With Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs recuperating from what he yesterday called a hormonal imbalance, Phil Schiller took the stage at Macworld today to unveil new iLife 09 and iWork 09 application suites and a new 17-in. MacBook Pro.

The new MacBook Pro is built using the same "unibody" manufacturing process as the 15-in. MacBook Pro, the MacBook line and the MacBook Air. And the new model features a built-in, non-removable battery that Apple says lasts 60 percent longer and has an extended life.

The newest laptop sells for $2,799, sports a 2.66GHz processor and comes with 4GB of RAM. In stock form, it comes with a 320GB hard drive, but Apple offers an optional 256GB solid-state drive as a built-to-order option.

Before unveiling the 17-in. MacBook Pro, Schiller, senior vice president for marketing, spent much of his keynote detailing new features in the iLife and iWork suites, including geotagging for photos taken with the iPhone and face recognition.

Prices for iLife 09 and iWork 09 remain unchanged at $99 and $79, respectively.

Schiller wrapped up the keynote, which lasted just over an hour and a half, by announcing that iTunes song prices have been reduced and are now available without DRM restrictions.

Earlier today, Schiller noted that the company's retail stores have about 3.4 million visitors a week and he said the company sold 9.7 million Macs in 2008.

The traffic through Apple's retail stores was one reason the company announced last month that it would no longer exhibit at Macworld after this year's show and that Jo bs would not deliver this year's keynote. The Expo runs through Friday.

For more about the Macworld keynote as it unfolded, check out Seth Weintraub's live-blog of the event.

Developing story. More to come.