Today Apple announced the 3.0 operating system. Available immediately to developers and sometime this summer for the final release, its got just about every feature people have been asking for since the 1.0 and 2.0 releases. Except flash. Screw Adobe. When they make a version of flash that works properly on the Mac, then maybe Steve will let them on the iPhone.
The biggest feature was Cut/Copy/Paste. If I never hear some digg fanboy complain about the missing feature, it’ll be too soon. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve needed copy/paste since I’ve bought my iPhone. The original one, back in 2007.
Next on the list of features non-smart phones have that the iPhone didn’t was MMS. While I don’t send many (any?) MMS messages, I do get the occasional one from my sister. So instead of having to punch in a code on a website, I’ll be able to see that image inline (and hopefully be able to do things like save the picture, fwd it, etc).
Syncing notes is a big feature that people have wanted for a while now. Creating calendar invites is great too, and CalDAV support is great, I’m tempted to setup my own CalDAV server now so I can use a few different calendaring apps and have them all go back to the server.
Stereo Bluetooth is a feature that I’ve been looking forward to for a while now. The MS SYNC system in my car supports A2DP (stereo bluetooth) but the iPhone hasn’t. So this means I’d have to plug my phone into the USB port in my car every time I got in, and unplug it every time I got out. It also function as a charger too, which was nice but I can charge the phone in any number of other places (work, home, the only two places I ever really go). Not having to take the phone out of my pocket is going to be great. I’ll be able to talk and listen to music through bluetooth. The only thing missing really is text to speech on my text messages. Apple said they added a bunch of other bluetooth profiles, so we’ll see if it shows up.
On the API side, the ability to embed Google Maps into my app would be great. I was already working on a simple web page that would allow managers to find out where their field staff are (through automated vehicle location technologies we have at work). Now instead of just a list, picture and distance, I could write an app that would allow us to view those points on a map on the phone. Apple indicated during the presentation that they cant just let anyone use the API, so I guess the ball is in Google’s court to setup infrastructure to for API keys and some sort of revocation system.
The other big API is being able to talk to bluetooth devices as well as dock access. Being able to talk to a bar code scanner or RFID reader through bluetooth or the dock will allow all sorts of new and interesting applications of the iPhone and the iPod Touch.
After the 2.0 OS, I finally felt the iPhone was a platform. There were a bunch of limits and things people could think of conceptually but weren’t able to do with the API provided. I think we’re past that now, we should be in the position to do a ton of new items. We don’t need everything under the sun now, there will probably be a 4.0 OS next year that unlocks more doors.
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