Live From Cupertino: Apple’s iPhone Event; iPhone 4S Debuts; Siri Voice Assistant; No Steve, No iPhone 5 (Updated)

I’m here in cozy Town Hall at the Apple campus in Cupertino for the much-awaiting launch of the next generation of iPhones. The entire tech press corps seems to be here. The action gets going at 10 a.m. Pacific time; stand by for live coverage. Reload this post for updates.

Summary: overall, there is going to be some disappointment with the batch of announcements. The highlight is the Apple 4S, which will be priced at $199 for a 16 GB version, $299 for 32 Gb, and $399 for 64 GB. The iPhone 4 is now $99 for a 8 GB version, the only version left. The 3GS is now free with a two year contract. There are also some tweaks to the iPod line, which are minor. and they announced the Siri Voice Assistant, which does some neat tricks, but might not be enough to make people happy. this was not the iPhone 5, I’d point out. The Street was hoping for more here. Note that the presentation included a large chunk of reviewing aspects of iOS5 and iCloud which were previously announced. I’d also note that Steve Jobs was not there, and in fact was not even mentioned from the stage. Read the details in my live blog below. With the event now ended, AAPL shares are down $9.71, or 2.6%, to $364.89,

Back with more commentary soon; what do you think?