Cupertino, Calif. — Apple’s iPhone iPhone 3.0 operating system will have more than 100 new features, including turn-by-turn driving instructions, the company said today.
Other enhancements, most also available for the iPod Touch, include:
- the ability to cut and paste text across multiple applications;
- searching for keywords across multiple applications;
- background notification of text and instant messages via sound, text or badge alerts;
- cellular MMS (multimedia messaging service);
- stereo Bluetooth;
- peer-to-peer Bluetooth connections;
- shake to shuffle;
- automatic login at Wi-Fi hot spots;
- access to Google and Yahoo shared calendars;
- the ability to forward and delete multiple messages;
- parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the iTunes Store; and
- as with the BlackBerry Storm from Verizon, the ability view email and text in landscape mode and type emails on a landscape-mode virtual keyboard, not just on a portrait-mode keyboard.
The new OS will also support new business models for third-party applications developers, allowing for subscription models, purchasing content within an application and purchasing higher game levels from within a game.
Hardware-accessory makers will get the opportunity to offer apps that will interface with their accessories, and app makers will be able to integrate Google Mobile Maps into their own apps.
Third-party developers that create navigation applications will have to supply their own maps, not use the currently available Google Maps application.
The OS will be available free to iPhone customers in the summer. It is compatible with the original iPhone, but the original won’t be upgradable to MMS and stereo Bluetooth. For iPod Touch users, the OS will cost $9.95.
The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software and SDK is available for registered developers for download from http://developer.apple.com.
