Apple: The LIVE Blog From Today's iPhone Event

This is the post of the live blog I did today on the Apple iPhone event at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. Please enjoy reading it the first time or again if you were with me earlier today. It reads from my last posting at the top to the very first at the bottom of the page. In other words, start at the bottom and read up!

2:17 PM EST: I have to stop live blogging now as I must do some CNBC TV spots on all this. Hope you enjoyed the live blog as much as I did writing it.

2:16 PM EST: He calls Jobs the "world's greatest entrepreneur." Entrepeneurship really matters. The best way to predict the future is to invent it. At KPCB, the second best thing is to fund it.

Doerr announces iFund to support development for iPhone. We decided to devote $100 million to this project.

2:13 PM EST: One last thing: this is the Kleiner Perkins Venture Capital announcement. John Doerr joins Steve on stage. They embrace. Doerr is wearing a sweatshirt and black T-shirt. He refers to Jobs as the "supreme commander of the rebels."

2:12 PM EST: All of this will be delivered in the iPhone 2.0 software update. Beta release goes out today. Shipping to every iPhone user in June, and it will be free. That could be a disappointment to some who thought all of this would be happening far sooner.

The same software will run on the iPod Touch.

Keep in mind, this software release may correspond with the oft-rumored 3G version of iPhone which could be released around the same time.

2:08 PM EST: The developer picks the price, the developer gets 70 percent of the revenue. No credit card fees, no hosting fees, no marketing fees. Apple keeps the 30 percent. And no charge to developers if they want to distribute a free application. There will be some limitations. No porn. No malicious software.

2:07 PM EST: Jobs: Tap the install button of the app you're looking for and it's loaded onto your phone. There will also be a new part of the iTunes store for these apps. When the developer of the app updates it, you will automatically be notified and you can instantly get the new version.

Apple iPhone
AP
Apple iPhone

2:06 PM EST: Jobs: What we call the App Store. We're gonna put it on every single iPhone (as a new home screen icon) with the next software update. Meaning developers will be able to reach every single iPhone user.

2:03 PM EST: Steve Jobs back on stage.

2: 00 PM EST: Last, Sega. Ethan Einhorn showing Super Monkey Ball for iPhone. Terrific, flexible and powerful software development kit.

1:59 PM EST: Next, ePocrates, a major software developer for physicians. Glenn Keighly is speaking. Developing applications for the iPhone is like no developing for no other platform. Again, another key partner showing how the device can work with enterprises, like hospitals.

1:55 PM EST: Up next, AOL and a company rep, Rizwan Sittar, showing AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) for iPhone. Sittar says he has never used a Mac and had the app up and running in under 5 days.

1:52 PM EST: Salesforce is a key partner because it speaks to the possible power of iPhone as an enterprise tool.

1: 49 PM EST: Up next, salesforce.com. Chuck Dietrich from salesforce. "How excited we are to bring software as a service to the iPhone."

1: 48 PM EST: You can customize the game on the iPhone, creating your own characters. He says it took only two days to get the complete software tools up and running.

1: 47 PM EST: Travis and his team created an iPhone version of the game "Spore," using iPhones accelerometer. The idea of "Spore" is to eat everything smaller than you, and avoid anything larger than you.

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1: 45 PM EST: Now showing what some software developers could create in two weeks using the new iPhone SDK. Many had never used a Mac before. Electronic Arts is one of the key partners part of this trial. Travis Boatman now on stage from EA.

1:35 PM EST: Still in the depths of the tech tools developers can use. Now Forstall is demo'ing how all of this works.

1: 29 PM EST: We think we're years ahead of any other mobile device, says Forstall.

1: 28 PM EST: Forstall is still going through the highly technical tools that developers will now have access to as they create new apps specifically for iPhone.

1: 24 PM EST: For iPhone software development, there's now automatic power management for creators. It's a key tool when your talking power-sensitive apps in the mobile world.

1: 23: PM EST: Forstall:We took everything we knew about object-oriented software creation, but moved away from keyboard and mouse to create a new, touch-based creation tool.

1: 21 PM EST: Starting today, third party developers can begin using the same development tools we do to develop apps.

1: 20 PM EST: Scott Forstall is now talking about software developers kit. He's giving an update on Web Apps, online tools that developers can use to create new programs. He says there are now over 1,000 web apps available for iPhone.

Showcasing Facebook, calling it a really dynamic web application. Bank of America is the largest U.S. bank, and also the industry leader in mobile banking. Already, the iPhone is the most popular device used by mobile banking customers at BofA, accounting for 25 percent of all its mobile banking transactions.

1:18 PM EST: Exchange, live, working on the iPhone. Enterprise is a very complex environment. Now working with Nike to test the iPhone. Also working with Disney .

1:13 PM EST: The cool thing about the push technology, and Exchange on the iPhone, is that the sync with all your desktop Exchange data happens wirelessly. Very slick.

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1:11 PM EST: Schiller is now demo'ing the new Exchange server capabilities.

1:10 PM EST: Push email, push calendar, push calendar and everything else from Exchange built directly into the iPhone. All directly from the Exchange server.

1:09 PM EST: Schiller is now drawing the comparison between iPhone and "older generation" smart phones. The icon on the screen behind him looks suspiciously like a BlackBerry!

1:08 PM EST: Confirmed: new iPhone completely compatible with Microsoft Exchange.

1:07 PM EST: Enterprise clients want push email, push calendar, push contacts, global address lists, Cisco IPsec VPN, certificates and identities, WPA2/801.8, enforced security, device config and remote wipe. We are now doing all of these things in the next release of the iPhone software. (Applause)

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CNBC.com

1:05 PM EST: He's talking about big corporate clients, like Genentech (Chairman there, Arthur Levinson, sits on Apple's board) and that the company already uses thousands of iPhones. Same with Stanford University. He says, "it's an incredible device for the enterprise."

1:04 PM EST: Phil Schiller, SVP of worldwide marketing, now talking iPhone for business users.

1:03 PM EST: Here comes stats: in just 8 months, iPhone garners 28 percent marketshare, second only to RIM at 41 percent of the smart phone market. Remarkable, says Jobs.

Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs

1 PM EST: Welcome to the live blog of the Apple iPhone event. Apple event is beginning. Steve Jobs on stage.

Questions? Comments? TechCheck@cnbc.com