A new operating system for the iPhone and Touch!
Apple today held a large media event at its Town Hall auditorium in Cupertino, announcing the iPhone 3.0 operating system, a new version packed with new features.
The system will be available “later this summer” and will be free for iPhone users. It will cost owners of the iPod Touch $9.95 to upgrade. That is the same upgrade fee that Apple charged when they introduced version 2.0 in 2008. How was the introduction of 3.0 accepted, according to a ComputerWorld story? The reactions of two Gartner inc. analysts are pretty typical:
Mike McGuire said, “I don’t want to use Apple’s words, but this is clearly a significant development in the iPhone. There is the potential here for some really significant changes.”
Van Baker said, “There’s an awful lot of stuff in [iPhone 3.0] that developers will be happy with.”
In fact, the new operating system is touted as having over 100 new features. Apple is making the SDK available to application developers today so that they can get started on upgrading their old apps and on writing new ones. The list of enhancements in 3.0 is very long indeed, but the following are seen as some of the most important.
Copy and paste – This seems to be at the top of every list of needed features. It has been a huge complaint since the iPhone was introduced, although users seem to have gotten along without it fairly well. They will not have to do so any longer. This functionality is included in 3.0.
Spotlight search – Mac users have come to appreciate the intuitive usage and tiny footprint of Spotlight search on OS X. Now this feature has been added to the iPhone OS. It is not a web search, but rather a very useful device search. Even non-Mac users will take to it very quickly. There is almost no learning curve.
Photo Messages – Most of today’s cell phones have cameras and most can send photo messages. This function is analogous to SMS text messages and is known as MMS. iPhone OS 3.0 now has this feature, although video was left out of this operating system too, although you will be able to send contact information, audio and location data.
True GPS functionality – The new OS will allow app developers to use the phone’s CoreLocation technology so that it will be possible to provide turn-by-turn directions. One caveat – certain licensing restrictions currently keep developers from using Google maps for this purpose. Unless this changes, developers will have to use their own maps.
Calendar protocol – OS 3.0 introduces a new way to synch calendars, called CalDAV. This is a fairly open protocol which is supported by Google, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo, so it vastly increase the calendar options that can be used with the iPhone.
Push notification – It seems that this is still problematic for Apple, but they have finally allowed app backgrounding / push notification into the new OS. They are still worried about battery life, and have had to make a lot of changes to minimize this problem in the new OS, but it is finally here. It will be a limited version, but will be there nonetheless.
YouTube accounts – A significant number of users were upset that they could not log into their YouTube accounts to save and rate videos. As of OS 3.0, this will be a native app.
More landscape mode – All of the native Apple apps will make landscape mode available by turning the phone 90 degrees. It is hoped that most app developers follow suit.
Voice memos – The new OS comes with a native app that will let you record voice messages.
Note synch – There will be some limited synch capability for notes as a part of the normal iTunes process in 3.0. No details were given.
There are many more changes. Watch this site in the days to come for more description and commentary on the list above and on the other enhancements to be provided with iPhone OS 3.0. The upgrade seems to be truly significant and we will continue to report what this new operating system means to you as the release date (June?) gets nearer.
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March 18th, 2009
There is nothing on that list for touch users. except the youtube thing and copy paste.
Not worth the upgrade if you ask me.