Engadget reports that Apple will be detailing iPhone 0S 3.0 at a March 17 event. Because the event is being billed as an “advance preview,” it’s unlikely we’ll see the new OS for some time, however, across the internet, hopes are high that the new OS will include many of the most commonly requested features, such as cut and paste, MMS, A2DP, Push notifications, and background tasks.
About two months ago, I detailed my expectations about iPhone OS 3.0 on my personal blog, and I still stand by what I said. I suspect the focus on 3.0 to be the introduction of new features such as a copy-and-paste, push notifications, enterprise management, and application management. I think the atrocities such as lack of MMS, lack of Flash, missing landscape views throughout the OS and wireless syncing are all simple enough features that could easily have been introduced as point release to the 2.x series.
The only real clue we have with the new iPhone is the fact that there will be a new SDK. This suggests that we will see new functionality in the APIs, which further suggests additional capabilities rather than mere bug fixes.
Whatever the case, it seems likely that Apple is going to step up their game in the face of also-rans, such as the LG Voyager and the Blackberry Storm, and possible competitors like Android powered phones the forthcoming Palm Pre. It would be hard for anyone to argue that Apple hasn’t changed the smartphone game; many are hoping that firmware 3.0 is as revolutionary as its predecessors.
You guys really think Apple has just been sitting down and doing nothing?
Also, the title of this article is misleading. It is NOT coming on March 17th, it is being PREVIEWED on March 17th.
later
Is there a connection between the two here? The last article about Snow Leopard suggested it was picking up features that the iPhone OS had – will it be going in the other direction too?
I’m curious – this looks interesting.
Here’s to hoping that we’ll hear something about the long awaited push notification 🙂
Push is so 1999! The future is Lateral notification. It says it’s coming, doesn’t arrive, and then by the time you’ve forgotten about it it appears out of nowhere singing it’s own praises.
Used with an Exchange server it pushes events and mail fantastically well.
Hey developers! Look, your cell now comes with a toilet! It even flushes. (We reserve the right to disable the flush, remove the toilet or any other such behaviour at random and without any reason and only return it if you make enough stink)
Lack of Flash an ‘atrocity’? The teenage gunman this week was an atrocity, not a piece of software that is an ‘atrocity’ itself. The iPhone, and the web as a whole, is all the better off without Flash.
Well, flash has its place. Better that than being stuck with Silverlight as our only option. It’s just too bad flash has been so misused, there is no reason for a page’s navigation menu to be written in Flash, for example, nor is there any purpose to having the content of a page be flash-based unless it is video or interactive content. None at all.
IMO Flash should be a glorified <img> replacement, nothing more. I’m not discounting the technology (it was key in the 1996-2000 period). However, I think beyond cartoons the standards have everything else covered now.
Ha ha, “standards”, right? Some 5 – 7 years ago, some guys still turned off JS. What is web without JS nowadays? Well, it is patched stuff over another patched stuff. So called AJAX saved web. Right – some JS libraries are hundred of KBs of crap, to delude users into thinking, they have real-time RIA 🙂 Wait, it is still not fast enough, even on super duper HW? OK, let’s produce new browsers with new ultra cool JS engines, which are x times faster, but still not fast enough? 🙂
So, before you dismiss Flash or another compact technology, just try to answer yourself, if those “standards” really have everything covered …
Poor word choice. I meant lack of MMS being ridiculous. Every phone since the late 90s has had this capability.
Oh definitely, yah. I thought carriers and handset manufacturers were stubborn and irresponsible when Bluetooth took 2-3 years to even get off the ground, but Apple definitely takes the cake.
I would just assume they forgo Flash. There’s just all sorts of problems with Flash, not the least of which being that it can torpedo both battery performance and bandwidth availability on something running off tiny batteries with a lackluster 3G network for it to ride on.
If you’re using it for video content, just use the video. If you’re using it for dynamic graphical elements, use a canvas or SVG.
Trouble with the video tag is the codec problem, i.e. you don’t know what codec the video will necessarily be in or whether your running browser will support it. Theora was supposed to be adopted as the standard, but as far as I know that hasn’t actually happened, and Theora doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere. And then of course, Apple chose not to support it, so Theora probably won’t be running on the iPhone any time soon. H.264 is riddled with patents, making it unlikely to be adopted as the standard (though it’ll probably end up being the most used anyway). Dirac shows promise, perhaps that will become standard.
This is one thing you don’t have to worry about with Flash, as long as you have Flash installed correctly the video will play. Right now, that’s its biggest strength, while it limits the compatibility to operating systems that have a flash player it usually works about the same on all of them. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s a buggy piece of crap, but it’s more universal right now than anything else.
It’s a bit unfair to say that Theora is going nowhere. Mozilla just inveted $100k into the development of it, and WikiMedia favors Theora above all else. Those two items alone make Theora something worth considering.
Now, Theora support on the iPhone, on the other hand… I agree, not happening any time soon.
If the iPhone OS was everything it should be it can not replace the tactile feel of a real keyboard. Clutching my BlackBerry
Edited 2009-03-13 00:23 UTC
only using a very generous definition of the word real
KM
I can’t believe it doesn’t support A2DP, everything else I can forgive. Please please 3.0 save me!