@Ryan He's on vacay!!! He'll be missed...but our pre-show team is awesome...listen in.
We will be turning off comments at 9:30 a.m PT -- so chime in now.
So for folks just getting on...our onsite team is just now getting settled. They should be on with live updates very soon.
Hello, everyone. I’m Shara Tibken, a senior writer for CNET News. I’m online at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in downtown San Francisco, conveniently located only a few blocks from CNET’s offices in the SOMA (South of Market) neighborhood.
The event kicks off at 10 a.m. PT. I’m joined by Scott Stein, our iOS device and wearables expert, and Dan Ackerman, a section editor here at CNET and our resident computer expert. They’ll both be providing commentary about today’s announcements. Tim Stevens, the head of CNET’s car section, is manning the camera for us.
Today’s event marks the third major project launch for Apple in the past six months. It’s probably going to be more low key than September’s blowout for the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch, which featured a performance by rock band U2. But we’re hoping for something more upbeat than October’s launch, which featured pretty minor iPad updates during a keynote at the Town Hall auditorium at Apple’s headquarters.
The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts seats about 750 people, much less than the 2,000 or so present at the September launch of the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch at the Flint Performing Arts Center in Cupertino.
Yerba Buena is where Apple has held many events in the past few years. The most recent event held at Yerba Buena was the introduction of the iPad Air in October 2013.
The star of today’s event is sure to be Apple Watch. Apple has said the wearable, which starts at $349, will go on sale in April, but there are many details we still don’t know about the device.
We’re likely to hear a lot about the apps that will be offered on Apple Watch, and we also could hear more about where and how Apple will be selling the device. Most of all, Apple CEO Tim Cook needs to give us a reason to buy one of these.
We should hear about other new products, as well, including possibly some new Macs.
But don’t hold your breath for a bigger, so-called “iPad Pro” today. And there’s not going to be an Apple Car despite all the recent chatter about the company working on its own electric vehicle. Apple TV is also a question mark.
Looking around the room, I see a bunch of Apple's top execs. Eddy Cue, head of iTunes/Apple Pay/etc; Jimmy Iovine, the head of Beats brought in with that $3 billion acquisition last year; Phil Schiller, the head of marketing.
Hey all! Scott Stein here. I'm Sitting down next to Shara, Dan and Tim. I'll be hopping on and off during the Apple Watch section (which might be much of today)
We just got the notice the presentation will begin shortly.
My big obvious question: how will Apple address wearables in a way that others haven't, or that will convince more people to hop onboard and buy a watch? Maybe we won't even know that answer clearly today.
And I'm here, too -- @danackerman -- and as I cover computer hardware, you can read into that whatever you want.
We’re about to get underway, judging by the volume of the music. Apple has had a long history with music, and it’s possible Apple could make some news in that area today. Some reports have said Apple plans to launch a new paid streaming music service that's Apple-designed but uses technology and music content from the company’s recent acquisition of Beats.
The iPad seemed like a big iPhone when it debuted. Sometimes first impressions don't tell the story. But we should hear a lot on apps and connectivity.
I'll be tweeting at @jetscott throughout the day.
Right now we're hearing the song "Busy Earnin" by Jungle. That's exactly what Apple's been doing. It made a bigger profit than any company -- EVER -- in the December quarter.
The event itself starts at 10 a.m. PT at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Live onsite are CNET's Shara Tibken, Scott Stein and Dan Ackerman.
For onsite tweets from our live blog team follow, @sharatibken, @Tim_Stevens, @danackerman and @jetscott.
