Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave his last CES keynote on Monday night and while it did mark the end of an era, things are just starting to heat up here in Las Vegas. We’ve got a big day in store that will be packed full of hands-on looks at all of the great devices unveiled during this year’s show, but Qualcomm is kicking things off on Tuesday with the opening keynote for day 1. Qualcomm subsidiary Qualcomm Atheros made several announcements Tuesday morning which included the unveiling of the Skifta Media Shifting Platform, a new wireless content streaming solution, and we’ll likely hear more about them during the keynote. What else might Qualcomm have in store for us? The keynote kicks off at 11:30 a.m. Eastern / 8:30 a.m. Pacific, so hit the break for our live coverage.

11:26AM:We should be getting started in just a few minutes. It looks like the last of the crowd is settling in.

11:31AM:We're told the keynote will begin momentarily.

11:35AM:The lights are dimming, which means this awful music should be ending shortly.

11:37AM:President and CEO of the CEA Gary Shapiro is taking the stage now.

11:39AM:He's talking about "the cause of innovation" and the "health of the global economy."

11:40AM:Shapiro is discussing how innovation helps create jobs and how he has traveled the world discussing innovation. "Every nation wants to be innovative, global leaders share the same desire they want to grow their economies and they want to improve the lives of their citizens."

11:41AM:Twitter helped power the Arab Spring. Broadband and mobile devices enabled global support for the spread of democracy in the middle east.

11:42AM:We're going over all that happened in 2011. Pandora and Spotify showing how music can be monetized, Steve Jobs's passing and more.

11:43AM:"2012 will be marked as a turning point in how innovation is used to solve problems around the world."

11:45AM:Our badge holders are made from recycled materials from last years show. Neat.

11:47AM:Shapiro is basically going over all of the areas of the show floor, from green products such as electric cars to health products and more. Qualcomm's CEO should take the stage shortly.

11:50AM:He's briefly touching on IPv4 moving to IPv6 and spectrum shortage and he hopes we find solutions so that no one is left behind.

11:52AM:"It's your internet and it's your government." Lots of clapping about Shapiro's suggestion that we sign the Declaration of Innovation petition.

11:53AM:"Innovation is CES and it is the pulse of our show."

11:54AM:We're touching on Qualcomm now so we assume CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs should be taking the stage soon.

11:56AM:Paul's passion helped create one of the world's first smartphones. Qualcomm then created an entire ecosystem that allowed for the launch of the world's first app store.

11:57AM:Alright he should be taking the stage and moment now there's a weird crowd on the stage now putting on a bit of a tron-like performance.

11:57AM:Kind of creeped out

11:59AM:Too early in the morning for this kind of techno blasting

11:59AM:Qualcomm chairman and CEO Dr. Paul Jacobs is taking the stage now.

12:01PM:Qualcomm's been in the consumer electronics business for more than 25 years creating mobile tech for phones, tablets, eReaders and more.

12:02PM:"Our mission is to push the boundaries of what's possible in mobile. We invested more than $3 billion in innovation during the past few years and those investments helped drive the 3G revolution. Today, our investments are laying the groundwork for the next generation 4G networks. We've shipped more than 7 billion chipsets worldwide, that makes us the #1 provider of silicon for wireless."

12:03PM:"There are more than 6 billion wireless connections worldwide."

12:03PM:Unlike most speakers, Shapiro is cool with us playing with our phones in the audience.

12:04PM:1.2 billion people access news on their mobile devices, that's 3x the circulation of all newspapers.

12:04PM:In 2011 mobile revenues for the wireless industry reached approximately $1.3 trillion, almost 2% of global GDP.

12:05PM:"the internet changed the world, but mobile is having an even greater impact."

12:05PM:"Modern life is becoming mobile-centric and no where is this more relevant than in emerging countries."

12:05PM:Emerging markets are expected to contribute over 50% of global GDP by 2015. They will be one of the biggest drivers of growth in the years ahead.

12:06PM:2/3 of internet users in emerging markets access the web using their mobile phones. In India, mobile broadband connections surpassed fixed connections. In Indonesia Internet cafes are seeing a hit to their business because their customers are accessing the internet on their mobile devices instead.

12:07PM:More than 1.4 billion new 3G connections are expected in the emerging regions over the next four years.

12:08PM:We're seeing a quick clip of people using their mobile devices around the world. It's kind of inspiring.

12:11PM:Qualcomm.com/CES has the video clip if any of you out there want to watch it.

12:13PM:Jacobs is talking about how Qualcomm works with emerging markets to help people launch their own businesses. Qualcomm provides these people with a package, including a phone, to help them get started. The penetration of mobile phones has increased so much since the start of the project that Qualcomm now has to add data connections. There are over 9000 entrepreneurs now serving more than 1 million customers. More than 47% who stay in the program after 4 months have doubled their income. 100% are profitable and more than 80% are owned by women.

12:16PM:In emerging countries mobile is huge for helping people escape property. Qualcomm Snapdragon is the most advanced and first all-in-one processor on the market. It includes graphics, processing, audio, GPS, and wireless 3G/4G tech all on one chip.

12:16PM:Before Snapdragon devices needed to have multiple chips to have all of those features.

12:17PM:Snapdragon processors now power 300 devices worldwide and 350 more are in development. That includes high-end and low-end products. "Our goal is to enable better phones for every market for the best price possible. We're proud to support the broadest range of mobile operating systems in the industry."

12:17PM:Snapdragon is now creating a lot of buss in the mobile gaming sector and we're working with the top gaming companies. We launched an app called Game Command (like TegraZone) and it offers games that are optimized for Snapdragon.

12:19PM:A mixed martial artist is on stage now to help promote gaming on Snapdragon. CES attendees can visit the Qualcomm booth to try to challenge gamers in a new title called Fight Game Heroes.

12:20PM:In addition to gaming, Qualcomm is working with Android partners on other fronts, including creating more affordable devices in emerging countries. Qualcomm is providing a blueprint for those manufacturers so they can make the phones cheaper, but still also help them stand out against other devices. By 2015 half of all smartphones will ship to emerging countries.

12:21PM:Qualcomm is playing a leadership role in Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Right now every single Windows Phone device is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop is now taking the stage.

12:22PM:"Over the last year we have been working in close partnership with Qualcomm," Elop said. "One element of our strategy supports opportunities and growth in emerging markets. The first key pillar in our strategy is a focus on increasing our lower-priced mobile business."

12:22PM:"We believe for many people, their mobile phone will be their first experience with the internet."

12:23PM:Nokia is helping entrepreneurs around the world with its handsets and it believes it can push it further with Qualcomm's Snapdragon technology. "Nokia is a gateway to the world."

12:24PM:"Windows Phone offered an alternative to patterns that are all too common in other ecosystems. In October we introduced the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800, the first "real" Windows Phones. Nokia Lumia has opened the Windows Phone gateway to the world."

12:25PM:"Yesterday, at CES, we announced our intentions to spread the Lumia brand to North America." It will launch the Nokia Lumia 900 n AT&T and the 710 on T-Mobile. The 800 and 710 will also be available on Telus and Rogers in Canada.

12:26PM:Elop is covering some of the specs of the Lumia 900 now, which we've already covered so be sure to read more about it on the homepage! We'll also be bringing you a hands on in just a few hours once the show floor opens.

12:26PM:"Nokia understands developed markets. Nokia also understands emerging markets. With Qualcomm we will address the unique needs of partners around the world."

12:27PM:"Our latest S4 series Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets will set the bar higher" - Paul Jacobs

12:28PM:"Snapdragon S4 will power your TV, your ultra compact notebook," as well as smartphones. The devices based on S4 Snapdragon processors will be on the market early this year. There are more than 20 manufacturers on board and 70 device designs already in the pipeline. Windows 8 will also support ARM and Snapdragon, and Qualcomm sees that as a great opportunity to "flex its muscles."

12:29PM:"Windows 8 is Windows reimagined and together with the S4 processor it's going to enable instant-turn on PCs... metro style apps will be kept up-to-date all the time, and it will do that while conserving battery life. That is something that we in the mobile industry know a lot about."

12:30PM:"Our leadership with Snapdragon is enabling us to work with PC manufacturers to deliver the lightest and thinnest PCs that are always on. Today, for the first time ever, you're going to see Windows 8 running on Snapdragon S4 and running on an AT&T 4G LTE network." Sweet we're pumped to see that.

12:31PM:We're seeing a brief demo of a Windows 8 tablet running on an S4 Snapdragon processor. Looks pretty swift and the mobile broadband option allows for 4G LTE through AT&T. "And, by the way, no fan." Wow. Lots of applause there.

12:32PM:Jacobs is now discussing how Qualcomm is investing heavily in the connected home and how it's working with consumer electronics manufacturers to create devices, like home appliances, that all talk together using HiFi technology.

12:33PM:Qualcomm and Lenovo have the world's first Android-based Snapdragon powered TV and it will first launch in China. It's here today. Liu Jun, senior vice president of Lenovo is taking the stage now.

12:34PM:Jun says Lenovo believes that all the new devices will be connected and powered by the cloud. "We are transforming Lenovo from a leading personal computer company to a leading personal internet device company."

12:34PM:"This year, we are bringing you the world's first Snapdragon based TV, the Lenovo smart TVs."

12:36PM:The TV looks pretty awesome, although its display looks pretty small from our seats. It has its own smart UI and application platform. From the main menu you can access internet applications and users can gesture to switch screens. No keyboard is required, the device has integrated voice control embedded in the remote. Pretty awesome looking technology. During the demo someone searched Ocean and it found a clip and then said "play video" and the clip started. Lots of applause.

12:36PM:The TV runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and has a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor. It can run the latest applications and can run console quality games. We're getting a demo of a racing game now.

12:38PM:Instead of needing a console you can just run an Android game on the television. We're looking at a Gameloft title called Asphalt Adrenaline 6. The graphics actually look decent even though they are blown up on the TV screen. Curious how the controls work, though..

12:38PM:"What we have seen today is just a start." - Jun

12:39PM:The TV will be on exhibit here so we're going to check that out for sure later today.

12:40PM:Jacobs wants to touch on education now, beyond the confines of the classroom.

12:40PM:"We think the eReader is the next mobile device to revolutionize the classroom."

12:41PM:"We believe to be truly effective, eReaders must deliver both text and video and have to be usable indoors and out." QUalcomm's Mirasol technology addresses all of those issues. It uses bio-mimicry which is inspired by the way a butterfly uses its wings to create power."

12:42PM:Jacobs is introducing a new eReader from a Chinese partner called Hanvon CAT eReader. It has more than 150,000 titles and 100 Chinese newspapers. More than 90% of the content is in color, it clearly runs Android given the controls at the bottom of the device. It looks neat but we're not overly blown away. It will be available next month in China.

12:43PM:500 million children in India lack adequate schools. Even with funding it will take too long to build brick and mortar schools, so mobile devices can help children learn now instead of waiting for infrastructure to be built.

12:45PM:Qualcomm has partnered with Sesame Workshop in India to help children in the New Delhi area. It helps prepare kids for school by delivering mobile material to their phones. Vuforia, another technology, uses the camera's cell phones and uses 3D graphics to overlay 3D graphics on top of the real world objects. It reminds us of augmented technology stuff. It's already used by 17,000 developers on 400 smartphones and tablets and is used in 300 Android and iOS devices. Sesame Workshop uses it and the president and CEO H. Melvin Ming is taking the stage to talk more.

12:46PM:"Qualcomm's Vuforia offers an exciting new dimension for mobile experiences" - Ming. "We're working together with Qualcomm to maximize learning on the platform." Now we're watching Rover Monster demo how it all works and I'm scared.

12:48PM:We're looking at a Sesame Street playset that allows children to use Sesame Street play pieces and when a camera is pointed at them from a tablet or smartphone they come to life. Similar to what we've seen with other augmented reality applications but this should be fun for kids.

12:49PM:Basically the tablet makes the playset come to life using Qualcomm's Vuforia technology. Qualcomm has a focus on empowering its partners to create intelligent toys.

12:51PM:Grover is rambling about something now.

12:52PM:Ok Paul Jacobs is back on the stage. "As you just saw, we're working hard to drive Augmented Reality to the next level. Qualcomm's tech is the first to recognize multiple 3D objects at the same time and it works at any angle, a full 360 degrees."

12:53PM:Qualcomm is also focused on healthcare and is working on new tools to help medical professionals treat patients. Qualcomm's light division launched a new innovative health solution that captures and delivers medical data and deliver it to any database formrom any wireless device. It's investing $100 million to help capitalize new developments in this field.

12:54PM:Dr. Eric Topol, the chief academic officer of Scripps Health just took the stage, he has a new book out that's being released here at CES. "We're preparing for a consumer healthcare revolution," Topol says.

12:56PM:One device allows users to view a cardiogram on their smartphone. It's called the Alive Core and you can simply put your finger on the back of a device and the cardiogram starts popping up on the screen. Pretty amazing stuff, maybe I can save money on my EKGs. "You can send it to your Facebook friends or your doctor," he joked, but he said he actually used it on a flight to diagnose a heart attack and save a life on the plane.

12:57PM:Now we're seeing a watch that shows all of its wearer's vital signs. In shows blood pressure (non invasive), respiratory rate, oxygen in the bloodstream, temperature and the heartbeat. "It's like an ICU on the wrist." It can change hospital beds to monitor beds, and when it's in the home and on the mobile front, it means you can look at your phone. "A culture of cybercondriacs could be created."

12:58PM:400 million diabetics in the world, over a billion pre-diabetics. The biggest problem is controlling blood sugars. We've never had continuous sugar levels being reported on a phone, but he's showing a product that allows a user to view their glucose level ever minute. It's a widget on an Android phone, pretty awesome. When the app is open you can view trends by hour, every 6 hours and more. We're honestly pretty impressed.

1:00PM:We're headed to an era where we can carry a DNA sequence on our cell phone and know which drugs we will react positively or negatively to.

1:01PM:Apparently heart attacks begin to happen a week or two ahead of time, and there's technology that will soon allow users to be alerted ahead of time through their smartphone. "It's about digitization of man."

1:03PM:"The Qualcomm Foundation is pioneering new health technology," - Paul Jacobs, "and to do this, we're partnering with the X Prize Foundation. CEO Dr. Peter Diamandis is on the stage now.

1:03PM:X Price Foundation wants to drive medical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.

1:05PM:X Prize originally had a $10 million competition to challenge teams to take 3 people into space twice in two weeks.

1:05PM:Now X Prize is offering prizes in life sciences, environmental areas and more. We're not sure how this relates to Qualcomm right now other than the two are partnered.

1:06PM:Ok, he's announcing the Qualcomm Tri Quarter prize to bring the health technology from Star Trek to life. Sounds like they should be talking to the doctor who just took the stage before the X Prize CEO.

1:08PM:It's a $10 million purse, open to teams anywhere on the planet, and the goal is to revolutionize healthcare so we can have everything in the palm of our hands. The winning team has to be able to diagnose themselves without using a doctor or going to a physician and it has to be easy and fun to use. "If we can make this happen, we are going to drive an era of healthcare abundance so that anyone with a mobile device will be able to have healthcare in the palm of their hands."

1:10PM:"We're only at the beginning of what's possible for mobile," - Paul Jacobs. "We're shipping more than a million chips every single day. We're excited about these trends we've talked about this morning. Whether you're from a developed country or a developed country at the end of the day we're all living in mobile countries. There are incredible opportunities ahead in this age of mobile."

1:10PM:"We hope you think of Qualcomm as your partner on that journey. Mobile is transformative. It powers us. It inspires us. At the epicenter of all that is you." That's all! Thanks for joining us everyone!

It’s the end of an era. Microsoft announced last month that this year’s Consumer Electronics Show keynote will be the company’s last for the foreseeable future. The show definitely won’t be the same without Microsoft’s chief executive officer Steve Ballmer kicking things off with his unique brand of charisma, but all good things must come to an end. According to reports, Microsoft won’t have anything big to announce at this year’s keynote. Instead, Ballmer will recap the strong year Microsoft had in 2011 and discuss the company’s core consumer-facing products moving into 2012 including Windows, Windows Phone, Xbox and more. Mr. Ballmer always puts on a show, however, and we’re sure he’ll toss in a few surprises to keep things interesting. The keynote kicks off at 9:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 p.m. Pacific, so hit the break to follow all the action — and Ballmeresque yelling — as it unfolds.

8:54PM:Alright we're all seated and ready for Steve Ballmer to take the stage. Hopefully we hear some interesting news, although Microsoft did say earlier that it could just be a recap of the year. There's country music playing but we're not sure who it is.

8:55PM:Googled it for you, it's Scotty McCreery: Better than that. Not bad if you're a country fan.

8:57PM:We should be getting under way in about 30 minutes or so, enough time for you to order Dominos. Unfortunately we can't leave our seats to find a water fountain.

9:10PM:General admission is still filing in, we're just sitting here listening to the music.

9:14PM:Should be kicking off in about 20 minutes or so.

9:20PM:The music is still blaring but it looks like the people have slowly stopped flooding into the room.

9:27PM:We're being told to take our seats so this should be kicking off shortly.

9:29PM:And the lights are lowering!

9:30PM:"This place about to blow" is blaring over the speakers.

9:31PM:President and CEO of the CEA Gary Shapiro is taking the stage. "Welcome to the 2012 CES."

9:34PM:"In 1995 Bill Gates took to the CES stage for the first time to speak to the CES workshop, a small workshop. Bill walked into the Hilton by himself with his head buried in a book. He made some remarks, and then I fielded written questions from the audience. Bill said this revolution would be social. That was in 1995. In 1998 they launched a new concept, the CES keynote. We invited Bill [and others] to become the first CES keynoters. For 14 years Bill and his successor have taken the stage. As you've heard, Microsoft is taking a break from the keynote stage is 2013. As a company, Microsoft uniquely changed the world and productivity, more, Microsoft keynotes drew press. Microsoft took a risk on us early and we both benefitted. In the technology world we recognize change is the only constant. For CES and Microsoft to be fresh, innovative and enticing we agreed to a pause."

9:35PM:"We have nearly doubled in size since the first CES keynote. I offer gratitude and good will to Microsoft." He's comparing Microsoft to the founding fathers of this nation. "I would be shocked if a Microsoft leader does not return to this stage again in the next few years. Please join me in welcoming the CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer."

9:36PM:Ballmer is on stage now and Shapiro is giving him a photo album highlighting Microsoft and CES together. Aww.

9:37PM:We hope this isn't just a history of CEA and Microsoft together..

9:37PM:There's a weirdo techno mashup of Bill Gates making announcements on stage. The Rock has a few appearances. It's weird.

9:39PM:Ryan Seacrest is taking the stage. "Thank you for that one scream over there." Might have been Corey.

9:40PM:He's thrilled to be here, not sure if the audience feels the same way.

9:40PM:We're going to talk about and hear what's next for Microsoft and the tech industry. Seacrest is promising Microsoft's latest gear so hopefully we hear some new announcements.

9:41PM:Seacrest is asking what we can expect. "Tonight I have a tremendous show, frankly," Ballmer said. "We have a chance in the next year to raise our game and product line to the next level across phones, tablets, TVs and the Xbox. The heart and soul of that will be our feature attraction tonight, the metro user interface.

9:41PM:"when you said Metro you looked at me in a strange way" - Ryan Seacrest.

9:43PM:We're starting with Windows Phone. This is a weird interview format where Seacrest is interviewing Ballmer. "We took a different approach than everyone else and we have a unique experience," Ballmer said. "If you take a look at it, the other phones all make the sea of icons the sea of applications the view of the world. What we've done is Windows Phone is have a better way by taking your people... and we put them right out there in front of you. It puts people first."

9:44PM:"It all gets put together for you right on the screen." Basically we're going over what we already know about Windows Phone as a mobile platform, nothing really new here.

9:45PM:Derek Snyder the Windows Phone product manager is on stage now. He's explaining the variety of features available from various Windows Phone vendors. And he's showing us what Windows Phone software looks like. Not sure why we're going over all of these features again.

9:50PM:Sorry internet trouble real fast there

9:54PM:The Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 will also launch in Canada on Telus and Rogers

9:56PM:Ballmer and Seacrest are going over the Lumia 900, which we'll bring you a hands-on of shortly. Nokia just announced it an hour or so ago so be sure to check out our live coverage of that on the BGR.com homepage.

9:56PM:Ryan Seacrest seems to like the phone.

9:57PM:Seacrest is playing with the HTC Titan II also and sounds somewhat excited about it. Now we're going to discuss Windows PCS.

9:58PM:Ballmer said there are now 1.3 billion Windows-powered machines in use today.

9:59PM:Windows is the most popular smart device around, Ballmer said.

10:01PM:There's a short clip of the latest Windows 7 powered devices playing.

10:01PM:Ballmer said change is the essence of this industry. Two things are constant. 1: Things change. 2: People don't want to compromise on what they have today. They want the best of what they have and the best of what they want.

10:01PM:We see a couple of the new ultrabooks rolling through the video.

10:03PM:Chief marketing officer for Windows Tami Reller is discussing the benefits of Windows 7. This is really just a recap of everything Microsoft has done this year, we suppose. Hoping something more exciting comes later in the keynote.

10:06PM:We're seeing a demo of how metro UI can be used on larger devices such as touchscreen monitors and laptops or tablets. There's a lot of swiping, natural touch-based gestures similar to what users do with their Windows Phones. It looks solid.

10:06PM:An NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip is powering the demo device.

10:08PM:We're seeing a demo of the Windows Store and cut the rope. Neat, but it's hard to be impressed after seeing so many stores lately.

10:11PM:We saw a quick look at the Windows 8 app store but it's hard to be impressed after we've seen so many new ones proliferate the market.

10:13PM:We saw a quick look at the Windows 8 app store but it's hard to be impressed after we've seen so many new ones proliferate the market.

10:14PM:The live tiles remind us a lot of Windows Phone 7.5 tiles but there's a cool zoomed-out feature that lets you see all of your tiles in one place.

10:16PM:Sorry for the multiple entries we're running into internet problems here with multiple devices.

10:16PM:We're looking at some new thin and light notebooks that will surely hit the market this year.

10:18PM:Samsung Series 9. Spectre from HP with the glass lid. A few devices that were unveiled today during CES that should be in consumer's hands soon.

10:18PM:Ballmer said that, by the time this keynote is over, more than 25,000 users will have adopted Windows 7.

10:19PM:A choir is taking the stage singing gospel-style music.

10:20PM:We're being told to watch the LSU game I think.

10:20PM:Oh it's a Tweet Choir. We get it.

10:21PM:Kind of wish we were talking about an Xbox 720 or something instead.

10:22PM:That was entertaining.

10:23PM:Now Seacrest is talking about the Xbox. "Did you expect to go from ground 0 to a household name a decade ago?" Ballmer says he was bullish and patient and that it represents the best of its NDA and Microsoft is really proud of the gaming console.

10:24PM:Ten years later we're the world sales leader. We have over 66 billion Xbox users. perhaps the most amazing things is we have over more than 40 million xbox live subscribers tuning in on a regular basis. Some for games, increasingly it's really an entertainment hub."

10:24PM:"Did I expect it 10 years ago? No. But I bet on it 10 years ago."

10:24PM:Now we're going to see an overview of the new Xbox software. This is all just a big recap..

10:25PM:But Ballmer does promise something "even more different" so maybe we'll get lucky.

10:25PM:18 million Kinect Sensors shipped over the past year.

10:26PM:Greg Davison from Microsoft's Xbox team is taking the stage to show us what's new from Xbox (the software update that landed in December).

10:26PM:We're going to see Kinect's voice controls. These are all features that are already available to all Kinect and Xbox owners.

10:27PM:We just saw a demo for searching for Harry Potter using Kinect. It works well.

10:30PM:Now we're seeing how a Lumia 900 with the Windows Xbox Companion can be used to control the Xbox. We've tried this at home with a different device and it actually works quite well.

10:31PM:Comcast Xfinity on Demand's library will soon be launching on Xbox. There's also a new News Corp partnership that will bring The WSJ, Fox content, and IGN to the Xbox video library.

10:32PM:Fox will add Family Guy, The Simpsons, House and more. The new content should be available in 2012.

10:32PM:"We're working with some of the best known creative artists and production companies to create..

10:33PM:Sesame Street Kinect TV just took the stage to demo two-way TV. Are there any kids in the audience?

10:34PM:Microsoft took the current episodes from Sesame Street to turn them into fully interactive experiences. You can use your voice to interact with the show.

10:35PM:They are "watching and playing" Sesame Street. Elmo introduced a move of the day "throw" anda number "4". Now when elmo spills his coconuts children can act and pretend to throw coconuts at Elmo to help him collect them again. You have to see it to understand it better, but the concept is cool.

10:37PM:Now Elmo is taking the stage. Same sort of interactive demo going on.

10:38PM:In this demo the young girl is part of the Sesame Street show and she's interacting with the virtual objects around her.

10:39PM:"The number of things you can do with interactive entertainment, video interactivity together..it's going to be amazing." - Ballmer

10:39PM:"Just as Kinect revolutionized entertainment, we'll see it revolutionize other industries. Education, healthcare and many many more."

10:40PM:Kinect is coming to Windows on February 1st. Pretty big news there folks.

10:40PM:Microsoft is working with more than 200 companies including United Health Group, Toyota, Mattel, American Express, Boeing and many more.

10:41PM:Microsoft Office 2010 is the fastest selling Office version in the history of Office.

10:42PM:We're just going over a few of Microsoft's other projects. Skype users have used more than 300 billion minutes in the last year.

10:42PM:Bing has a 30% market share in combination with Yahoo in the U.S.

10:42PM:The final question: What's next? "Windows 8 is what's next!"

10:43PM:There's nothing more important at Microsoft than Windows.

10:44PM:Metro will be huge for Microsoft across all of its platforms. In 2012 what's next? "Metro Metro Metro!"

10:44PM:"And of course, Windows! Windows! Windows"

10:44PM:That's all folks thanks for joining us!

Nokia recently announced its first Windows Phone for the U.S. market late last year — T-Mobile’s Lumia 710 — but the Finnish vendor has a lot more in store. Today, we finally get our first glimpse at Nokia’s flagship smartphone that is set to launch on AT&T in the near future. The Lumia 900 or Ace, as it is rumored to be named on AT&T, reportedly shares the same look and feel as the Lumia 800 but it packs two big new features: 4G LTE, and a bigger form factor along with a larger display. Are the rumors right? Does Nokia have any other surprises in store? Hit the break for our live coverage of Nokia’s press conference.

6:01PM:Ok we're seated pretty close to the front for this one. Looks like we're going to get started soon. Ready for what's in store? Our bets are on the Lumia 900.

6:02PM:We're going to talk about Nokia's re-entry into the U.S. wireless market for about a half of an hour and then it will break into a Q&A. Stephen Elop is taking the stage.

6:04PM:Elop is going over the global markets that Nokia currently has a presence in. The second pillar of Nokia's strategy was to focus on its smartphones ( the first was having a global presence). Elop said Nokia decided to adopt Windows Phone to help achieve that effort.

6:06PM:Today the Lumia is available around the world and on January 11th this week it will begin selling the Lumia 710 here in the U.S. on T-Mobile (be sure to read our full review!).

6:06PM:Elop is going over how great the Lumia 800 and 710 are be want to hear more about Nokia's new products.

6:07PM:Nokia will push head with the sales and marketing of its phones to be "successful in this war." He's talking about battles and wars, clearly Nokia wants to fight Android and iOS and fight hard. "So today, I am very pleased to introduce the third device in the Lumia product portfolio, the Nokia Lumia 900."

6:09PM:It's Nokia's first 4G LTE smartphone and it will land exclusively on AT&T. (Sorry Verizon fans!)

6:09PM:It will initially launch in black and cyan. It ahs a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display.

6:10PM:It has Carl Zeiss optics for high quality images as well as a front-facing camera.

6:11PM:Nokia's Kevin Shields is coming up to give us a demo. "It has a bold, beautiful and balanced design...It was our focus in the U.S. market to really allow us to give birth to the Lumia 900."

6:12PM:Like the Lumia 800, Lumia 710 and Nokia N9 it has a polycarbonate shell.

6:14PM:We're going over how great the cameras are on the Lumia 900. We've typically been impressed with the lenses but we'll reserve our full judgement until we actually play with one in person. Hopefully we'll be able to do that soon.

6:15PM:"The front has an F 2.4 aperture lens for letting in as much light as the back camera on nearly every other smartphone out there." This should allow for some pretty solid front-facing video chats.

6:17PM:We're going over the People card and live tile stuff now, including built-in Facebook chat. These are features available on other Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) devices, too. Nokia Drive, however, is also included and it's a solid option for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation.

6:19PM:Nokia will continue to innovate of ESPN Sports Hub to deliver more features to its users throughout the year. In addition, Nokia has created a panoramic view for the CNN news application. Nokia worked with CNN on iReporter — the largest citizen journalism network in the world — and allows users to go back in time and select the image that they want to submit for their iReport.

6:19PM:"We feel like the Lumia 900 really stands out from the smartphone crowd. Thank you."

6:20PM:Microsoft's Steve Ballmer is taking the stage to discuss more about how the two are partnering.

6:22PM:Nokia has about 50,000 apps in the Marketplace and it's ramping up each day. Nokia "got off to a fast start. In a sense, you can say everything seems to take a long time. But we signed a contract to work together less than a year ago at this stage in the game. To go to concept and discussion to real engineering partnership to delivering the first round of Lumia devices is fantastic. The Lumia 900 is another milestone in that path.

6:23PM:'When you pick up and touch and love your Lumia... you'll find it's a fantastic system."

6:24PM:"The work we're doing will pay off for users, developers, operators and I trust our two companies. I congratulate Nokia and we look forward to exciting a lot of customers with this new product."

6:24PM:Stephen Elop is talking again. To share with you a little more and what it means to AT&T and the U.S., Ralph de la Vega will take the stage.

6:25PM:"AT&T will be the first carrier to deliver 4G LTE Windows Phones. We are seeing the best of Nokia's past with the best of its future. Nokia will be back in the U.S. in a very big way. The Lumia will be available in the coming months."

6:26PM:"Congratulations Steve, and welcome back!"

6:27PM:"We anticipate sales will start in the months immediately ahead. We're very excited to be partnering with Microsoft and AT&T to bring the Lumia 900 to customers here in the United States. I want to say how wonderful it is to be back in the U.S. with Nokia." Now we're moving to Q&A.

6:28PM:One question was about whether Verizon would carry an LTE phone. The answer is that Nokia isn't announcing that today but clearly they want to deliver LTE devices to as many U.S. consumers as possible, so we can probably expect that.

6:31PM:One question about how Nokia might be fragmenting its devices by offering special software (Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps, etc). "We do need some elements of differentiation within the ecosystem. We try to strike where we are doing unique experiences but don't fracture the entire ecosystem. We won't introduce different APIs that would lead to fragmentation." - Stephen Elop

6:31PM:There's no pricing as of yet but Nokia's intention is to enter the market aggressively. Hopefully that means lower-priced devices.

6:32PM:After the European launch, Nokia's focus is now on marketing and sales.

6:33PM:"We have very specific plans to move down in price point segmentation as well. We will push down with successive product introductions ahead." Sounds like we'll hear lower priced devices. "There's lots still ahead."

6:34PM:Any plans to push up to 16GB or 32GB of storage? "There's a lot of work with Microsoft how we can take care of cloud storage in a more efficient way, but we're certainly considering the requirements as we go forward."

6:35PM:"It's our intention to have broad coverage with the Lumia portfolio" and that will happen in 2012. "In the early part of 2012, there's lots more to come."

6:36PM:Lots of silly questions like where the mapping software comes from (Nokia acquired NAVTEQ a few years back, so that's where it comes from).

6:36PM:Nokia plans to take advantage of location based services within Nokia Maps to make it a differentiator in the future.

6:38PM:Will Nokia enter the tablet market? Nokia believes if it can do what it has with smartphones that it could be a possibility, but really Elop didn't give a clear answer.

6:39PM:Will 4G LTE kill the great battery life of Windows Phone and why doesn't Nokia use quad-core? "You have a high quality user experience but it doesnt require multiple cores to do that. Quad-core multicore relates to performance as well. The vast amount of time they are just using power and taking battery life down. Our hope is that we can communicate about the experience and show how people's lives are impacted by bringing their information to the surface of the experience. LTE does have power implications, you'll notice that the 1830 mAh battery in the Lumia 900 is clearly taking steps in terms of battery configuration, but also we worked with Qualcomm and Microsoft to work on the battery life. The battery life on the Lumia 900 will be very superior to other LTE devices.

6:40PM:Why no NFC? "As we've pursued the first devices we had to make priority decisions about what we could include. You can anticipate we'll include it over time. It's personally something I believe in."

6:41PM:Someone asked about Nokia's interest in buying RIM. "We clearly see an opportunity in the B to B marketplace. The Lumia products we have and planned combined with the great services from microsoft such as Microsoft 365, that combo gives us an effective collection of tools to compete with others in the business market." Sounds like a 'No." to us.

6:41PM:That's it folks! Thanks for joining us.

We saw a few new Samsung phones revealed during AT&T’s press conference Monday morning. Coming soon to AT&T’s smartphone lineup are the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD, but the South Korea-based vendor has much more in store for us at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Smartphones, tablets, computers, HDTVs and more will debut from Samsung this week at CES, and Monday’s press conference is where we’ll get our first live taste of what’s in store. The event is scheduled to kick off at 5:00 p.m. Eastern / 2:00 p.m. Pacific, so hit the break for all the action as it unfolds.

4:55PM:Ok guys, we're inside and seated and the show should start in the next few minutes. The room is absolutely packed — and when we say packed, we mean there are probably 1,000 people in a room that holds 600.

4:57PM:According to an announcement that just came over the PA, we'll be starting on time in about 4 minutes. We're not buying it.

5:01PM:Wow, looks like we're starting on time! Light are down, music is loud... Here we go.

5:02PM:"Pushing Boundaries" is the name of the event, and samsung's Boo-Keun Yoon is on stage.

5:03PM:Samsung is the world's No.1 TV brand for the sixth consecutive year. It sold 2 TVs per second last year. Samsung also sold more than 300 million mobile phones last year.

5:04PM:For the third straight year, Samsung was also the world's top refrigerator brand. "That was our past, but were here to see the future of electronics products."

5:04PM:"We must break down the walls that exist between devices." Just like we all could have guessed, Samsung is all about connected devices this year.

5:05PM:Samsung wants users to enjoy and share content across multiple devices any time, anywhere. TVs, tablets, phones and so on.

5:06PM:Samsung is updating its TV lineup and Smart TVs are the focus. Samsung's smart TVs can "listen, see, and do what it wants" and you never have to touch a control.

5:07PM:Sharing from TVs to other personal devices is also a huge focus for Samsung's new lineup. And, of course, 3D is still a big focus. There will be a lot of new 3D content as well.

5:08PM:Samsung also wants to make sure that its new TVs are smart enough to keep evolving and "getting smarter every year."

5:10PM:"We're now watching a demo video. Samsung's new TVs can be controlled by voice or using tons of different gestures. Not quite Minority Report, but very cool none the less. Users can drag menu items around and make selections just by waving and poking.

5:11PM:Tim Baxter, president of Samsung Electronics in the U.S. is on stage now. Samsung's new lineup is all about content, services and technology. Connectivity to other devices and to the cloud are obviously a big deal as well.

5:12PM:Samsung's ES8000 LED TV is the company's flagship model for 2012.

5:13PM:It is absolutely gorgeous. "You won't find a more powerful TV." It packs a dual-core processor and it supports multitasking.

5:13PM:Users can jump from app to app just like they can on a tablet, and the app's state will be saved.

5:14PM:The bezel around the screen is very, very thin, and it's available in sizes up to 75 inches. Yes, 75 inches.

5:14PM:The ES8000 also features an integrated camera for web conferencing and more.

5:16PM:25,000 companies are now building apps for Samsung's smart TVs.

5:17PM:Samsung will be putting Media Hub on its TVs this year as well. Buy content on one device, watch on all devices.

5:18PM:Since 2010, Samsung has sold more than 12 million 3D TVs. In 2012, half of Samsung's TV lineup will be 3D.

5:18PM:

5:19PM:This year, Samsung is focusing on bringing much more 3D content to its TVs. One example is NBCUniversal's Battlestar Galactica, which will be coming to Samsung's TVs in 3D this year.

5:20PM:Angry Birds just invaded the press conference. They're hoping around the screen and, obviously, the app will be coming to Samsung's TVs this year.

5:21PM:Samsung is even adding a channel dedicated to animated Angry Birds content. Seriously.

5:23PM:Joe Stinziano, Samsung's SVP, is on stage now. Samsung held a competition recently for developers to bring apps that provide interaction between TVs and smartphones. The winner, a dev who build an app called Party Shots (drink with friends, snap pics, share on a social network) just won $100,000!

5:24PM:Samsung is introducing new signature services for 2012. The first one, Family Story, allows users to upload images and more from a Samsung device and add it to a stream on a TV. Another service provides enhanced parental controls.

5:25PM:Smart Interaction allows users to interact with Samsung's smart TVs using their voices, gestures and even their face.

5:26PM:Users can say things like "channel 2" or "play Black Eyed Peas" and the TV obeys. The TVs will also recognize users by their faces, and display each user's home page and apps automatically.

5:27PM:A new "Smart Evolution" feature in Samsung's 2012 TVB lineup will include open slots in the back of the unit that will allow users to install "kits" in the future to add new features.

5:28PM:And now, another new TV. The Samsung 55-inch "Super OLED" TV. It. Is. Gorgeous.

5:29PM:The TV is out on stage right now and even from the back of the room, we can see how gorgeous the display is. The colors are absolutely remarkable. And since it's OLED, there's no need for color filters. It also eliminates blur, is nearly borderless and is remarkably slim.

5:30PM:And despite being ridiculously thin, it doesn't skimp on features at all. A dual-core process and 3D are packed within this gorgeous set, and it also includes an integrated webcam.

5:33PM:Samsung is introducing a new feature called AllShare Play this year as well. It allows users to wirelessly share content between devices on the same network or over the internet.

5:33PM:Wireless sharing is also built into Samsung's smart cameras and camcorders this year.

5:34PM:In 2012, Samsung will deliver a full line of connected cameras and camcorders, from entry-level on up, that feature integrated Wi-Fi and sharing features.

5:35PM:Samsung will also use Wi-Fi for more than just sharing. An app on a Samsung phone can be used to control a camera remotely, for example.

5:36PM:Samsung's cameras will also be able to email photos right from the device — no need for a PC or even a phone.

5:36PM:Next up... A connected washing machine. Really.

5:37PM:The machine will use AllShare Play to do things like sending alerts when a load is done.

5:38PM:Now we're on to telecommunications. The Galaxy Note is the first device being shown. As announced this morning, the Note will feature LTE and will launch soon from AT&T.

5:39PM:The phone features a 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HD display, and of course, Samsung's new stylus technology "S Pen."

5:40PM:One cool feature of the S Pen: it reads pressure, so the harder you press on the screen, the thicker the line it will draw.

5:41PM:Next up, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE for Verizon Wireless, which includes 4G LTE support, of course.

5:42PM:In short, it's a Tab 7.7 with LTE.

5:43PM:Samsung's Series 9 notebook PC is up next. It's very sleek, and very familiar.

5:45PM:The series 9 weighs just 2.5 lbs and it's 0.5 inches thick. It's the result of over 30,000 hours of development and design, Samsung says. It features a single-shell aluminum body and fingerprint resistance. It also sports a backlit keyboard.

5:45PM:It boots in 9.8 seconds and the battery lasts up to 10 hours on a single charge. Wow.

5:47PM:Samsung also has two new ultrabooks to unveil that fall into its Series 5 category, and a new line of monitors that fall under the Series 9 class.

5:48PM:Tim Baxter is coming back on stage now to wrap things up. Content, services and connectivity are the keys to SAmsung's strategy this year.

5:49PM:That's it guys, thanks for tuning in!

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show doesn’t officially begin until Tuesday, but the action started over the weekend and things will really start to pick up today. LG’s press conference (11:00 a.m. Eastern/8:00 a.m. Pacific) kicked things off earlier this morning, and Samsung (5:00 p.m. Eastern/2:00 p.m. Pacific) and Nokia (6:00 p.m. Eastern/3:00 p.m. Pacific) both have big events scheduled for later today. There’s also Steve Ballmer’s keynote (9:30 p.m. Eastern/6:30 p.m. Pacific) this evening and it will be his last for the foreseeable future. There’s plenty going on indeed — we’ll be covering all the big events — and right now we’re excited to be bringing you live coverage of the AT&T Developer Summit, where CEO Ralph de la Vega will be joined by CMO David Christopher, CTO John Donovan and others. AT&T’s 4G LTE service is alive and kicking here in Las Vegas and we expect LTE to be a hot topic. We also expect the company to take the wraps off of a new device or two, so hit the jump and tune in for all of AT&T’s announcements as they break.

11:58AM:Ok, we're just a few minutes from kick off and the theater here at the Palms is definitely filling up fast.

12:05PM:It looks like we're ready to go — things are starting off with a quick promo video about AT&T's developer programs.

12:07PM:AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega is now taking the stage.

12:08PM:This year's summit is once again sold out — there are close to 2,500 guests from 33 different countries in attendance.

12:09PM:Mobile gaming, "major new announcements" and plenty more are in store, de la Vega says.

12:10PM:AT&T believes the mobile experience has become a central part of users' lives, and developers play a huge role in driving that experience.

12:11PM:"What's good for developers is good for customers," and AT&T is dedicated to helping developers bring apps to market quickly and easily.

12:12PM:CMO David Christopher is now taking the stage.

12:12PM:AT&T was the first carrier to launch a developer program, and it launched 11 years before the iPhone was released.

12:13PM:"We believe applications are one of the primary reasons people buy smartphones." AT&T's developer program has had a huge year according to Christopher.

12:15PM:AT&T API Platform is the first big announcement. It utilizes HTML5 and is a set of tools and SDKs that make developing for AT&T platforms simple yet robust.

12:16PM:The new API platform is all about HTML5. AT&T thinks HTML5 is the answer to addressing fragmentation in the smartphone market. Creating a variety of native apps is difficult, while nearly every major smartphone platform supports HTML5 now.

12:18PM:Christopher is now going through the available APIs. Payments, U-verse, MMS/SMS, Location, Device capabilities and AT&T mHealth are the available APIs for now.

12:21PM:Sorry guys, having some connectivity issues. Joe Tafoya is on stage now to talk about his company Viva Vision.

12:22PM:The company had early access to AT&T's APIs and we're seeing a demo of an HTML5 app called JET that uses multiple AT&T APIs.

12:29PM:The app works with phones and tablets, and it can stream videos right from a U-verse subscriber's library over Wi-Fi or 3G.

12:31PM:99 dollars will get developers access to AT&T's new APIs for a year — that's a limited time offer and no word on future pricing

12:32PM:John Donovan, AT&T CTO, is now on stage to discuss AT&T 4G.

12:33PM:Fast and high quality broadband connectivity is crucial to the success of apps, which are becoming increasingly dependent on fast data connections.

12:35PM:AT&T made 150,000 total network improvements last year, and call retention has now surpassed 99% according to Donovan.

12:39PM:Today, AT&T is also announcing "AT&T Cloud Architect" — a solution that provides fully customizable cloud-based services on which developers can build their own solutions.

12:41PM:Developers will be able to build and scale in real time, and app environments are fully customizable. AT&T calls it the "dynamic cloud." AT&T will also offer hourly and monthly rates depending on developers' needs.

12:43PM:Jim Curry, OpenStack's "Chief Stacker" is now on stage for a quick chat.

12:46PM:AT&T added Visual Voicemail for the iPhone in 2009, which was its first network API. During that year, AT&T's network handled 300 million API calls. In 2012, that figure is expected to reach 10 billion.

12:51PM:AT&T opened three Foundry centers for development last year — one in Palo Alto, one in Plano, TX and one in Israel.

12:55PM:Jeff Bradley is taking the stage now, AT&T's SVP of consumer markets, to talk about AT&T's Power Your Future contest. Here are the finalized for the contest, which asked developers to make environmentally conscious apps.

12:56PM:AT&T gave People Power a huge opportunity according to the company's CEO. The firm's app addresses global climate change, and its goal is to address the drain of power resulting from leaving gadgets plugged in when they're not in use.

1:00PM:The app includes a reminder function that helps users unplug their devices to conserve energy, and it has an automation feature that allows users to cut power to devices from a mobile device. Energy savings can amount to as much as 10-20%.

1:06PM:ARO helping both companies better optimize their apps by minimizing traffic and reducing battery consumption.

1:10PM:ARO is available staring today at developer.att.com/ARO. The company will also open-source the ARO code later this year.

1:12PM:The new AppCenter offers a magazine-like environment that better-facilitates app discovery.

1:12PM:The beta supports HTML5 and Android from the get go (beta is available today) and more platforms are coming.

1:14PM:AT&T hosted a "hackathon" last night that called on devs to build new apps using the new APIs. Devs had just 12 hours to code, and the developers with the three best results are on stage now. They're going to pitch us their apps and the audience will choose a winner.

1:16PM:The second app is HopiChest, a personal health tracking app for kids.

1:17PM:The app allows kids to log their health history, and it features Twitter integration and a rewards system that provides motivation for kids to use the app.

1:19PM:The app lets users to monitor and compare their own sleep habits with average habits and then make adjustments to improve their sleeping habits.

1:19PM:The audience is now voting for their favorite app, and votes are being made via text.

1:20PM:The votes are being texted in, and the results will be shared in a few minutes.

1:20PM:Now AT&T's Glenn Lurie is taking the stage to discuss gaming.

1:22PM:AT&T's vision is to wirelessly connect devices and make them more valuable to customers. Gaming will play a huge role in the mobile experience moving forward.

1:24PM:The global gaming industry is estimated to to have generated $69 billion in 2011 but mobile was only a small portion of that. That is going to change dramatically starting this year, Lurie says.

1:25PM:Sony deputy president Kuni Suzuki is now on stage to discuss the PlayStation Vita, which will launch with embedded 3G on AT&T's network later this quarter.

1:26PM:Sony is committed to driving innovation and leading the charge with connected mobile devices.

1:31PM:The Vita features a vibrant 4-inch OLED display and both 3G and Wi-Fi support. It launched toward the end of last year in Japan.

1:32PM:The Vita for AT&T will launch next month on February 22nd.

1:34PM:The Vita will come with two session-based data plans. 250MB for 14.99 and 2GB for 25 per month, no contract required.

1:35PM:Ralph de la Vega is back on now, and it looks like device announcements are finally coming.

1:36PM:Before we get to devices though, the results are in from the audience poll and we're about to find out who won the dev hackathon.

1:37PM:The winner is... Action X-Ray. The dev who built it will win 5,000 and several other prizes including a featured spot in AT&T's AppCenter.

1:39PM:Ok, it's finally time to see some new devices!

1:41PM:First up... Six new Android devices! The Sony Xperia Ion, an AT&T exclusive is up first.

1:41PM:The Ion launches in the second quarter but no word on pricing.

1:42PM:Next up is the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD. It's basically a Skyrocket with the newer HD Super AMOLED Display.

1:43PM:The Samsung Galaxy Note is now official as well. Samsung's W P Hong in on stage to unveil it.

1:44PM:The Galaxy Note is a monster smartphone that features a 5.3-inch display and it will also be an AT&T exclusive.

1:46PM:The Note delivers the core benefits of a tablet, a smartphone and a user notebook. It supports finger input and stylus input as well.

1:46PM:The stylus is billed as an "S-pen." It delivers fast, responsive performance unlike any previous stylus.

1:49PM:The next three devices are all about bringing LTE to the masses. First is the Samsung Exhilerate, which is made from recycled materials.

1:50PM:Now we have the Pantech Element, which BGR scooped last week, and finally the Pantech Burst.

1:51PM:The Burst and the Exhilarate will launch for less than $50 when they launch in the coming weeks. There's also a promo that bundles the Element tablet and the Pantech Burst for just $249.99 on contract.

1:52PM:The Pantech Element is the first waterproof Android tablet and the Burst is the first truly affordable LTE smartphone.

1:54PM:The Element features a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, a lightweight design and 100Mbps max download speed.

1:54PM:It also supports upload speeds of up to 50Mbps. Other specs include an 8-inch XGA display and enhanced haptic feedback.

1:57PM:To wrap things up, de la Vega wants to tal about Windows Phone. People are "raving about the great experience."

1:57PM:AT&T sell more Windows Phones than any other carrier, and it will be the first to offer an LTE Windows Phone.

1:58PM:Steve Ballmer is now on stage to introduce a new phone (and yell at us, of course).

1:59PM:Ballmer says AT&T has been a tremendous partner for Microsoft, and the first batch of LTE phones on AT&T will be available "very soon."

2:00PM:Windows Phone is all about connecting to other people and to the important information in people's lives.

2:05PM:Aaaaaand after a hell of a canned Windows Phone sales pitch, it looks like we're almost ready to see some new devices.

2:06PM:Nope, now we've moved on to a canned Windows 8 sales pitch.

2:07PM:Windows 8 beta is just weeks away, and it will be released in February.

2:07PM:Ok — de la Vega is back to announce the carrier's new Windows Phones.

2:08PM:The HTC Inspire 4G was AT&T's best-selling Android phone last year, and the first new Windows Phone announcement comes from HTC's Peter Chou.

2:09PM:Microsoft and HTC have had a close relationship for more than a decade, and Windows Phone is the latest step in the companies' relationship.

2:11PM:And finally, the device — the HTC Titan 2.

2:12PM:The phone looks exactly like the Titan, which Chou says people have loved thus far. The Titan II does improve things in certain areas though... How does a 16 megapixel camera sound?

2:13PM:"The Titan II is packed with advanced technology," Chou says.

2:14PM:The Titan II is a showcase of HTC's design and innovation, Microsoft's software, and AT&T's "incredible" LTE network.

2:16PM:Chou says the Titan II is his personal device. "Steve [Ballmer] loves to talk blah blah blah blah" Chou said, "but the OS is so smooth. The crowd loved the blahs — Steve, not so much.

2:16PM:Now coming on Stage, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.

2:17PM:There is a big shift going on in the mobile industry, from a battle of devices to a war of ecosystems.

2:19PM:In October, Nokia unveiled the Lumia 710 and the Lumia 800. "The first real Windows Phones." Nokia will announce "more details" about Nokia's U.S. reentry strategy this afternoon. The company's first LTE phone will be unveiled later today, and it'll be an AT&T device.

2:21PM:Nokia is big on developers according to Elop. It looks like he recognizes the lack of apps on the Windows Phone platform — though it is growing, of course — and Nokia is going to be very proactive in wrangling devs.

2:22PM:"We will enter the North American market in a big way," Elop says, and now we're wrapping things up.

The Consumer Electronics show is always a massive event for the home entertainment industry, and 2012 is shaping up to be the biggest year yet. Hundreds of companies will showcase thousands of products, but among the companies that managed to generate some real buzz ahead of the show, LG really looks like it has some gems on its hands this year. The company previewed its new nearly borderless 55-inch OLED HDTV last week and it has a few Cinema Screen 3D models with just a 1-millimeter bezel surrounding its gorgeous display panels. LG surely has plenty more gear in store for us — including at least one smartphone and next-generation Google TV devices — so hit the break to watch all the action unfold in our live coverage.

11:05AM:Alright we're here and seated, huge line lots of people. President of LG Electronics USA is on the stage going over the year and LG's ability to increase its revenues by nearly 8% during a difficult economy.

11:05AM:LG had record breaking US sales last year, especially in LG TV with its LG Cinema 3G line.

11:07AM:In mobile phones, US says it is continuing to grow its U.S. business, including the first dual-core smartphone, a glasse-free smartphone and a trueHD device with an IPS display. "We advanced our US brand to an all time high and led the industry in consumer satisfaction."

11:07AM:LG increased sales of energy star rated products by 30%

11:08AM:"Despite the challenging business environment in 2011, life is still good at LG and the best is yet to come." LG will focus on its core product categories. "Today we invite you to experience the latest LG innovations.. As we have said before, LG is committed to building a future with innovative products."

11:10AM:Master of Innovation Dr. Scott Ahn is taking the stage to give us a taste of LG's newest products. "I have a lot to talk about today, and I hope we agree that it has been worthwhile getting up so early." He will go over smart TVs, smartphones and smart appliances and how the tech is tied together across each product category.

11:13AM:"We have been able to create thinner panels, unlike some of our competitors," with unique LED technology. The Cinema Screen Design allowed LG to create thinner TVs without sacrificing picture quality. It has just a 1.0mm bezel and 28mm thickness. Last year LG introduced a new way to interact with TVs with the Magic Remote. This year LG will use voice recognition for text input.

11:14AM:In addition to voice recognition, we are introducing a 3D gesture interface using a 3D camera. Sounds a lot like what the Microsoft Kinect offers.

11:15AM:LG's smart TV will be the first in the industry to feature Intel WiDi technology.

11:16AM:"We now support more than 80 countries and offer more than 1,200 applications. Since the start of the smart TV revolution, we have felt that industry chipsets have held us back from providing high performance and powerful solutions on our TVs. After a few years of development we are announcing our own chipset, the L-Line, it features a dual-core ARM architecture. This will be applied to our premium line this year."

11:18AM:2D to 3D conversion has also been improved. 3D depth control and 3D zooming will also be added as new features to LG's TVs this year. For single user viewing, we've created 3D monitors and laptops. Before we move on to the next product category, I'd like to introduce another new product.

11:18AM:So, this year at CES we will be showcasing our own series of Google TVs with the latest Google TV software. Our technology coupled with the Google TV platform will form the basis of future relationships with Google. Now, let's move on to the smartphones.

11:19AM:As you've probably heard, we've invested heavily in LTE during the past few years. We believe this gives us a form foundation for future growth in today's competitive mobile industry. We have launched the Optimus LTE smartphone (Nitro HD on AT&T), this smartphone is currently our flagship model and it's the first to integrate the true HD IPS display.

11:21AM:We are introducing the first enterprise smartphone with VMWare Verizon mobile manager. It will be discussed more during Mobile World Congress next month.

11:23AM:Last year, we introduced smart diagnosis and another of appliance-related technology. Now we're giving it a new name, smart manager. Users can record food items stored in the refrigerator with voice recognition or by scanning receipts with a smartphones. The fridge can download the full inventory.

11:24AM:LG is introducing blast chiller which allows you to quickly chill soda or any other warm can of soda in less than 5 minutes. Sounds awesome.

11:26AM:I'd like to unveil one final product.

11:26AM:Well, your enthusiasm has not gone unnoticed. This year we have a much larger version for you. This is our 55-inch OLED TV. At just 4mm thin and weighing only 7.5 kilograms it's the world's thinnest, largest and lightest OLED TV.

11:27AM:The picture quality is super. It is really capable and 100% compatible with other LG 3D glasses.

11:28AM:Now three speakers are taking the stage to discuss a detailed US product launch schedule. Tim Elessi from Home Entertainment in the U.S. is on stage.

11:29AM:Good morning everyone. It's hard to believe another year has passed since we introduced Cinema 3D technology. We were a lone voice in discussing passive technology but we were armed with consumer research that showed a strong preference when compared to active shutter glass. We had the confidence to create a marketing campaign about passive technology.

11:29AM:95% of the market is using active shutter glasses (3D) and more consumers are adopting the technology.

11:33AM:LG is going over design and sound technology that currently exists in its models and is encouraging CES attendees visiting the booth to check it out first-hand which, of course, we will be doing.

11:34AM:"For the second year in a row at CES, LG is showcasing its home appliance technology. This year we have Ellis Mass, LG's director of home appliances."

11:38AM:LG is discussing custom wash cycles for washing machines and an awesome technology that allows users to use their fridge to follow a diet, follow its inventory and more all from a touchscreen or from their smartphones. Another homebot device can roam the house with a build-in camera. "We're quite excited to expand our line of super capacity of french door refrigerators." A four-door version will be available this year. Each model will have the blast chiller, which we discussed earlier, which chills a can in 5 minutes or a bottle of wine in 8 minutes.

11:39AM:Today LG is unveiling a turbo wash ultracycle feature for its washing machines. It cleans clothes faster so you can get more out the door quickly. In 2012 LG will add its largest capacity washer available. It anticipates that all will meet the DOE Energy Star standard.

11:40AM:Tim O'Brien the vice president of marketing for mobile phones is taking the stage.

11:42AM:We feel really good about what we accomplished in 2011. Globally we introduced the world's first dual-core processor in a smartphone. The first glasses-free 3D smartphone and now the first HD IPS display on a smartphone. Looking ahead we will focus on the high-end LTE market. The first device is the LG Spectrum exclusively for Verizon. 1.5GHz dual-core processor, Android 2.3 Gingerbread upgradeable to ICS. It has an 8-megapixel camera, 1.3MP front-facing and can record video in 1080P HD Video.

11:45AM:The Spectrum has a 4.5-inch display with a 1280 x 720-pixel resolution. It will launch exclusively on Verizon Wireless by the end of this month, although pricing was not discussed.

11:48AM:ESPN will exclusively provide HD video for the LG Spectrum in partnership with Verizon. Stuart Scott is on a video talking about the phone. Kind of cheesy.

11:49AM:HD video will be included in ESPN's Score Center application on the Spectrum.

11:50AM:"We think this device is the ultimate mobile trifecta. Incredible hardware, LG LTE and the most coveted HD content." The spectrum will launch on January 19th for $199.99 with a two-year contract.

11:51AM:We just saw a brief commercial LG will be airing in partnership with ESPN and Verizon Wireless. We're winding down now and hope to get hands-on with the device as soon as possible. Thanks for joining us!

12:26PM:AT&T now has more than 3.6 million U-verse subscribers, and the U-verse APIs AT&T offers allow devs to build apps that will interact with U-verse services and stream media, control accounts and more on iOS, Android or on other platforms.

12:29PM:PacketVideo is an example of a company making use of the U-verse API. The firm's CEO is now on stage demoing its app, Twonky Video, which allows users to stream and share YouTube content and now, thanks to AT&T's APIs, it can stream videos from U-verse as well.

12:31PM:AT&T is working with a number of partner companies during the development of its APIs, including Microsoft, Heroku, StackMob and others.

12:36PM:As AT&T continues to roll our its LTE network, maintaining fast and reliable service across both HSPA+ and LTE is a huge priority.

12:38PM:AT&T also offers differentiated cloud solutions to consumers and businesses alike. AT&T is dedicated to working with businesses to create custom cloud-based enterprise solutions, but the company understands that developers have different needs than enterprise and AT&T announced "AT&T platform as a service" to address developer needs.

12:42PM:AT&T is also announcing that it is formally joining the OpenStack community. The carrier has already dedicated thousands of hours to OpenStack projects, and it is excited to continue its work more formally.

12:43PM:AT&T is the first carrier to join the OpenStack initiative.

12:45PM:AT&T is now going to walk us through its API roadmap.

12:49PM:AT&T is planning on adding new network APIs for speech-to-text this year, along with advertising, contacts, "storage as a service," about a dozen more.

12:50PM:AT&T's goal is to address the global market, and it intends to ensure that its tools are interoperable across a as many international networks as possible.

12:55PM:And the winner is... People Power.

12:59PM:People Power's winning app was an open source solution that helps users manage their power consumption, and it lets companies offer branded versions to their customers.

1:05PM:Execs from Pandora and Zynga are now on stage to discuss AT&T's testing and optimization tool, ARO.

1:11PM:AT&T is also announcing a new HTML5-based app distribution platform that will be included in its next-gen AppCenter.

1:15PM:The first app is a social app that let's users share images and notes about their sports injuries via various social networks. No, seriously.

1:18PM:The third and final app is Sleepbot, a mobile and web app that helps people improve their sleep habits.

We’re live from Barnes & Noble’s press conference here in New York City where the bookseller is expected to take the wraps off its sequel to the Nook Color tablet. Though the firm used a heavily customized, unrecognizable version of Google’s Android platform to power the original Nook Color, it is still one of the most popular Android tablets in the short history of the media tablet category. Barnes & Noble has reportedly shipped more than 3 million Nook Color slates to date, and with Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire ready to heat things up beginning next week, we’re hoping B&N has a few surprises up its sleeve this morning to keep the space competitive. Hit the break for our live coverage and don’t forget to refresh the page often, or enable auto-refresh, for all the latest news as it breaks.

9:55AM:Ok guys, we're seated and people are still filing in. No 5-minute warning yet so we'll probably get started a few minutes late.

9:59AM:Ok! They just announced that the show is about to start.

10:00AM:B&N CEO William Lynch is now taking the stage.

10:01AM:No company in digital content has grown faster in the past 12 months has grown faster that B&N. They now sell 27% of eBooks.

10:02AM:The Nook Color was the first color eReader with tablet functionality. "We sold millions."

10:03AM:The Nook Color has access to the largest catalog of magazines and children's content. It's the number 2 tablet in the world behind the iPad.

10:04AM:Well that was fast! Lynch just announced the Nook tablet and we're watching a video.

10:05AM:As you can see, it looks just like the original Nook Color, and it's being billed as B&N's lightest, fastest tablet yet.

10:06AM:It's hands-down the best media tablet in the 7-inch class. 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM.

10:07AM:It weight under 1 pound and it can be held comfortably during extended periods of time. If features a "Vivid View" display built by LG that B&N is billing as a huge breakthrough in the tablet space.

10:07AM:The Nook Tablet gets free access to AT&T and B&N WiFi hotspots.

10:08AM:Battery life = up to 9 hours of video! It also supports up to 11.5 hours of reading time.

10:09AM:It supports video playback up to 1080p, and it comes pre-loaded with apps for Netflix and Hulu Plus. "It has the deepest Netflix integration of any tablet."

10:09AM:

10:10AM:The Nook bookstore is now home to over 2.5 million books.

10:11AM:The Nook Tablet supports a feature called "read and record," while allows parents to record themselves reading a book. The child can then play the recordings back at a later time.

10:12AM:B&N already has the largest library of top magazines, and they're expanding their library even further alongside the launch of the Nook Tablet.

10:13AM:B&N has been working with thousands of developers to build a huge catalog of apps for the Nook Tablet. Yup, Angry Birds will be there at launch...

10:14AM:It ships with 16GB of internal storage and it supports up 32GB of external storage as well

10:14AM:On top of all that storage, you also get Nook Cloud access for cloud-based storage.

10:16AM:Lynch says the Nook Tablet is clearly the better choice this holiday season versus the Kindle Fire.

10:17AM:The Nook Tablet features a better display with no air gap, double the storage plus expandable memory, and the Nook Tablet is also lighter.

10:17AM:"Nook tablet is lighter than Kindle Fire at under a pound."

10:17AM:The Nook Tablet was hand-designed while the Kindle Fire used the BlackBerry PlayBook design, and it sports twice the RAM.

10:18AM:"Content will look and render better on the Nook Tablet than on the Kindle Fire."

10:19AM:The Nook Tablet is also supported by people at Barnes & Noble stores. Kindle Fire? Good luck getting support...

10:19AM:The Nook tablet will cost 249. Pre-orders start now and it becomes available next week.

10:22AM:Jamie Iannone is now on stage to discuss B&N's digital portfolio. "The Nook Color is the best selling Android tablet in the world," and now the price is being cut to 199.

10:22AM:B&N is pushing out an update to the original Nook Color that features 100 new improvements.

10:23AM:"The Nook Color will have access to all of the content we announced with the Nook Tablet."

10:24AM:B&N is adding fast access to the web and email, along with tons of new content sources.

10:24AM:

10:24AM:The black and white Nook touch is being updated with a new E Ink display as well.

10:25AM:It will also feature a new Best-Text technology that renders text more clearly than any other E Ink display. Beyond that, it sports up to 2 months of battery life.

10:26AM:Starting today, the Nook SimpleTouch is just 99, down from its launch price of 149.

10:27AM:The Nook SimpleTouch (new name for the black and white reader) features a better display and twice the battery life of Amazon's competitive offerings.

10:28AM:"No annoying ads, whether the device is on or off." The crowd chuckled. Amazon charges an extra $40 to turn off ads.

10:29AM:The previous-gen black and white eReader is getting an update that will add the new page-turning tech from the updated SimpleTouch.

10:29AM:The Nook SimpleTouch is available today.

10:30AM:New Nook Digital Shops will be set up in B&N stores to show off and promote Nook products.

10:32AM:That's it! We're going to go try to get some hands-on time with the new Nook Tablet. Thanks for tuning in!

Barnes & Noble is holding a press conference on Monday morning where the company is expected to unveil a new color eBook reader that will go head-to-head with Amazon’s upcoming Kindle Fire tablet. According to a recent report, the slate in question will be Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color 2 and it will feature a 7-inch 1024 x 600-pixel display, 16GB of storage, 1GB of RAM and a dual-core 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4 processor. Rumors also suggest the tablet will be priced at $249, $50 more than the hotly anticipated Amazon Kindle Fire, but nothing is confirmed until Barnes & Noble executives take the stage on Monday morning.

Bookmark this link, which will go live shortly before the event begins tomorrow morning, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of Barnes & Noble’s press conference! Coverage will begin just before 10:00 a.m. EST / 7:00 a.m. PST.

We’re live from HTC’s New York City media event where HTC is expected to announce the HTC Rezound for Verizon Wireless. It’s the first smartphone that should come with Beats audio built-in, and in addition, the display is rumored to pack in a full 720p resolution screen, and run the latest version of HTC Sense for Android. There might be a surprise or two in store as well, so hit the break for all the live coverage.

3:52PM:Jimmy Iovine is on stage now talking about the partnership with HTC and Verizon about how Beats audio will change the industry.

3:53PM:Dr. Dre is in the audience.

3:53PM:You got to a concert, and everywhere you go you see Verizon trying to support popular culture. It's in their DNA. We have to go in and help them how to get to their customers and deliver a great experience.

3:54PM:A promotional video is playing now on screen...

3:56PM:Every rapper now has a headphone deal, and I tell them to money.

3:56PM:We're going to work on not the sound but quality, through HTC and with Verizon.

3:57PM:The HTC Rezound... the design. As products become the most important piece of equipment, design is so important. At HTC we have invested significantly in design to deliver highly designed products.

3:57PM:You'll find it takes some design cues from the DROID Incredible line. When you look inside the product, and you take the back cover off, the design flows throughout the entire product.

3:58PM:Translucent plastic to see inside the phone and see the tech. It's packed with the top tech you can pack into a phone at this point. 4G LTE, 1GB RAM, 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, latest HTC Sense.

3:59PM:It's incredibly responsive, and very quick.

3:59PM:What about Ice Cream Sandwich, I'm excited to let you know that Ice Cream Sandwich ready, so we will provide that update to our customers as quickly as possible, it's an aggressive plan.

4:00PM:We've gone from a market focused on hardware to a market focused on software, you have to have content. We set out to design a product that could deliver your content in the most brilliant way possible.

4:00PM:What are we doing? First the HTC Rezound will sport HTC's first 720p HD display

4:01PM:How is the camera? The camera is an area HTC is very proud of.. it's no secret that just a few years ago HTC's camera quality wasn't very good. We'd hear our customers and we took action, we invested significantly to be a leader here.

4:02PM:Action burst, instant capture, panorama, ability to add effects to your videos. All in realtime.

4:03PM:Another problem we have aimed to solve with the Rezound is one we all experience, you're out in the evening, and something brilliant happens and you pull your phone out to take a picture and you don't have enough light. We set out to insure the Rezound wasn't just a worthy camera, but the best camera. We have a f/2.2 and low-light sensors to ensure the best picture quality.

4:03PM:It also will allow you to record video in 1080p. Very high quality camera. Another trend we see, people want to play and have fun. They want to edit their pictures, add effects, they are having fun. We integrated effects.

4:04PM:Another feature that's amazing is slow motion, this is a feature that was only relegated to the highest end video cameras, now they are in our customer's pockets

4:05PM:That's what we mean about delivering the best in sight. What about sound? You've heard from Jimmy and Peter about the partnership. HTC believes you should have the best audio experience in your mobile experience.

4:06PM:The HTC Rezound will be our first showcase of this experience in the United States. What are we doing on the Rezound? Our engineers have worked very closely with Beats, so its tuned properly. The second thing I'm excited to announce, is we are packaging a custom pair of Beats headphones in the box.

4:06PM:The HTC Rezound is about delivering the best in sight and sound, 720p display, latest HTC Sense, and more.

4:07PM:We're fortunate to have a great partner in Verizon Wireless, VP of Marketing Jeff Dietel is on stage now talking about their partnership. From the millions of DROID Incredibles that have been sold to the HTC Thunderbolt, there is no better network this device can run on than Verizon's 4G LTE network.

4:08PM:This is a product we're very excited about. There's things you can only do with 4G LTE that you can't do with any other network out there.

4:09PM:On November 14th, for $299.99 the HTC Rezound will be available in Verizon Wireless and partner stores like Best Buy nationally.

4:10PM:We're fortunate to have strong Holiday partners, we're happy to partner with Best Buy Mobile, and Best Buy Mobile head of merchandising is on stage now.

4:11PM:A few reasons why Best Buy is here today, Verizon has been a key and strategic partner for nearly 10 years. Also our relationship with Beats, about 4 years ago we strategized how we would launch this new product line and brand, we've continued to innovate with them. HTC, who has seemingly done nothing in the last 4 years in the United States but launch really innovative and successful products that we're excited to sell on a daily basis. That really lends itself to how successful this will be at Best Buy.

4:12PM:Our employees and customers expect us to be at the forefront of technology, so we're excited to launch this later this month.

4:13PM:We're wrapping up here, again, it's $299 with Beats headphones, and it's available on November 14th. It's hands on time...

HTC is holding a press conference today at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, 12:00 p.m. Pacific to unveil its latest “latest innovation.” That innovation is expected to be a king-sized Android powerhouse dubbed “HTC Rezound” that is expected to land on Verizon Wireless ahead of the holidays. Beyond the presence of Beats Audio, as tipped in the event invitation pictured above, the Rezound will supposedly sport a 4.3-inch 720p HD display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera, hopefully on par with the terrific camera touted by the Titan. Nothing is set in stone until it comes from from the horse’s mouth, however, and we only have a few hours left until HTC unveils the newest edition to its smartphone lineup.

Bookmark this link, which will go live shortly before the event begins later today, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of HTC’s press conference! Coverage starts at or around 3:00 p.m. EDT / 12:00 p.m. PDT.

We’re live at Motorola and Verizon Wireless’s press conference in New York City where the smart money is on a fresh new DROID smartphone that will launch in the coming weeks. Motorola’s new full-touch DROID is expected to be RAZR-thin, and it will feature some pretty formidable specs according to BGR’s exclusive report from last week. With a $99 iPhone 4, the iPhone 4S, Motorola’s new DROID and a brand new Galaxy Nexus all set to be on store shelves before the holidays, it looks like Verizon is once again the place to be for high-end smartphone fans. Hit the break for our live coverage of the press conference, which is scheduled to kick off at 12:00 p.m. EDT, 9:00 a.m. PDT.

11:51AM:We're seated and waiting for the event to start. There's an ominous red haze (literally, there's red lights and fog in the atmosphere), but it's countered by some hip music.

11:54AM:Should be getting started in around 5 minutes, folks.

11:55AM:"Please take your seats."

11:59AM:Ersher is playing. Not live, on the speakers. With David Guetta.

12:00PM:All of this aggressiveness and red colors aren't exactly calming. I'm sure the triple shot espresso didn't help, either.

12:00PM:We're about to get going!

12:01PM:Lights are going down, and there's a blazingly bright Motorola logo on screen. Please welcome CEO Sanjay Jha!

12:01PM:Applause.

12:02PM:Thank you for joining us today. Motorola Mobility has had an exciting year from innovative new products to a small business deal you might have heard about. Most exciting for me is how we're transforming people's lives.

12:02PM:It has transformed how we live our lives. How many of you look at your smartphone the last before you sleep? And how many look at your smartphone first when you get up?

12:02PM:Shows how important smartphones have become, how we stay connected with our world.

12:03PM:Smartphones have forever changed the way we live our lives. Smartphones hold such personal information about ourselves that they would rather share their toothbrush with a friend than their smartphone.

12:03PM:Nothing more personal than improving our fitness and well-being

12:03PM:How do people work out today? Carry an MP3 player, fitness monitoring device, heart rate monitor, GPS enabled watch, wires hanging around.

12:04PM:We have the technology to simplify your workout, hardware and software, music-centric fitness experience... introducing MOTOACTIVE.

12:04PM:Video is playing now, it looks like an iPod nano!

12:05PM:But it's not. It's running Android obviously, but it's a watch that displays all your important workout info, music, and more.

12:05PM:Sorry, it's MOTOACTV. I should have known better.

12:07PM:We have created the ultimate fitness device, smart music player in one. Building blocks of Android, 600MHz CPU, 46x46mm device. It's like having a personal trainer and DJ by your side. Outside and inside it can track all of your progress, stats like distance, calories burned, GPS tracks your workout routes. Smart music player learns which songs motivate you and tracks your performance stats against your music. Plays those power songs to you when you need the motivation most.

12:07PM:Innovation here is an build-it heart rate monitor and it's built into new Motorola SF700 & SF500 headsets. No wires and need for additional heart rate strap. Also give you crystal clear audio, every note and every beat and every word of your song. Best sounding headsets on the market.

12:08PM:Capacitive touch for the MOTOACTV, display for indoors and out, built for tough use, sweat proof, scratch proof. FM Radio, up to 4000 songs while playing, also audio tips.

12:09PM:All of this comes together in our web portal which stores your performance data, using Wi-Fi, it will automatically sync with MOTOACTV.com, uploading all your performance stats without any user action. Customize your plans and goals online, detailed workout analysis, challenge your friends, and more.

12:10PM:To offer more perspective on the performance category, I'd like to introduce you to someone who knows a lot of this. Dean Karnazes. Men's Fitness most fit person.

12:12PM:The thing I said to Sanjay was I wish I had this sooner. The headset is wireless, and the greatest attribute is that it takes your pulse, and it's got a biometric sensor in the earbud. You don't need a heart rate monitor strap anymore. I go for these long runs, listen to my music, take calls, walk in to my house when I'm home, my workout is uploaded to the portal, everything is waiting for me. Pace, route, elevation, everything a GPS would monitor, to me, it's the perfect fusion of three great devices into one sleek compact device. Music, heart rate monitor, GPS. Biggest bonus is I can take my calls wirelessly through a Bluetooth headset. You'll be as big of a believer as I am. This is the technology for tomorrow and we have it available for today thanks to Motorola.

12:13PM:Sanjay Jha is back out. You have to remember Dean spends more than an usual amount of time running, running 50 miles, you learn to run your life when you run. Not everything is like Dean, most of us are trying to stay healthy and what better way to talk about getting healthy than Bob Harper, form NBC's the Biggest Loser.

12:13PM:I have never felt like more of a loser, than coming out right after Dean.

12:14PM:I'm here to talk about the weight loss aspect of this device, I think this is a game changer. The one thing you need is tools, information, and motivation. The one thing I love about this is that it's tracking my calories all day.

12:15PM:You can keep track of your steps, calories, great way to get people off the sofa. People who haven't worked out before, the more tools we can give those people, the better. The motivational aspect of this is great, and we use music a lot on the show. Whenever I can get a really great song to power my contestants up, they will reach their goal quicker. I like that the Motorola ACTV will gage how songs can help you and play those at the same time. It's also extremely cool looking.

12:16PM:When my contestants saw it, the whole crew saw it, and they all went crazy. I'm really excited to be here and thanks for listening to me.

12:16PM:For those of you training for the upcoming NY Marathon, we're taking center stage for the entertainment sponsor. It will be available on November 6th, 8GB for $249, 16GB for $299.

12:17PM:Next up for the announcement we're also very excited. Smartphones have become very personal devices, coveted objects that people fall in love with. While having the latest tech is crucial, just is the way the phone looks and feels.

12:18PM:When we started thinking about developing a new smartphone, it wasn't just an object of desire, but to deliver them without compromise. What does it take to make the best smartphone on the planet? Best look amazing, thin, and durable, and still hold a battery for the entire day. Most cutting edge processing speed available. Large and high resolution display. Must have smart and innovative features that can simplify people's lives. I'd like to introduce you to the best smartphone today, the DROID RAZR by Motorola.

12:18PM:Video is playing now...

12:19PM:There it is! It's ridiculously thin.

12:19PM:Stainless steel frame, Gorilla Glass, splash resistant, dual core 1.2Ghz CPU, 4.3-inch Super AMOLED, 8 megapixel camera with 1080p.

12:21PM:The first thing you'll notice is the design. It's impossibly thin, at 7.1mm. It's beautiful. It's the world's thinnest smartphone. We didn't just make it the thinnest smartphone. We spent time on finishes and materials as well. It's features diamond cut aluminum accents, tapered corners, premium build. 4.3-inch Super AMOLED advanced qHD display. Higher contrast ratio than iPhone 4S. We can also use the display to show our pictures and videos.

12:21PM:Using the integrated app, the DROID RAZR will be the first device to download HD movies from Netflix. Took great care to withstand everyday use. Stainless steel core, laminated glass, laser-cut KEVLAR fiber on the outside, scratch-resistant corning Gorilla Glass.

12:22PM:Another new innovation, DROID RAZR is the first display to ahve Splash-guard, even the electrical boards inside.

12:22PM:The device is 127 grams, one of the lightest smartphones.

12:22PM:DROID RAZR also packs a punch in processing power, dual core 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, PC-like power.

12:23PM:Inside we have an 1800mAh battery, gives you leading edge 12.5hrs of 3G talk time, 8.9hrs of 4G.

12:25PM:Software features are also important to our consumers. Here are some that will differentiate the DROID RAZR. There's a new evolved Webtop interface. Battery life is a number one pain point for consumers, especially in smartphones. We have developed new software to help people optimize their battery, called Smart Actions. Helps automate certain tasks. It can turn off Bluetooth and GPS setting. We know when you get home because of your Wi-Fi connection. If your phone got down to 20% battery, it can dim your display, reduce speed of the processor, or reduce data usage. You can control and customize it to fit your life. By setting Smart Actions you can reduce your battery consumption by 30%. The third software feature I want to talk about is MotoCast. We know people's lives exist across multiple different devices, all of our content isn't in the cloud yet.

12:25PM:Only 15% of us store in the cloud, the rest of us store our stuff on our PCs at home or work. Photos, music, videos, files.

12:26PM:Consumers want access to their personal cloud from wherever they are. Today if you want to quickly access that work document, or bump into an old friend and want to show a photo to them, but it's on your PC, we have solved that problem and it enables you to access all that content straight from your DROID RAZR. I'm going to demonstrate how this works.

12:27PM:First thing is, you connect your DROID RAZR to your computer, it installs the program, create an account, and you select the files you want to share.

12:27PM:Here is my PC, and I'm streaming content from that PC to this DROID RAZR. He's playing some 50 Cent from his PC to his phone.

12:28PM:He's playing In The Club. I can't.

12:29PM:Now let me show you a photo, say I went to my parents and want to show them my kids photos. He plugged in an HDMI cable into the phone, and he's showing the photos on the TV.

12:30PM:Let me show you one other thing, if I was on a sales call and needed access to a file, PC is offline. PC is coming back online. Backup computer. Now he's showing off a PDF in real-time.

12:30PM:I can upload files from the PC to the smartphone. Lights just got super bright. Like...

12:31PM:He's taking a photo of us now, fun!

12:31PM:Using the DROID RAZR, of course.

12:31PM:Hopefully this picture will get uploaded... and it will show up in the document library. This notion of the personal cloud which you control and seamlessly share, and when you take photos it appears on your PC and multiple devices.

12:32PM:If I had a tablet synced to that account it will show on that tablet. It's like Photo Stream, but less streamlined, and more photoy.

12:32PM:MotoCast is a powerful piece of software.

12:33PM:The fourth area that's important to us is the consumerization of the enterprise. The notion more and more people taking their device to enterprise and want to access email and productivity applications. Corporate email access, calendar, addresses, ability to view and edit Office documents, full security capability. Remote wipe of device and SD, password enforcement, Citrix receiver, Motorola Webtop, GoToMeeting.

12:34PM:These features are above and beyond what's found in a basic Android device. We believe enterprise is important because it is being consumerized. 2/3 of devices on enterprise is bought by you. DROID RAZR is everything a business owner wants, and just wants an employee needs. It's a consumer device with enterprise features. Let's talk about accessories.

12:36PM:DROID RAZR comes with a full suite of accessories, a new 14-inch laptop dock, new 10-inch dock, vehicle dock, HD dock, gesture touchpad, wireless keyboard, portable power pack, and more. It's already remarkable, but here's one more thing. It's a 4G LTE device, not only thinner than 3G smartphones but delivers 4G speeds. To give you an idea of what this means, downloading ESPN.com on an iPhone 4S will take 3x as fast. Uploading a 5MB video takes 12 seconds, iPhone 4S takes 76 seconds.

12:36PM:We have brought two iconic brands together, DROID and RAZR, here is Verizon Wireless CMO Marni Walden.

12:37PM:Thank you for allowing Verizon to be apart of this great announcement. Two years ago we leveraged our partnership to being a device to market with unparalleled performance. Set the standard on the VZ network. People ask are all Android's a DROID? DROID stands for performance and quality, and not all Android devices are DROIDS.

12:38PM:Motorola and Verizon have united to introduce another game-changing device. Best of the best. Slimmest and most attractive device in the market. Power at your fingertips. Designed for optimum performance, that you could only get on Verizon's 4G LTE network. DROID RAZR is ready for business. Government grade encryption for mail, calendar, and contacts. Editing Microsoft documents anytime anywhere. Networks matter. Download a game or access music, access files on your PC. You want a connection that's fast, one that's reliable, you want Verizon.

12:39PM:Think about the applications, DROID RAZR from Verizon's 4G LTE makes these app matter more. The power and speed can be shared, because it includes the trademark mobile hotspot feature. Let's talk about 4G LTE. It's the largest and most reliable 4G LTE network. By the end of the year we'll cover more than half of the population. And we will blanket the country by 2013.

12:40PM:The power of Verizon's 4G LTE network isn't just measured in a lab or marketing materials. We have a two year lead over our nearest competitor. We'll continue to deliver. Preorders will start October 27th, available in stores in November. The price is $299 and we're anxious to bring to market, the best, the smartest smartphone. Here's Sanjay again.

12:43PM:Today we announced two incredible devices. One that will change the fitness category, one that will reshape what 4G LTE will be. These have something in common. You can sync your MOTOACTV with the DROID RAZR. You would see on my phone there's a message from someone and it's already been synced to my MOTOACTV. As I look here, I have my messages, and I have a call coming. I could take that call on my smartphone, or if I had a wireless headset, I could take that as well. This syncing of the smartphone with MOTOACTV you could do multiple different things and you'll see unique things we'll do with this. This notion of a device that's immediately viewable at a glance is certainly important.

12:43PM:One of the lightest and thinnest, strongest, and fastest smartphones today, the DROID RAZR. Around the world it will be called the Motorola RAZR, available in November around the world.

12:43PM:Demo time! We'll be back with a hands-on! That's it!

Call it the DROID HD, call it the DROID RAZR, call it the Spyder or call it whatever else you want… in a few short hours we’ll be calling Motorola’s new smartphone the sleekest new Android phone on the planet. Until tonight, at least. Motorola and Verizon Wireless have teased us with a suggestive video that touts the smartphone as faster, thinner, smarter and stronger, and BGR exclusively reported key specs last week. All that’s left now is an official unveiling and a few tests to see how strong that Kevlar case really is.

Bookmark this link, which will go live shortly before the event begins later this morning, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of Motorola and Verizon’s press conference! Coverage starts at or around 12:00 p.m. EDT / 9:00 a.m. PDT.

Sprint announced back in August that it would be hosting a “Strategy Update” meeting today, and the uncommon phrasing set our imaginations aflutter. Will it be about the iPhone? Well, we already know Sprint will carry both the iPhone and iPhone 4S beginning the 14th, but Sprint has been eerily quiet about finally procuring the world’s most popular smartphone so we wouldn’t be surprised to hear more about it today. There’s also a supposed $20 billion deal with Apple that the company inked recently, so perhaps we’ll hear about that. Will Sprint elaborate on its 4G plans? The carrier said in July that it worked out a deal with LightSquared to adopt 4G LTE, but LightSquared is having issues lately and again, Sprint has been awfully quiet lately. We’re just minutes away from getting the skinny straight from the horse’s mouth, so hit the break for our live coverage of Sprint’s press conference, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, and don’t forget to refresh the page for all the latest updates.

9:18AM:Ok guys - we're inside and settled. Tons of analysts here and plenty of familiar faces.

9:21AM:We're told the event will begin in just a few minutes.

9:26AM:The event is scheduled to begin in about five minutes and it's looking like 4G LTE plans will be the star of the show.

9:34AM:VP of investor relations is on the stage. "I want to welcome you to Sprint's network vision strategy update." She is going over cautionary statements and explaining we will be going over forward-looking statements.

9:34AM:Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is taking the stage.

9:36AM:"Thanks for joining us here in New York. We have a good day for you today where we have an opportunity to talk about our Network Vision Plan, which is really our strategy for the evolution of 3G and 4G." The Agenda includes Steve Elfman, Bob Azzi, a Partner Panel with Alcatel-Lucent and Samsung, Fared Adib (Devices), Joe Euteneuer (financial ramifications and benefits), and then we will enter a Q&A session.

9:37AM:"A company is like a person and you can try to pretend to be something on the outside if you are different on the inside." Simplicity costs less. Take a look at what we've done over the last few years. We started with Simply Everything and now we're maintaining the only unlimited position. Customers like simplicity."

9:38AM:"Sprint has seen improvements in customer care over the past 14 quarters. Running two networks is complicated, what you'll see today, is a simpler network."

9:39AM:There is a significant financial value that comes with a good brand. Brand is the key to gross ads and our business is all about subscribers.

9:41AM:Customer experience: Sprint is the most improved wireless company in customer satisfaction over the last three years.

9:43AM:In 2010 Sprint's reputation improved more than any company in the world. Hesse is referencing data from the Reputation Institute.

9:43AM:Total subscribers were down for 11 consecutive quarters and now they have increased for five consecutive quarters. "We're on our way back," Hesse said.

9:44AM:"Churn improved every single year but the problem was a decline in gross adds. That was a brand problem."

9:45AM:"Sprint is the only company that improved postpaid churn every year."

9:46AM:"The biggest decline, sequentially for us, was 2006 and 2005. 2009 and 2010 we were the only company to improve our net add performance year over year."

9:48AM:"Cash is #3 of the key priorities," Joe will talk more about cash when he takes the stage. "Our margins are still well below the benchmark margins of our two biggest competitors, AT&T and Verizon. We're running two networks with less volume. Our competitors are running one. That's the focus of today's discussion, and churn. Improvements in churn is the quickest, fastest and most significant way to improve the bottom line."

9:48AM:"Churn is customers leaving you. Brand is how you attract new ones."

9:49AM:"How do we take both of these to the next level? The iPhone."

9:49AM:Churn was due to a lack of having the iPhone in the past.

9:50AM:Hesse has mentioned several times, "we're running two networks and our competitors are each running one." He then follows the comment up each time with, "we're going to discuss that today." Things aren't looking good for WiMAX right now...

9:50AM:"This will be one of our most profitable devices." (The iPhone).

9:51AM:The three important aspects are brand, people , and network. In Q4 Sprint announced plans to retain its iDEN network and it announced a partnership with Clearwire. In Q1 2009 it launched Boost Unlimited on its iDEN network.

9:51AM:"This bought us time to come up with an elegant and technical solution to move to one network and we're going to talk about that today."

9:51AM:Launching prepaid services on Sprint's iDEN network has generated $5 billion in revenue.

9:52AM:In Q4 2010 we announced Network Vision with five pillars: customer experience, reduce costs, utilization of assets, flexibility, sustainability.

9:55AM:"Why October 7th? Not to celebrate how things are going in baseball. We want to be at a point where Network Vision was no longer slideware. We have network infrastructure partners here. We want to show the network is working and the handsets are working. We want to talk about the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S because they have important usage characteristics that are different than other high selling smartphones. We could not talk about those products before this week. So, without further ado, I will turn it over to Steve Elfman - president network operations and wholesale."

9:55AM:Sprint will be announcing the "aggressive rollout of LTE" here today, Elfman said.

9:56AM:Improving the performance and coverage for our customers is one way to reduce churn and gain customers

9:58AM:"Technology flexbility" we wanted something we could put CDMA, LTE in the future, and think of ideas to use flexibility for scale. We also wanted to eliminate the iDEN network. We plan to get our customers migrated by 2013 and we started that this year and made a lot of great progress. Two key attributes of Network Vision break into two sides: multinode network platform, and integrated chipsets to power the devices to work with multiple spectrums and multiple techologies."

9:58AM:We're looking at a slide of how the multimode technology can lessen the hardware footprint. "A lot less utility requirement, less footprint, less maintenance and less cost."

9:59AM:At the top of the tower in the same radio we'll have 1.9 LTE, 1.9 CDMA, 800 CDMA and in the future 800 LTE. With LightSquared we'll have 1600 LTE.

10:00AM:Sprint is in a unique position to offer hosting solutions and spectrum wholesale to companies like LightSquared.

10:01AM:It's an open network architecture allowing us to get scale and host spectrum.

10:02AM:The LTE deployment is going to be rapid. The first markets will be launching in mid- 2012 and will be largely complete by the end of 2013. Our originaly 3-5 year plan is more like a 2-3 year plan. Our devices will be available for the launch of these markets in mid 2012. Working with Qualcomm. Still committed to WiMAX and will be selling WiMAX devices through 2012.

10:02AM:"Pending the FCC approval with LightSquared we will be using 1.6 spectrum for hosted LTE."

10:03AM:"We have been working very hard the last year with various content partners and application developers." This quarter is the initial roll-out of Wi-Fi offloading technology.

10:04AM:We can take about 20% off of our network through these kind of capabilities.

10:05AM:"We believe we can handle the demand of the announcement that was made earlier this week with the iPhone by both our proactive work in optimizing the content and offloading but also with more efficient devices. The iPhone is a very efficient use of our network. Also the improvements other OEMs are making in their devices."

10:06AM:"The benefits include reduced roaming costs, consolidated networks and site reduction, reduced operating costs and more efficient use of CapEx (50% reduction in cost/GB and a 50% reduction in cost/minute."

10:06AM:We're in the 60,000 cell sites now and we'd like to be around 40,000.

10:07AM:"We're extremely excited about network vision, this has been a big year trying to make this all work. Now we are getting into the rhythm of the build and expect by mid-year to make this an absolute reality for our customers."

10:07AM:Bob Azzi, senior vice president of Sprint's network is now on stage.

10:08AM:He's going to discuss the "nuts and bolts" of the program. That includes how customers will have an improved experience.

10:09AM:Today we have iDEN, the CDMA network (3G business) and then with Clearwire our WiMAX 4G network. Tomorrow, meaning starting very soon in 2012 and 2013, this will be consolidated into a single network platform. The 4G LTE capability will be built on a single architecture along with improvements in 3G capabilities. Sprint direct connect will ride on this as well as LightSquared, after approved by FCC. A single, flexible platform.

10:10AM:We have to test the tech in the lab and in the field. We're in the field testing stage. We are testing 4G LTE test calls. We are testing core elements to ensure they are performing as expected. We have hit every single milestone with the performance tests.

10:11AM:We have started work on 22,000 cell sites. The balance will be started in the next few months.

10:12AM:We see no hurdles and we've negotiated win-win deals for us and the tower company supporting players we have. We are prepared for all new device launches including the iPhone. We have been building in the expected impact of the iPhone for quite a few months. We are well prepared to take the expected growth.

10:13AM:"When you sum it all up, we have made a lot of progress since December. Most all the technical risks are behind us. Another proof point of that are these pictures." We see images of products from Samsung, Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson. The multimode 3G and 4G base stations are going into the network as we speak.

10:14AM:Sprint expects a 20% reduction in green house gas emissions by 2015.

10:14AM:We expect to see iDEN like performance from our CDMA PTT Direct Connect Network, which launched on October 2nd.

10:15AM:Migrations expected to accelerate and the planned conclusion is to occur by mid 2013.

10:15AM:Because it's based on a CDMA tech we can expand the coverage from 900,000 square miles to extend it to other CDMA networks, roam with it, and expand it to 3x the square miles across the country.

10:17AM:Migration from iDEN to CDMA to be completed by mid-2013*

10:18AM:Expected benefits for 3G customers include better signal strength, faster data speeds, better in-building performance, expanded coverage and commitment to long-term 3G. Sprint will also put 3G voice on the 1800 (?) spectrum (pending FCC approval).

10:19AM:In NYC we have about 1,100 cell sites around the area. It's not as simple as pushing a switch to transition. In order to manage the transition and avoid disruption, we'll turn up the network in clusters. Block by block, borough by borough type of upgrade.

10:19AM:All customers will get partial to full benefits. After a period of a few months, we'll have upgraded the entire markets.

10:20AM:This investment is important to us and our customers.

10:22AM:Customers will see a "viral type of improvement" in 3G coverage during the network rollout process.

10:23AM:Sprint's 4G LTE network will be faster than its WiMAX network.

10:24AM:Sprint is taking extra care to ensure that the hand-off from 3G to 4G is seamless. Everywhere Sprint has 3G coverage, it will also have 4G coverage.

10:24AM:In fact, coverage in many areas will improve dramatically once 4G LTE replaces 3G service.

10:24AM:

10:26AM:Network Vision means that all future upgrades can be done via card plugins. This makes the rollout much, much simpler.

10:27AM:Sprint has three key partners involved with the infrastructure side of its 4G LTE plans: Samsung, Alcatel Lucent and Ericsson.

10:28AM:Executives from all three companies are on stage for a bit of a panel discussing their partnerships with Sprint and reassuring that they will meet time frames and expectations for the roll-outs.

10:31AM:Sprint's partners are each discussing successful deployments in their history

10:35AM:Samsung is discussing how it has long term investment in LTE standards and has a lot of involvement in the design of technology. It also launched the first commercial network in the U.S. last year as well as the first LTE network. "We've also added four new LTE networks around the world in Asia and in the Middle East in 2011. We have a number more poised for introduction in 2012."

10:36AM:Multimode products allow for: flexibility allowing you to deploy whatever frequency band and whatever tech you need. It provides performance gains in roaming reduction and signal on the street and in building. Finally, the cost point. It's a brand new architecture for driving your cost to serve to a new industry low. It offers economic benefits to Sprint.

10:38AM:It's time for a 20 minute break.

10:45AM:We'll be resuming in 15 minutes.

11:00AM:Fared Adib, vice president of product development is taking the stage now. "Everyone having fun yet? You all look so happy."

11:01AM:"I'm not going to divulge any new products that we're going to be launching. This is going to be very disappointing. But I will talk about what the device strategy means." Bummer.

11:01AM:"For the first time I can answer the question: when are you going to get the iPhone." Funny.

11:02AM:A lot of customers dont know the difference between network technologies and it doesnt mean much to them. If you look at the Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch, a lot of the technology is sometimes lost on us and the customers. There are 2000 individual parts that go into making the product. One of those is the radio, and to be specific, there are 5 radios in it today. The amount of complexity that we deliver to the marketplace today is quite outstanding.

11:03AM:Farid is going to cover LTE and what it means for the device ecosystem, network vision progress in terms of devices, economics of scale with LTE, the LTE device roadmap (although he said he won't reveal any new products today) as well as Sprint's relationships around the globe.

11:05AM:"We are very excited about the LTE products that we'll deliver during the second half of this year. You'll see broader coverage, increased capacity, improved push to talk, improved voice quality and data speeds."

11:05AM:LTE is the global standard for 4G when it comes to the future. There are 237 operators in 85 countries investing in LTE.

11:06AM:We've had our 1,900MHz spectrum approved by LTE standards for deployment. There are a lot of different bands that play into LTE. In fact, LTE for the first time will be the most consolidated view you'll get around a radio technology and ecosystem that will be global in deployment. You'll also see it will rival what you're seeing in GSM and CDMA today. Hopefully it will be a unifying element in a lot of different carriers.

11:07AM:We will support band class 10 for CDMA voice. We have several products that already support this so those customers are future-proofed.

11:07AM:We've launched Direct Connect products with Kyocera and we will launch a smartphone from Motorola by the end of the quarter. (CDMA Direct Connect).

11:09AM:From an LTE roadmap standpoint, every OEM we have is going to be moving to LTE or is already in that space, so it makes us easier to adopt those products. Samsung, LG, HTC and Motorola. We are looking at all of the things that come with LTE that are still being developed and we are evaluating what that means to the handset. Examples include HD voice for a richer voice experience. We are also looking at other advancements that have not yet been solidified.

11:10AM:What costs more? LTE or WiMAX? Typically there's a cost curve with any new technology. As we roll out LTE we're catching it at the right cost curve with second and third generation LTE radios such as Qualcomm's 8960. It's not only an application processor but it supports multiple bands for multiple carriers, including our 1900MHz band A-F and G. It's at a time when we're seeing the cost curve crossing over what we see from 3rd and 4th generation WiMAX chips.

11:12AM:Displays, processors also add to the costs. But, you will see we'll be able to do with LTE with what we've done with WiMAX today. Products at all price points based on chipsets and technologies. We've continued to ride the cost curves of the WiMAX radio and the cost curves around that. WiMAX continues to be an important part of our product strategy and we will continue to provide products to our customers. We don't want to over simplify how customers make decisions and will provide them multiple products with multiple technologies.

11:13AM:We will deliver dual-mode CDMA/LTE products by the first half of 2012 (handsets specifically!). Tablets as well, smartphones, high-tier iconic devices and mid-tier products. We're very excited about all of the partners in the ecosystem we'll be able to attract.

11:14AM:15 devices will be coming in 2012 including tablets, smartphones and data cards. These will be on par with the same quality you've seen us deliver to date.

11:15AM:Network Vision will make push-to-talk more ubiquitous. Broader coverage for iDEN footprint, better product offering including smartphones, rugged devices, and a downloadable Sprint Direct Connect app for Android devices.

11:16AM:One of the things we'll be able to do for the first time by the end of this year is provide an app for push-to-talk for casual usage. It will be available for a lot larger base of customers than what you see today.

11:17AM:"We can expand that to "Push to X" to integrate the services into other services such as Facebook, rich messaging, the address book within the phone." Sounds like you'll be able to talk to different apps and services, but Sprint wasn't very clear on what Push to X meant.

11:18AM:Qualcomm's EVP and Group President QCT Stephen Mollenkopf is going to take the stage now to give a testimonial as a partner with Sprint on the handset space.

11:19AM:We're seeing a video of his speech. he's discussing how Qualcomm has worked with Sprint on its transition and how it's working on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors with 3G and LTE capabilities for Sprint. "We believe Sprint's vision will be highly successful. We continue to work together to be on the forefront of wireless technologies."

11:22AM:Sanjay Jha, chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility is speaking in a brief video clip. He's discussing the Motorola Photon 4G and other Motorola 4G WiMAX devices. He said he's looking forward to launching the first push-to-talk CDMA device (smartphone, since Kyocera already has a basic phone) later this year. He has made a significant investment in LTE and looks forward to delivering devices in the future.

11:23AM:"Without all of these different partners really investing in the R&D it takes to deliver these products to market, a lot of this wouldn't be possible. It requires a lot of technology to cram in all the support whether it's the CDMA tech, WiMAX or LTE tech. It's a serious investment for all of these companies to say they will come out and support our strategy."

11:23AM:Joe Euteneuer, Sprint's CFO is taking the stage.

11:27AM:Sprint thinks the iPhone launch will help level the playing field with its largest competitors. Sprint can finally answer "yes" when customers ask if it carries the iPhone in shops.

11:27AM:Sprint is continuing to explore additional spectrum opportunities as it moves forward.

11:29AM:Network Vision is about investing in growth technology to drive overall subscriber growth. Sprint Direct Connect, enhanced 3G and 4G LTE. We've been criticized for underspending, but this isn't true. We did not need to make the additional investment after rolling out 3G. We invested in 4G with Clearwire. We would have spent that money anyway but we wanted to be first to market with 4G.

11:30AM:Sprint's capital spend is in-line with the industry.

11:32AM:An integral part of Sprint Vision is the 10-11B estimated savings over the next few years through 2017. The savings come from rolling out 4G LTE on Sprint's own spectrum and the modernization of its 3G network. That drives about $7 billion of financial benefit. $4 billion in savings from having to no longer maintain the iDEN network.

11:34AM:We're going over some in-depth financial details and we're working on posting images.

11:35AM:"We have a big advantage with our unlimited plans. Now we can exceed our expectations."

11:36AM:We are now solidly reporting subscriber growth in our over retail net adds.

11:36AM:We see continued momentum and postpaid adds.

11:41AM:(That last slide does not include impact from the iPhone ^ze)

11:42AM:Q&A will beginning now.

11:43AM:Sorry, Q&A is starting now.

11:43AM:Sprint's management team is taking the stage.

11:44AM:"To Joe: I'd be lying if I said I followed along with what was going on in those slides. It's unclear to me what the iPhone impact," is.

11:44AM:"The iPhone will provide better subscriber growth and churn."

11:48AM:Everyone's on stage now and fielding questions. We'll cover anything big but it looks like we're pretty much done here.

11:51AM:Dan was asked what happens with Clearwire moving forward: We will continue to sell additional WiMAX devices through the end of 2012. Supporting, one could expect, to be much longer than that.

11:52AM:"We have nothing beyond 2012 to announce with regard to Clearwire," Dan Hesse said.

11:55AM:Question for Dan: There was a rumor that you made a significant financial investment with regard to the iPhone (20 billion, according to the WSJ). True? Dan: No comment. (duh)

12:04PM:Question: What is your commitment to Android, now that you've made this bet with Apple? "We want to be very clear. Although we're very excited about our announcement with Apple. We're not just going to forget our other partners. Android is just as popular, if not growing faster around the world." Those partnerships don't go away, we continue to sell products that fill a whole portfolio of needs. We're good partners with all of those partners.

12:05PM:Ok guys thank you for joining us today, the Q&A session is wrapping up in just a few minutes.

This has been a crazy, crazy, crazy week so far, but it’s not over yet. Sprint is holding a “Strategy Update” meeting Friday morning in New York City and BGR will be reporting live to bring you all the news as it unfolds. Will we hear more about Sprint’s deal with Apple and the iPhone? Perhaps. Will we hear more about Sprint’s plan to find a way out of its current 4G jam? Almost certainly. No one knows exactly what’s in store from Sprint tomorrow, but we have a pretty good feeling we’re in for a jaw-dropper or two.

Bookmark this link, which will go live tomorrow morning, and make sure to head there for our live coverage of the Sprint Strategy Update meeting. Coverage will begin just before 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

We’re live and in color from Amazon’s Kindle tablet (Kindle Fire, it would seem) event here in New York City, and we’ll be bringing you all the action live as it happens. While the tablet itself has been leaking for months — BGR exclusively reported this past May that Amazon’s first tablet would be based on the NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, and a larger device sporting a quad-core CPU will launch early next year — by there should still be a few surprises in store. At least we hope so. Stay tuned for the live coverage to start just before 10:00 a.m. Eastern, and don’t forget to refresh this page for the latest news as it breaks.

UPDATE: Make sure to check out our hands-on with the Amazon Kindle Fire!, Amazon Kindle touch, and new Amazon Kindle!

9:05AM:We're standing in line, freezing. Oh, there's coffee.

9:29AM:We've moved to a new waiting area, which is warmer, though it's not a good warm.

9:30AM:We're peeking under the door and we can see that the room inside is lit up in Amazon's trademark blue. If the photo looks purple, that's on Epstein.

9:41AM:Bloomberg is reporting the Amazon Kindle Fire will cost $199, boast a 7-inch display, be Wi-Fi only, and not include a camera or a microphone. It will also reportedly include a 30-day trial of Amazon Prime.

9:47AM:We're in!

9:49AM:We're packed in with probably 250 other people, and Amazon's logo is emblazoned on the large screen on the stage.

9:52AM:The dude next to us is using an Apple wireless keyboard on top of an iPad 2. We're laughing hysterically.

9:55AM:If the Kindle Fire really is $199, are you going to buy it? That's a pretty amazing price for a media tablet. Though it seems that the game Amazon is playing here, based on the leaks, is that they are almost anticipating people will buy both, just like people buy an iPad and a Kindle.

9:58AM:Sounds like Adele across the speakers in here. Or Macy Gray.

10:00AM:The broadcast media here is impressive. The entire back of the room is lined up with film crews.

10:02AM:More component leakage: the Amazon Kindle Fire appears it will have 8GB of built-storage, a nice cost savings.

10:02AM:Alright, we're getting started in a few!

10:03AM:Video is playing and lights are down. "New York City. Two Weeks Ago."

10:04AM:Lauren, a science tutor is holding the Kindle. More people are talking about how they love using their Kindle.

10:05AM:People love their Kindles, it seems.

10:05AM:Jeff Bezos is on stage!

10:05AM:"Thank you for taking the time to be here this morning"

10:06AM:4 years ago we set out to improve upon the book. When you decide you're going to reinvent something that has been around for 5 centuries, you are rightly going to receive some skepticism.

10:07AM:Negative quotes from the press are up on the screen.

10:08AM:Kindle books are outselling traditional books, and it's working because it's all integrated into an experience. Your Kindle is pre-registered, and knows your Amazon credentials, and your second Kindle knows about your library. What would a Kindle end-to-end service be without books? 90,000 books four years ago, today it's a million.

10:09AM:You can choose any of these books and have them in sixty seconds wireless.

10:09AM:We used electronic ink so that you could read outside in bright daylight, wherever you want to be.

10:09AM:No backlight no eye-strain, no interfering with sleep cycles, like a printed page. Long battery life measured in weeks even months, and you could keep your whole library with you.

10:10AM:We broke the model of customers backing up their digital content. We'll keep your copy in the cloud, delete it if you want, just download it again. We added text to speech, read or listen while you're cooking dinner. We did deep integration with Audible.com

10:10AM:Every Kindle has a unique email to send documents to the device.

10:10AM:We built an ecosystem so you could buy once and read everywhere.

10:11AM:Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Mac, PC, and most recently we launched the Kindle cloud reader, an HTML5 app, so you have access to your library wherever you have a browser.

10:11AM:Whispersync works beautifully. Read on your Kindle, switch to smartphone, it's right where you left off.

10:11AM:While you're reading, if you found an interesting passage you want to share with your friends, we made that easy.

10:12AM:Friends in book clubs using physical books? We added page numbers to make that possible to keep up with them.

10:12AM:There really are only two content lengths that works, article links that go into a magazine, and book lengths.

10:13AM:Kindle Singles are a shorter version of a book, longer than a magazine article, and it's "working very well."

10:13AM:You can now go to 11,000 public library and they will loan you Kindle books. I believe it is the fact that Kindle is an end-to-end service and we have been inventing at a rapid page that has keep Kindle the world's #1 e-reader for four years running.

10:13AM:Here's Kindle touch! Infrared touch

10:14AM:Infrared layer on top of the e-ink display so it doesn't interfere with your reading. Smaller, lighter, unbelievable build quality. People will love it.

10:14AM:One of the great things about building a device just built for reading is that you can obsess over those details.

10:16AM:Normal placement for next page and previous page on opposite sides don't make sense since people like to change hands halfway through. EasyReach relays out the tap zones, the previous page tap zone is small on the left hand size, easy to reach over.

10:16AM:In a dedicated device we can focus on this.

10:16AM:Demo time!

10:17AM:I'm in the middle of Remains Of the Day, one of my favorite books. Any of you who have used Kindle, one of the great features of the Kindle is that you can look up the definition of a word easily. I used to gloss over words that I wasn't sure of their meaning.

10:17AM:Is there something a little more that we could do?

10:17AM:We have a feature called X-Ray. You can look at the bones of the book.

10:17AM:Here's a page, fictional characters, real places.

10:18AM:The reason these definitions can come up so easily is because it's not going out to pull that, and when you download a book, we have pre-calculated all of these important phrases, and deliver that side file with those in them

10:19AM:He's on another phrase from the book, a character. It's giving a ridiculous amount of background on a fictional character.

10:19AM:Every time we launch a new device, I get comments like this. Imagine a Kindle for $99. There would be a frenzy. Amazon would sell so many of them. - TechCrunch

10:20AM:More quotes...

10:20AM:Kindle touch is only $99!

10:20AM:What do you get for $99?

10:21AM:Most advanced e-ink display, infrared touch interface, extra long battery life, books in 60 seconds, audible integration, X-Ray and new features, and free storage.

10:21AM:There is another device announced today... the Kindle touch 3G. Free 3G wireless. Built in Wi-Fi and no contract, no data plan.

10:22AM:Works in 100 countries.

10:22AM:$149 is the "top-of-the-line" Kindle touch 3G, preorder today, and ship November 21st.

10:22AM:"We're going to sell many millions of these."

10:22AM:What if you don't need touch, or what if you don't want touch?

10:23AM:We have many customers who expressly tell us they don't want touch, I don't want to touch the display.

10:23AM:So what could you do if you didn't want touch. Then you'd have a $79 Kindle.

10:23AM:This Kindle is incredibly light, under 6 ounces, 30% lighter than previous. 18% smaller, fit in your back pocket. Faster page turns, this is a solid device. Incredible device.

10:24AM:We're making premium products and offering them at non-premium prices.

10:24AM:Built-in Wi-Fi, most advanced advanced e-ink display.

10:24AM:This device you can order today and it ships today. We're going to sell many millions of these.

10:25AM:Several months ago we put special offers on our Kindle, and the special offers version became the best selling.

10:25AM:A few months later, it was on our 3G Kindle and that was the best selling. We're making it better with AmazonLocal, special offers in your area.

10:25AM:"Images are beautiful screensavers"

10:26AM:So meet the family. People are going to love these...

10:26AM:Showing a 30-second commercial now.

10:27AM:For 15 years, we have been building our media business. We have strong digital offerings in every media category. 100,000 movies and TV shows, rent movies, new releases, and more than 300 devices can watch them.

10:27AM:We have an MP3 store with 17,000,000 songs, native apps to buy once listen anywhere.

10:27AM:Recently introduced Amazon Cloud player to listen wherever you have a browser.

10:28AM:Press quotes up on the screen, this one from David Pogue.

10:28AM:We have our Android apps store, every app is tested for quality. You can test drive apps before you buy, and a free app every day.

10:29AM:We have a program called Amazon Prime and it's been unbelievably successful, all you can eat two-day shipping for only $79/year. Many millions of members.

10:30AM:Earlier this year, we added a whole new benefit to Amazon Prime, Prime instant video.

10:30AM:You can instantly stream 11,000 movies and TV shows. We have had great participation from networks and studios.

10:31AM:CBS, Universal, Fox...

10:31AM:Amazon Web Services... hundreds of thousands of customers in 190 countries. We started this seven years ago and it's pretty big.

10:33AM:We have Amazon Web Services, Amazon Prime, Kindle, Instant Video, MP3, and the appstore for Android. We asked ourselves, is there someway we can bring all of these things together... into a remarkable product offering... here comes the real tablet.

10:33AM:The answer is yes, it's called Kindle Fire.

10:34AM:7-inch IPS display, fast dual-core CPU, light, 14.6 ounces. All the content.

10:34AM:TV shows, songs, apps from Android app store, millions of books, beautiful full color magazines.

10:35AM:We are taking over the model of managing your content. Everything is stored in the cloud. We feel the same way about syncing, syncing just like with Kindle books should be done invisibly in the background. Photo of an Apple USB cable on the screen.

10:35AM:People love Whispersync, so we thought, people would really like the ability to have Whispersync work with movies, TV shows. It does.

10:36AM:When you get home, switch to your big screen TV, your movie will be right where you left it.

10:36AM:You won't have the frustration of finding your spot.

10:36AM:Bezos is showing off the Kindle Fire now.

10:37AM:Up at the top it says Jeff's Kindle. Just like with Kindle e-reader, you take it out of the box, it will greet you by name and is pre-registered.

10:37AM:It will know about your library and content already. Under that is a search bar, search locally or search cloud content, search the web, and search the Kindle stores.

10:38AM:Underneath that, is the row of different categories, newsstand, books, music, video, docs. Underneath that is the carousel, it's in most recently touched order.

10:38AM:If a movie was played, that's on top. If you just downloaded a subscription, that's on top. Easy place to find everything you interact with. Underneath that is where you can pin your favorites. Bookshelf for pinning-favorites. Let's watch some X-Men.

10:38AM:We're watching X-Men...

10:39AM:16 million colors, 169 pixels per inch, Gorilla Glass.

10:39AM:Beautiful display. Let's pause that...

10:39AM:We're going to the music now.. clean interface, very minimalistic. Adele, again. Not Macy Gray.

10:39AM:"There's a fire starting in my heart..."

10:40AM:Music is playing in the background now, we're on the homepage, going into books.

10:40AM:You can read with music playing in the background. One of the nice features, you can pull up the menu and pause your music from that top menu from wherever you are.

10:40AM:Back on the homescreen, playing Fruit Ninja.

10:41AM:You can see how fast the dual-core processor is, and you can see my skills lacking. It's therapeutic.

10:41AM:I still have more for you!

10:41AM:Let's give you some context. This is Amazon's web page from when we started more than 15 years ago. It's hard to remember. That webpage was only 10kb.

10:42AM:It had one image, all served from one domain. Here's what Amazon looks like today. 63 times bigger, many assets and files, and that is totally normal. The modern web is complicated.

10:43AM:Showing CNN web page breakdown, static images, dynamic images across multiple domains, javascript, HTML, CSS files, etc. It's challenging for mobile devices to display modern pages rapidly. We asked ourselves, is there someway we can use the computational horsepower of Amazon EC2 to accelerate mobile web browsing.

10:44AM:We have unlimited computational power and unlimited bandwidth. It's called Amazon Silk. It's a split browser, partially in EC2 and partially in Kindle Fire.

10:44AM:Demoing Kindle Silk now...

10:44AM:Video is up showing how Amazon is creating a cloud-computing-friendly browser.

10:45AM:We started to look at the difference between mobile and desktop experience. Performance of loading a page, customers care how long a page takes to load.

10:45AM:Mobile devices aren't meant to process and crunch all this data.

10:46AM:The biggest differentiator in our browser is that it's split between running on the device and the cloud.

10:46AM:By building a browser that is smart, and split, we think really changes the game.

10:47AM:Virtually limitless cache that can store the common files that are used to render the pages you view every day.

10:48AM:Marketing stuff.

10:48AM:They are super excited about Amazon Silk.

10:51AM:What do you get with the Kindle FIre? 18 million songs, movies, TV shows, books, magazines, apps, and games. 14 ounces, hold it with one hand. Dual-core processor, multi-touch 7-inch IPS display, free Amazon Cloud storage. Whispersync, Amazon Silk, and it's $199.

10:51AM:This is unbelievable value. Premium products at non-premium prices, we are determined to do this and we're doing it. Showing the introductory Kindle Fire TV commerical now.

10:52AM:P.S. Can you imagine RIM not owning the hardware design to their tablet? I can't process this... Imagine Apple letting a manufacturer sell their hardware design to a competitor, it's mind-blowing.

10:53AM:Amazon Kindle Fire is available to pre-order today and ships in November. We're done! Demo time!