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In Summary: Apple’s New iPhone 4S, iOS5, iCloud, and Updated iPods

The iPhone 4S will be available on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint October 14th starting at $199 for a 16GB model. 32 GB and 64 GB models are available at a higher cost. Pre-orders can begin October 7th. The iPhone 4 will be $99 and the iPhone 3GS will be free with a two year contract.

Big features coming to this update of the iPhone include:

You can see a video of the new phone from Apple if you have QuickTime installed.

iOS5 will be available October 12th as a free update from iTunes for iPhones, iPod Touches, and iPads.

iOS 5 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and iPod touch (third and fourth generation) customers, allowing them to experience the amazing new features.

iCloud also launches October 12th, according to today’s press release.

iCloud will be available on October 12 as a free download to iPhone, iPad or iPod touch users running iOS 5 or a Mac running OS X Lion with a valid Apple ID. iCloud includes 5GB of free cloud storage for Mail, Document Storage and Backup. Purchased music, TV shows, apps, books and Photo Stream do not count against the storage limit. iTunes Match will be available starting in the US later this month for $24.99 a year. Using iCloud with a PC requires Windows Vista or Windows 7; Outlook 2010 or 2007 is recommended for accessing contacts and calendars. Additional iCloud storage upgrades are available to purchase starting at $20 a year for 10GB, $40 a year for 20GB and $100 a year for 50GB.

iPod Touches and iPod Nanos will receive updates and a price decrease, Apple announced in a separate press release.

Apple® today announced great new features and more affordable pricing for both iPod touch® and iPod nano®. iPod touch will be available in new black and white models starting at just $199, including Apple’s new iOS 5 and iCloud® services. The new iPod nano is available today starting at just $129 and features a redesigned user interface, 16 new digital clock faces and improved built-in fitness features.

That about wraps it up. No iPhone 5. No Sprint exclusivity. Pretty underwhelming since most of this was announced back in June. By not live streaming the event, I think Apple just fed into the hype and a number of different live blogs that I checked were having horrible stability problems given the high traffic they were receiving.

We still have Sprint’s event on Friday to look forward to and the Samsung/Google event next week on the 11th.