several yrs….we don’t think computers will come close".

· front-facing camera.  says iPhone has whole new camera system.  5 megapixel camera.  says very high quality camera shots.  camera can record HD video.  Rolling out iMovie for iPhone.  can do video conferencing - called "FaceTime" (FaceTime WiFi only in 2010, "Need to work a little bit with the cellular providers.")   Apple going to make FaceTime an open industry standard.

· iPhone 4 powered by Apple A4 chip.

· Big improvement on the battery - " Bigger battery plus A4 processor, 40% more talk time. 7 hours talk time. 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video. 40 hours of music. 300 hours of standby".

· iPhone 4 has a Gyroscope.

· iPhone OS is now iOS 4….. iOS4 has multitasking, folders, retina display integration, enhancements to mail, camera and photo apps, much deeper enterprise integration and tons of new features

· says iAds will be built into iOS 4.  Says Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Campbell's Soup, Sears, JCPenny, Target, Best Buy, DirecTV, TBS, Disney and Geico all signed up for iAds.  How big has iAds been so far?  " $60m committed to second half of this year for iAds from advertisers"

· search - Now offering Bing search as an option, which was expected…..Google remains default.  Bing uses HTML5 presentation of search results.  so for search now offering Google, Yahoo, and MSFT Bing.

· rolling out iBooks to iPhone and iPod Touch.  can now buy a book on iBooks and download to all three devices at no extra charge (on iPod Touch, iPad, and iPhone).

· Price no change - $199 16G and $299 32G

· AT&T is making an "incredibly generous" upgrade offer (this was out earlier today)….. Up to 6 months of early eligibility for an iPhone 4

· Goes on sale June 24

· FYI - Apple had some difficulty during parts of the presentation today…..AT&T told Bloomberg that it wasn’t responsible for the network failure today….AT&T said it didn’t supply the wifi network for today's presentation.