Waiting for Leica's 9-9-09 Big Bang: Leica Webcast has finished!

Leica's promised Big Bang on 9-9-2009 is just around the corner, so it is time to start another "Waiting for" edition. This time we have a guaranteed end-goal at 9am New York City time. As usual, TimeAndDate.com is a good way to "translate" timezones! (This is a live blog update - it will be updated throughout).

Pre-ordering season begins
Amazon did not wait for long, they now have M9 ($6995) and the X1 ($1995) available for pre-order. There is a poll on the pricing of these two towards the middle of this post.

Web-coverage of the new Leicas
+ Luminous Landscape goes in Leica mode! Today X1 first impressions, tomorrow an M9 review (!) and Friday an S2 review (!!!) - Go Luminous Go! (Reid Reviews will be doing the same, but his site is subscribers-only)
+ Spec comparison between M9, D3x, 1DsMk3 and A900, along with complete press release and specs (in German) at Photoscala - also X1
+ M9 hands-on preview at dpreview by Phil Askey himself!
+ X1 brief hands-on at dpreview - camera is REALLY small, exposes DSLR's sensor-size excuses
+ Leica factory magical mystery tour by dpreview
+ Leica store opens in London tomorrow says BJoP blog
+ Leica's M-series page is now updated with the new M9

Apple leaks?
CNet Asia has leaks of what appears to be an Apple iPod Touch G3 and a Nano G5.

9:55am NYC time
The webcast is complete, the three expected cameras were shown (M9, X1, S2). There was no mention of the R-series or other Leica cameras.

Live-Watching/Blogging the Webcast
+ Webcast is over at 9:49am NYC time
+ People in the room can now see and touch the new Leicas
+ Leica CEO hands Seal a Leica S2 with lens!
+ Seal continues to talk about his Leica-love
+ (memo-to-paparazzi: check what cameras Seal is using in the future!)
+ Seal had one of twelve M9 samples last month
+ Seal knew about the M9 for nine months and kept it a secret
+ now introducing photographer and singer Seal
+ S2 will ship in October 2009
+ S2 "weather and water sealed"
+ One audience member screams: "I want one!"
+ Now Leica S2 is pulled out!
+ X1 will be available in early December 2009
+ X1 is hand-assembled and inspected in factory in Germany
+ X1 is simple for beginners, complex for professionals
+ now introducing the Leica X1
+ M9 will be available world-wide in the next few days
+ "M9 shipping around the world as we speak"
+ worked with Kodak to produce a highly-specialized sensor for the M9 only!
+ Daniel pulls Leica M9 from under the podium and introduces it to the audience!
+ Stefan Daniel takes stage to introduce products after short video-teaser
+ "red meat" stuff, praising Leicas, going through history, etc
+ takes seven hours to complete (assemble) each M-series camera
+ sings praises of f0.95 lens
+ Leica Chief, CEO Rudi Spiller, speaks at a podium!
+ webcast starts!

9:15am NYC time
The webcast has began! The Leica Chief, CEO Rudi Spiller, speaks at a podium!

It now shows the teaser video, over the same neo-elevator music.

9:06am NYC time
The webcast has music playing :)

9:05am NYC time
Screen has been updated. The show will begin at 9:15am NYC time instead of 9am. We tried both Firefox 3.5x and Chrome and they both work.

8:53am NYC time
If you are having technical issues, this webcast link seems to work right now. Below is a screenshot of what you should be seeing (We added the text "SCREENSHOT ONLY" to denote the picture below is just a screenshot, not a live webcast):

8:40am NYC time
If you are looking for your local webcast, start at Leica.com and follow the path. The Leica US site appears to be experiencing slow loading-times.

On the Apple front, the current iPods have gotten discounted today in anticipation of the new ones says Engadget.

8:33am NYC time: Price Polls

2:22am NYC time
We take a break for "Project ZzZzZz" and we will return on Wednesday before the webcast begins for more.

12:52am NYC time
The M9 price could have been a lot higher. After all, the Nikon D3X started at $8000.

But the X1 price is going to break the hearts of APS-C compact photographers. It's a Leica double-tax!

12:37am NYC time: Leica M9 price at $6995
At the same retailer, the M9 in either black or gray goes for $6995.
+ specs as expected from the PDF leak
+ Lightroom
+ 2-year warranty
+ Kodak sensor (as speculated)
+ compatibility with M8 and M8.2 accessories

12:32am NYC time: Leica X1 price leaked at $2000 (ouch!)
See comment #1 below, the Leica X1 has been leaked at a retailer's website with a starting price of $2000! Some of the listed specs:
+ 12mp APS-C CMOS sensor 23.6 x 15.7 mm
+ 24mm f2.8 ASPH lens (36mm in 35mm-equivalency)
+ pop-up flash
+ 3 fps
+ RAW
+ Lightroom
+ Made in Germany
+ 2-year warranty

12:07am NYC time
The former (fired) Leica CEO Steven Lee who leaked the full-frame M-series news ahead of its time is revisited.

11:20pm NYC time
Inspired by "The Google", we have temporarily changed the top of the page to red for Leica ;-) If it is too blindingly red, please let us know and we'll switch back to normal :-)

11:10pm NYC time
This GetDPI thread claims that according to sources, the UK price for the M9 will be 4900 GBP.

11pm NYC time (Monday)
If you want to catch-up, or immerse yourself in the Leica world preparing for the new products, here are some Leica forums to check out:

+ L-Camera Forum (English version)
+ GetDPI forum
+ dpreview forums
+ Rangerfinder forums

Guess the Leica M9 and X1 prices
Now that the prices have been leaked, there is no need to vote anymore! You can see the polls in this post.

Our readers once again correctly guessed the price-range of the M9, with 33% of the vote in the optimistic $5000-to-$6999 category, and 30% of the vote in the $7000-to-$9000. However, the double Leica-tax of the X1 blind-sided everyone, and the $1800-to-$1999 price only got 9% of the vote. The top vote-getter was the $1200-to-$1499 price-range with 24% of the vote, followed by the ranges above and below it getting around 16% each.