It’s an interesting time for Apple. They’ve sold over 30 million units of the iPhone and iPod touch combined. They have also had 800 million applications downloaded from the App Store. This is mighty impressive considering the entire iPhone/touch platform is only about 2 years old. Lately several challengers have emerged, the most compelling of which is Palm’s Pre with their webOS. Well, Apple hasn’t sat still. Yesterday, they had a preview of their latest iPhone 3.0 software. And yes, they did answer (almost) all prayers.

How can you sell 17 million units in a year, for a (smart)phone that has no cut and paste or MMS support? Somehow, Apple did it. The iPhone 3.0 roadmap looks quite tasty and we’ll probably see loads of new applications (and new types of applications) from third parties in the coming year.

Here’s what’s new with iPhone 3.0:
- Cut/Copy/Paste : what iPhone users asked for since day one. You can even copy and paste photos.
- MMS integrated into the SMS application. Supports vCards, plus audio and photos
- Universal Search : what the Palm OS had in version 1.0, and probably a feature that I miss the most from my Treo. Apple naturally calls it Spotlight. It searches everything, including emails from your Exchange server
- Notes syncing! Finally I can transfer over 1000+ memos from my 10 years in the Palm world.
- Bluetooth A2DP. Apparently, Bluetooth is already in the second generation iPod touch, and can be “unlocked”
- Voice memo recorder

With iPhone 3.0, Apple is positioned to at least hold its own against the webOS. Of course beyond what us consumers get, the developers get a lot more. There are also many, many different options for developers to work with. Apple will be releasing over 1,000 APIs (!) covering everything including maps, remote content browsing, in-application purchasing and subscriptions (for games items, ebooks, and more) and control of third party hardware. I’m excited to see what the developers will come up with.

The iPhone 3.0 update will be a free upgrade for iPhones and $10 for iPod touch. The MMS will not work on the original iPhone, which I have.

Filed under: iPhone • Mobile Software

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