Tech analysts and iPhone users have widely praised the new features planned for the third version of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch operating system software, but it is Apple application developers who are most excited.
The new software, to be released in the middle of this year, includes 100 new features, including the ability to cut, copy and paste text, send multimedia files via text messages, and connect devices via Bluetooth.
Other new features include a function to search the entire phone, a virtual keyboard that can be used in widescreen mode, and the ability to receive “push” notifications similar to BlackBerry devices.
But Apple has also emphasised the new software development kit that will accompany the upgrade, which will allow developers to add hundreds of new features to applications.
Apple application developers agree.
Travis Yates, founder of the Cairns-based iPhone application development group Webtopia, which created the infamous “card counting” application that was banned in Nevada casinos, says the upgrade is “very exciting”.
“Particularly Bluetooth and the ability to use Google Maps in applications; these are lots of things we’ve been screaming out for.”
Yates says he immediately thought of uses for the new functions included in the upgrade, and said existing apps could be upgraded with the new features.
“I straight away thought of changes to my card-counter Bluetooth app, such as allowing one user to send a wireless message to another. The person playing Blackjack wouldn’t necessarily need to control the buttons on the iPhone.
“This really seems like a completely big and great update.”
Yates’s colleagues overseas were equally excited. Application developer Nick Dalton, who runs the iPhone Development Blog, wrote that “these changes are huge”.
“I have a dozen new apps to write that just became possible. And a few new business models to explore. This is going to be just as much fun as last year when the software development kit was brand new.”
Thomas Claburn from InformationWeek.com agrees, saying developers are excited about the new capabilities for programming.
“While a few dissenting voices are dismissing Apple’s new iPhone 3.0 software as underwhelming, people who actually know something about coding are thrilled with the new possibilities that Apple is enabling.”
The application market for the iPhone and iPod Touch devices has grown considerably since Apple launched the App Store last July, with over 800 million downloads recorded so far.
Ovum analyst Tim Renowden claims the success of the new software will be judged on how developers can make better applications, as Apple has focused its marketing on how the iPhone and iPod Touch are leading devices for programs and games.
Renowden claims one new ability for application developers to charge for upgrades within the apps themselves is a welcome change.
“These features will be popular with developers as it gives them more flexibility in how they charge for their applications,” he says.
Other updates, he says, will “improve the overall customer experience…without making any radical changes to what is widely regarded as the most polished mobile user interface currently available”.
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Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
