IIRC they usually have yes. The fact they aren't streaming this one was news worthy anyway. Given it's Tim Cook's first solo flight (although the rumour is Jobs will be in the audience at least) maybe they felt it better not to have the extra pressure of it being broadcast to the world.

Update :maybe you should consider gatecrashing Covent Garden

Jon

I read somewhere that he was not well enough to attend.

The internets don't seem to be able to handle the strain. Pretty much all the major Apple/tech blogs are falling over in a heap. Endgadget seems to be the most stable. It's all industry numbers so far.

Update : They're demoing an app that allows you to make a greetings card on your phone and have Apple print it and send it for you. yes, it's the Apple Moonpig (if you have shares in Moonpig by the way, I'd sell.)

Update : A lot of demos of iOS 5 features that have already been announced like iMessage and Newstand

Update : iOS 5 ships October 12th, will work with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, both iPads and last 2 generations of iPod Touch.

Update : New Feature 'Find my friends' - you can basically 'ping' your friends (who have given permission for you to) and it'll place them on a map for you

Update : new revision of the IPod nano. Bigger capacity (IIRC), 16 new clock faces including a mickey mouse watch and the Nike integration is better. 8GB=$129, 16GB=$149, I'm thinking £99 and £129.

Update : new ipod Touch. Now available in white.

Update : It's the iPhone 4S. Dual Core A5 and a beefier graphics chip in the same enclosure. Camera is up to 8MP.

Update : Ah, they've redesigned the antennas - they're actually making a big thing about it. And by the looks of things, the 4S is HSDPA+. Looks like it'll be in the shops October 14th.


Jon

No surprise iPhone 5 like some predicted - just the 4S.

Confirmed exactly what I was expecting.

'Humble' personal assistant?
No sale.
I want one like Bender Bending Rodríguez. Full of attitude and booze.

I was a bit off with the new nano prices - £115 and £129. I wonder why the smaller one is so much more expensive....

As for the assistant thing I just want Stephen Fry to do the voice recording of it's responses in the style of Jeeves. 'Navigate a route to the kebab shop via the Dog & Partidge? Are you entire sure that's wise, sir?'

Jon

Well I'll be getting it, if for no other reason so that I get a good price on my current iPhone.

I'm happy with the hardware, the extra stuff packed into the camera looks good, and Siri is interesting (I wonder when we get it on Mac OS).
I'm less happy Apple is keeping the ageing 3GS alive, it puts more constraint on devs.

I thought that it would be minimal upgrades. A5 was signposted, more memory seemed a decent bet, but other than that it seems all the changes were in the software. The find my friend feature was nice.

So today the phone was released and people queued for it in apple stores. What I would like to know is did they pay the full price of the handset? How much are the 4s models without a contract buying from apple directly?

quite expensive. I know, I'm surprised too.

Well the 16gb for £499 isn't too bad. HTC Sensation XE costs £499 at Amazon right now, a comparable handset, even with less memory (4gb). BB Bold 9900 costs about £450 too. Galaxy S2 is pretty cheap with 16gb @ £400. However 32gb and 64gb are a bit pricey in terms of money spent on a phone.

And I think not getting your phone subsidised by a network is a bit silly. I understand that some people have enough money so they don't need to worry about getting a £500 phone every 12 months but I think those are a minority out of all of those who queued. But I guess it must be worth it for them, otherwise they wouldn't have queued. Looking at the picture it's mostly young people so that would explain the irrationality I guess. Anyway, good for them...

For me, I've worked out that it's cheaper to get a £35/month contract with the subsidised handset.

For the 16GB version, here's my breakdown at Tesco:
Contract (12 months): £35 * 12 = 420
Handset: £230
Total: £650

Same version on it's own:
Contract: Any supplier @ £15 * 12 = 180
Handset: £499
Total: £679

Plus I can make between £250-£400 on my old phone hopefully.
This year I'm thinking of getting the 32GB version as I've had a couple of close calls this year (mainly when the 1GB Infinity Blade wanted to update....)