Everything You Need to Know About Today’s iPhone 4S Event

Today is a big day for Apple news. If you’ve gotten lost in the growing pile of announcements, here’s a helpful recap of the main highlights from Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event.

Today Tim Cook and co. talked about iOS 5, iCloud, and the iPhone 4S. Check inside for everything you need to know…

Tim Cook talked Apple numbers.

  • 357 Apple retail stores are now in 11 countries
  • The iPhone 4 now makes up half of the iPhone market
  • 125% increase in year-over-year iPhone sales
  • iPhone is #1 in customer satisfaction, 70% of its users are very satisfied (next in line is HTC with 49%)
  • Apple now controls 5% of the mobile phone market (not just smartphones, all handsets)
  • Every state in America has an iPad program either deployed, or in pilot
  • Over 1,000 schools have one iPad for every student

Apple unveiled a new iPhone app called “Cards.”

  • Let’s you create personal, professional cards and send them to your friends

iOS 5 will be made available to the public on October 12th.

  • iOS 5 betas have been seeded to over 100,000 developers

Apple introduced the “Find My Friends” social network for iOS 5.

  • It’s basically a foursquare-like check-in service that tells your friends and family where you are. You can see where your friends are and share photos, etc.

iCloud is coming October 12th, iTunes Match later this month.

  • Cloud will be available for all users when iOS 5 is launched to the public.
  • iTunes Match isn’t ready yet, so expect that service to drop later this month.

Apple updated the iPod nano and iPod touch.

  • 4th gen iPod touch comes in white and starts at $199
  • Updated iPod nano comes with a new user interface and $129 entry price

Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S.

The iPhone 4’s storage was downgraded to 8GB and Apple is now offering that model for only $99. The iPhone 3GS is now offered for free with a two-year carrier contract.

Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S start on Friday, October 7th, with sales starting one week later on October 14th.

To see how the 4S stacks up against the iPhone 4, see this comparison post.

You can watch the entire keynote from today online for free.