Apple's Big September Surprise

Apple CEO Steve Jobs appeared before a press-only crowd in San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center today to make a presentation and several announcements.

Leading up to the event, anticipation had been intense—madly so. Would Jobs announce that the iTunes store finally struck a deal with the Beatles, it being 9/9/09, the release date of the band's remastered back catalog and its own Rock Band game? Would Apple unveil its much-speculated-upon (but not confirmed) tablet computer? Would Jobs reveal himself to be the messiah?

Apple acolytes were expecting any or all of the above, and as the crowd blogged, tweeted, and reported on the one-hour event in constantly updated posts, the drama was high. To judge from some of the photos taken by Gizmodo, the event resembled nothing so much as Apple's iconic 1984 commercial, with MacBook- and iPhone-toting true believers sitting raptly inside Jobs' famous reality-distortion field waiting for whatever was to come.

What they got was pretty disappointing. First, there was a new iTunes store. Then an improved iPod Touch. Oh, and iPod Nanos that shoot video and have radio antennae. Plus a demo of some games, including Madden NFL 10.

From the moment this morning when Apple shut down its online store to when it opened up the doors to the presentation it called (with a hat tip to the Rolling Stones) "It's Only Rock and Roll," to the final performance by Norah Jones, the company kept its rabid base on tenterhooks all day long only to underwhelm them.

Apple stock did go up briefly, probably based on Jobs' appearance at the event, his first public outing since liver-transplant surgery earlier this year. (Jobs exhorted the crowd to become organ donors.)

As he stood on stage, the company's share price went up to $174.47. It's now at $170.25.