03.17.09 -- 4:54 p.m.
What a day in the iPhone world, huh? In many ways, there really wasn't that much unexpected, however, there were a few little surprises thrown in there that were nice.
And then again, there were some things that we really thought were coming or would at least be mentioned (video) but nada. Of course, that doesn't mean video support isn't built into the software and upcoming hardware ... we'll just need to wait and see.
According to Apple, it's all available this summer - that' purposely Apple vague, but I expect June/July along with new hardware to go along with it although you can use your old hardware.
Sure, there's stuff we didn't get. We didn't get video. We didn't get Flash (I think there's some serious bad blood between Apple and Adobe. When Apple was asked about Flash after the event, the answer seemed short and focused on ways Apple can work around it without using it. No idea what is up, but it doesn't look good for Flash.
So without further ado, here's a recap of today along with some of my thoughts.
If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I'll get to them first via Twitter and then back here at the blog when the dust settles. I literally have hundreds of comments - if not thousands. More than 500 people signed up for Twitter over the past 2 days, so now when you chat over there, you're chatting with more than 2,000 loyal @iptib fans. Thank you for that.
And thanks for calling.
New features
Copy paste: It's system wide so you can copy from the Web and paste into your favorite Twitter app or e-mail or IM program or whatever. You doubletap to bring up a menu and you drag and boom goes the dynamite. And you can shake to undo, which is cool. Apple says the reason for the delay was security issues and doing it the way Apple wanted to do it on the iPhone.
MMS: It's not the perfect all-in-one mobile iChat that I was hoping for, but it's much better than the plain ol' SMS. Send photos, audio files, contacts (vcards), etc. I talked to AT&T earlier to see if there's any information on what the cost to MMS will be (I'm sure there will be a cost) but they don't have anything to announce at this time. I'll keep you posted. Hopefully there's an unlimited texting/MMS plan. Also, you'll be able to forward messages and delete multiple ones (About time!!). My guess is that the app itself will be called Messages or something and get a new or updated icon.
Landscape keyboard: Now, when you use Apple's main apps, you'll be able to see what you want to see in landscape - that means mail and notes and texts - even the stock app gets an update with landscape and news stories. Thank goodness - the stocks app and the weather app are woefully simplistic and need a serious overhaul. I know that Apple can let 3rd party developers do this stuff, but geez - a little love?
Speaking of the stocks app: Apple says the updated Stock app will add the ability to display recent company news and current trading information like opening or average price, trading volume or Market Cap, and will offer a landscape view to see a full screen of any stock chart.
Spotlight: Now you can search system-wide. From what I understand, you flick left on the homepage and you are presented with search. Spotlight is pretty darn powerful on a Mac and I expect it to be as powerful on an iPhone, as well as fast. And, search is better in Apple's apps too so you should be able to find whatever you need.
Subscriptions and updates from within apps: You buy a game for $5.99 and later that developer decides to add 10 new levels. You can buy new levels -- assuming they aren't free -- from directly within that app without having to redownload the entire app. Very smart. Always works on something like a book where chapters are updated. And you could also purchase parts of a game - like a new weapon or a gift or something.
Turn-by-turn GPS: Licensing prevents using Google Maps so a developer is free to offer it if they bring their own maps. Still great. File sizes will be huge, but with the update feature mentioned earlier, you should be able to always stay up to date. At least 2 companies have said they have iPhone apps written for turn-by-turn so my guess is you'll see it soon after 3.0 comes out.
Maps: Any app can now call out to a Google map thanks for changes in the API. Ahhh, freedom.
Calendars: Much better now. Shared calendars with CalDAV support and syncing with iCal, Yahoo, Google and Oracle. Calendar subscriptions also supported but not quite clear about how full the functionality is. Still better than it is now and that's the headline here.
iTunes accounts: Right on the iPhone!
Streaming: Streaming video and audio. Example was the guy from ESPN showing off a sports app with video and push alerts for scores. Fantastic.
Bluetooth: So much better. No word yet if you can use an Apple keyboard - RIDICULOUS, APPLE! Make it happen! - but at least stereo bluetooth A2DP - on the iPhone 3G. Not on the original iPhone. There's hardware limitations that make this unavailable on the first generation iPhone, however it will work on a second-generation iPod touch, which, actually has Bluetooth. Some folks assumed it was there because it communicates with Nike Plus, but today Apple made it clear that it has full Bluetooth.
Tethering: Functionality is part of 3.0 but it's carrier-specific. So it will be up to carrier to decide how it's implemented and how much it costs. Much like MMS, I guess.
Voice Memos: Apple offering new app. Record reminders, notes and even connect an external mic to the iPhone for better quality. I don't have a picture that I can attach here, but let me tell you - this app is all Apple with that unmistakable beauty and polish.
Push: Yep. Finally. After all these months, Apple needed time because it wasn't ready - blah blah blah -- Sorry Apple, you owed this to us sooner - or at the very least an update about why it didn't come in September as promised. However, now that it's here, it's great. It's for alerts, sounds and badges and is system wide. It's not background processes because that would drain the battery like no one's business. Battery life is apparently not impacted because it's not a background process. A notification goes through Apple's servers and then they are sent to the iPhone. And you can send those little red badges, or sounds or even text messages!
Peer-to-peer function: This is the sleeper of the day and actually the coolest. Remember beaming on a Palm? This is so much better. iPhones can sense each other via Bluetooth and bonjour with no pairing needed. So now if your wife has a contact you want to put on your phone you can. The obvious question is whether or not you can trade games and apps. I'm going to go out on a limb and say no to that, but still awesome functionality. Playing games this way is going to rock, especially if you walk into a coffee shop and sit down next to someone with an iPhone and that same game.
Accessories that "talk" -- your iPhone talks to accessories. Like if it's connected to a speaker, you can control the speaker's equalizer on the iPhone screen. Pretty darn sweet. Will be great for FM transmitters, etc. I really think that this kind of smart functionality will really have some of the more creative companies coming up with some amazing accessories. And having A2DP stereo via bluetooth is going to make for some awesome earphones too.
YouTube: Hopefully, if the darn videos actually load, you'll also be able to log into your account. To me, that's important because it means there will soon be video that you'll be able to upload. Trust me, video is coming.
Parental controls: Enhanced. TV shows, apps, movies in addition to Safari and what you see now.
Wi-Fi: Auto login at hotspots! Should save precious time.
Notes: You can sync them via iTunes. To me, syncing via iTunes is really old and not the way I like to do things, simply because I'm not always near iTunes to sync. But someday, when I can sync everything over the air via the cloud, well, it will be all better. For now, it's nice to have the option at least.
Firewall?: If you work with one, the iPhone plays much nicer with it.
Shake, shake, shake it!: iPod nano has it, where you can shake it and shuffle your music. Well, now your iPhone has it too. Or it will. And while I don't know that I'm a big fan of it, it's one of those things that's cool to do because I can.
Access your iPod: Now you can access your iPod library in different apps. One of the developers showed a game character listening to music on the iPod. Apple was always very protective of the iPod underpinnings. This is going to open up some new and cool worlds.
Forms: Auto-fill until your hearts content. Wow, you don't realize how much you need auto-fill of forms until you don't have them.
Go phish: Apple has built enhanced phishing protection into iPhone OS 3.0.
iPod touch users: You still have to pay for this stuff - as you should be used to by now. Good thing is that Apple is charging "just" $9.95 for it.
What we missed
Missed, as in what we didn't get. I'd say that overall it was a great day and that iPhone 3.0 looks good. But there's stuff we've heard about that we didn't get. As with all rumors, it's touch and go. But here's a little roundup. And remember - just because Apple didn't preview it doesn't mean it doesn't exist or might not still be coming.
Premium app store: We've heard rumblings for a while now about apps that are priced higher getting a special space in the app store. I never thought that was the purpose of the premium app store. I think the premium app store will be the place for higher definition and larger apps once a larger-screened Apple device makes its debut.
Different e-mail views: I have two accounts and I appreciate them being separated. Got plenty of comments and e-mails and tweets from folks who like it all in one inbox. If you like that, you are out of luck. At least for now.
User-changeable themes: Apple is all about consistent design. Any rumor or site that said that Apple would let you change the black background on your home screen to polka dots or edit the icons were wrong. And if you read those rumors in the future, don't believe them. The only way you will ever get user-changeable themes is if you jailbreak your phone. Could I be wrong? Sure. But I'm not.
Mobile iChat and video: MMS is a great improvement over the plain old boring SMS that we have now, but it's no mobile iChat. Once we get video, though, I believe it will all be lumped together into one great app. Here's hoping I'm not old and gray before that happens.
Clouds in my coffee: We've so vain. We probably thought this announcement was about us. For those of you who don't like or know Carly Simon, I'm saying that I wish there was more cloud integration. MobileMe only scratches the surface of what's possible with the cloud.
15 Comments
Sidric The Viking said:
Just watched Scott and co. going through the whole presentation. I enjoyed it. While there's a whole heap I'll never use, I liked the overall direction. You know I was screaming for landscape in email and I'm delighted with the MMS forwarding options. A pretty good announcement. Glad that the upgrade is free for my 1st Gen as well as Mrs Sidric's 3G iToy. Not sure if I'll bother upgrading Sidric The Younger's iPod Touch, though.
Thanks for your blow by blow updates earlier, they were great and really helped build on the excitement.
And, as that guy said, Happy St Patrick's Day - this time from the Emerald Isle!!!
SCOTT"S REPLY: Thanks so much and thanks for the wishes from Ireland!
Tom Clark said:
Well.. i am some what impressed...LOL however not happy with the fact that first gen Iphone users are gonna miss out on some features.. though I will have to admit that I am going to upgrade as soon as my current contract is up. I really wish that they would put out a small firmware update to at least activate landscape mode in sms and e-mail... thais is the main thing I am looking for...LOL any way we shall see..
SCOTT'S REPLY: Me too on the firmware upgrade, but my guess is that it's built into the new software and the pieces really aren't interchangeable with what we are currently using.
Ben F. said:
Hey Scott! Great job! The twitter updates were WONDERFUL! I think we came out with a lot of good stuff here. I still wish for video and other features but a good day none the less.
SCOTT'S REPLY: Really nice of you to say, Ben. My pleasure.
HOWEVER. There is one thing that is REALLY pissing me off. WHY IN THE WORLD DO FIRST GEN IPHONES NOT GET MMS????? Is the difference between first gen and 3g really that great????
please enlighten me scott.
Keep up the great work!
SCOTT'S REPLY: All I know right now about it is that Apple says the radio isn't compatible for MMS - I'm not sure I understand what that means yet.
Neil said:
well, glad to have cut and paste BUT the most important feature for me is one of the most important features of a cell phone: the ability to voice dial with your bluetooth! What's up with that? I should be able to tap my bluetooth and say, "call Scott K mobile" without having to look at the phone or hold it up to my face.
so for me the positives were out weighed by this major missing piece!!
N
SCOTT'S REPLY: Hold out hope - they really updated bluetooth and this could end up in the final version.
Brad said:
We got a lot of great and much needed stuff. No video but at least streaming audio and video now and I can't believe that we won't get the ability to shoot/upload video sooner than later. You would think anyway. Otherwise, only major disappointment is nothing from/with Adobe yet. More ? mark sites still I guess...Also still hope there's a chance for notification profile upgrades- probably isn't something they would mention specifically on a day like today. All in all, pretty cool I'd say!
SCOTT'S REPLY: I agree, and remember -- the software isn't complete yet. There's always the chance we'll get more stuff that's unknown at this time.
Brad said:
Btw, nice job posting and recapping.
SCOTT'S REPLY: Thanks, Brad. Nice of you to say.
Brian O'Leary said:
I wonder what battery life will be with all the new features......3 or 4 hours?
SCOTT'S REPLY: Well, one hopes that as technology advances, so does battery life. I'm hopeful - a little bit hopeful.
Jeffry Henderson said:
Hello,
The one thing I was hoping for in this update is the ability to set the iPhone to auto-answer calls after a specified number of rings, especially when connected to bluetooth devices.
I ride a motorcycle with a communications system that is capable of syncing with the iPhone's bluetooth functionality, however, I have to currently touch the phone to answer, which is not practical on a motorcycle.
Please tell me that they've built this simple feature into the new release.
SCOTT'S REPLY: It does seem simple and necessary, Jeffry, and although it wasn't addressed, you need to remember that the software isn't completely written yet and all kinds of stuff could end up in the final version. I wouldn't lose hope just yet.
Sidric The Viking said:
Scott, your friend John Williams over on your FaceBook site prompted a question which I'll pose here rather than on FB. If a person upgrades to a new iPhone what happens their old sync stuff, such as the last backup etc? Obviously, iTunes will recognise the old iPhone as belonging to the backup but how about the upgrade? I have been considering - very seriously - the possibility of upgrading, should there be a new iPhone before the end of the year. The O2 (Ireland) contract is for 18 months and my current one runs out in September, so............
SCOTT'S REPLY: I think when you plug in a new iPhone you get the option to activate it from backup. When I went from my first gen to the 3G, I backed up the 1G before disabling it, plugged in the 3G and the information synced directly and immediately and all my stuff was there waiting. It was seamless and flawless and I bet that happens this time around.
Shayne Packer said:
I am impressed with Apple's roundup of new features. I am looking forward to using them on my iPhone, and as an iPhone app developer. I have to chuckle at some of the comments I've seen on other blogs; something like, "these features should have been in version 1.0". Such naive comments surely don't come from engineers and marketers that understand the amount of effort that goes into each release. Apple does an outstanding job IMHO.
SCOTT'S REPLY: I used to feel that way, Shayne, but in talking to people in the know - like yourself - and others, I've realized that I have been too harsh. But that doesn't mean that I didn't want to see these things before.
Steven said:
Email and phone access to address book smart groups?
email access to all mobileme aliases in composing and replying to emails?
SCOTT'S REPLY: Nothing was mentioned per se on these things but it doesn't mean it won't show up in the final 3.0 product.
Neil said:
Scott,
thanks for putting this all together! I know how much you love these events but also how much energy and time it takes to do the work. Bravo!!
Neil
SCOTT'S REPLY: Thank you so much, Neil.
Ricky said:
Hey Scott,
I gotta say, out of all the places I could have gone to hear about new features, I found myself refreshing iPtib for hours at work! You couldn't have done a better job! Nice work! If I may speak for everyone, we all appreciate the efforts you put into this blog! Thank you.
SCOTT's REPLY: Ricky, just as you appreciate what I do, I appreciate what you just said more than I can say. Thanks.
Christopher said:
Ya know, at first I was wondering why Apple would release a voice memo or voice recording app. I did expect them to release a new app, but voice recording was my last thought! I was think "there are so many voice recording apps out there, what new could Apple bring to it?" Then I remembered it's Apple, and this app can have some background processes like how most of their other apps do, sms, iPod app, mail... Imagine the possibilities, the app would record, and will allow you to exit and keep recording to check a website perhaps, or open some other app while it still records.
Imagine this as well, it could be integrated right in with making calls, allowing you to record any phone call just by one tap, and check the recording in the app. Who knows, I don't know for sure, but I like to dream.
SCOTT'S REPLY: I don't know either, but yeah there has to be more to it because there are so many really good voice recording apps out there. Apple's will always look like Apple and therefore look elegant, but there's more to it than elegance.
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SCOTT'S REPLY: I shall be pleased to see you come here regularly.
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