iPhone 3.0 Software Roundup

Well, that's that. We now know what to expect from the next generation of iPhone software. Let's get up to speed quickly:

Landscape keyboard? Yes. Copy/paste? Yes. MMS? Yes, unless you have the first phone. A2DP? Yes, unless you have the first phone. Tethering? Yes, but it's in the carrier's hands now. Expanded bluetooth support? Yes, but again, no A2dp for the first gen phone, and in the Q&A, they oddly mentioned they didn't have anything to announce about the ability to use bluetooth keyboards with the phone. Umm.. Flash? No. Video? No.

So with that, Apple addressed most of the pressing concerns. It's unfortunate to see the first-gen iPhones left out of the MMS and A2DP game. For now, we'll take Apple's word that these weren't implementable on the first phone. I stress, for now.

A lot of time was spent having developers show off what they can do with the new APIs for the 3.0 software. Most of the time seemed to focus on new ways to separate you from your money via new in-game purchases like extra weapons, levels, etc. That part really wasn't exciting for consumers, but I'm sure it'll rally the app troops looking for a way to turn bigger profits on a $5 game.

It's just a shame we have to wait until June for the official release of the software. What did you think? Good event, or did Apple leave out things from your wish list?

TDL Live This Week (3/16/09)

Surely you didn't watch '24' last night (which I hear is good this year) rather than tuning in for TDL Live!? Well, your secret's safe with us. Below is all of this week's fine show including my Kevin Rose rant, and Adam's Talladega Nights impression. And there's some Apple news stuck in there as well:

iPhone 3.0 software proves why competition is good

I don't have any insider info on what will be in tomorrow's iPhone 3.0 preview, and unlike some unnamed Apple prognosticators out there, I don't believe in stating features that we don't know will be in future releases as fact. There are plenty of other sites to do that.

What I do know though, is Apple doesn't take competition lightly, and the Palm Pre has been on their radar from day one. As a result, tomorrow's preview will most likely bring us features that Apple was either reluctant, or outright against releasing for the phone, and we have Palm to thank.

Sure people have been talking about the lack of cut and paste for quite some time, and that would've been addressed at some point. And I would think there would be some MMS solution, even if its only for those receiving messages. The real question focus on wildcards like background processing, running multiple apps, etc. Developers have told me they expect a system for "trusted" apps to run in the background before the end of the year. Is it possible we'll see that tomorrow as Apple stays one step ahead of, or in this case, matches Palm Pre features?

I have no intention of purchasing a Pre. I'm quite happy with my iPhone. But unlike the Zune, which hasn't really pushed the iPod at all, the Pre might be one of those products like Apple's own Newton, that influences people well beyond those who purchase it. So thanks, Palm for showing why competition is good, and for most likely pushing Apple to make a better iPhone 3.0 update than would've been likely without you.