Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPhone, iPod touch
Some thoughts on iPhone OS 3.0
I was a bit taken aback and pleasantly surprised by all the features crammed into the 'coming by summer' update. Stereo Bluetooth on 3G and iPod touch, a hint of tethering support if cell providers provision it, and turn by turn navigation, which I think surprised many. Apple had signaled last year that there were lots of problems in providing this feature.MMS and copy and paste were big features on many users lists, and some had predicted MMS would not make it.
And then there are little surprises, like in-app purchasing. Take a wild guess on how fast Amazon will add this to their Kindle app. Peer to peer communication between iPhones will open up a whole new world of unexpected and leading edge apps and games.
Of course 'push' capability made it in, finally, and developers will have fun exploiting all the possibilities.
It's a good bet that Apple is responding to competition, especially from the upcoming Palm Pre. There was a perception that Apple had fallen behind in the feature wars, and this update will quench a lot of that chatter. Even with this massive update, people will still want to use their phone as a camcorder, and voice dial didn't make it into the mix, at least so far. Apple has said they may have more to announce.
I can't remember any software update for a phone that added so many features. When I had a Windows Mobile phone, updates were seldom seen and were generally not very exciting. Mostly, I remember a few bug fixes, but not many new features.
Apple is to be congratulated for doing so much with the existing iPhone 3G and iPod touch, but I can also sympathize with owners of the first generation iPhone that will get some, but not all of the new features due to limitations in the original hardware.
On balance it is nice to see two trends that I hope continue. First, Apple is responding to user feedback, and also responding to the market in ways that the old Apple did not.
I think a day like today makes most people happy they have an iPhone, as it is proving to be an investment that keeps renewing itself. Certainly, there is a good chance that Apple will release new hardware this year, with even more features, more memory, and likely a faster processor.
Still, this is a rather mammoth update and pretty much like getting a whole new phone. It speaks directly to those who say 'I'd buy an iPhone if it had cut and paste, or MMS, but otherwise no sale'.
Sure, it would be nice if the original iPhone shipped with all those features, but Apple has continued to invest in and enhance this platform, doing things their own way and on their own schedule.
All in all, I feel pretty good about Apple today. How about you? Let the flames begin.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Matt said 8:03PM on 3-17-2009
A couple of things bother me about this update. The first being the "in-app purchasing". As Gizmodo pointed out, this will bring out the worst in developers. They'll be inclined to release only half or even one quarter of an app and charge for the rest after purchase. Buy the first third of a game at $4.99, but to complete it you have to buy two more updates costing $4.99 each.
The second major thing, and most importantly, is the MMS support for the original iPhone. There is no technical reason the original iPhone cannot have MMS support. MMS is NOT part of the 3G spec. It was around well before 3G, and I can't even begin to count the number of people I know on T-Mobile and AT&T that have EDGE only phones that are MMS capable. I had phones years ago that were EDGE or GPRS that were MMS capable. This is clearly a move on Apple's part to get us to upgrade our perfectly functioning and perfectly capable hardware. In fact, the only thing the original iPhone can't do that the current iPhone 3G can is GPS, for obvious reasons. The Bluetooth chipset and "cellular antennae" in the original iPhone are perfectly capable of the new functionality. It's just a matter of Apple wanting people to buy new hardware.
Now if it wasn't for AT&T's awful coverage and the $30 a month mandatory data plan + $5 minimum for texting, maybe I would upgrade my original iPhone. But after a year and a half of being with AT&T and experiencing how their ads for "more bars in more places" borders on blatant false advertisement, I can't wait for my contract to end so I can be free.
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aelle said 8:12PM on 3-17-2009
In Italy (where I live) you can only send and receive MMS if you are under 3G networks... Probably it's the same thing in the US... I think it's carriers fault...
crazypenguin said 8:25PM on 3-17-2009
i could do multimedia on my old t-mobile motorola z3, um, not new feature what so ever that requires anything but just normal cell phone data i thought...
Ed said 8:41PM on 3-17-2009
Nobody is going to buy a new iPhone for MMS. It's either a technical limitation or lazyness on Apple's part - not wanting to write a driver for the old chip that will support MMS.
VanillaSpice said 11:38PM on 3-17-2009
Absolutely in-app purchasing is a big plus for devs and a huge minus for consumers. Did anyone see that screenshot during the announcement? The one with the FPS and a pop-up that said "Purchase Rocket Launcher for $0.99?" - Shudder.
There are so many problems with this idea. As you said, it will bring out the worst in developers, and totally make meaningless the purchase price ... sure, it says "$1.99" but what - exactly - will I get for that and what - exactly - will I be required to pay for later? Will all that be explained in the app description? Could it, in many cases?
Another problem is with consumer protection laws. In Australia, for instance, you would have a very good case to make if an app had screenshots showing (say) a fire level and a water level, but you had to pay to get the water level, only the fire level came with the initial purchase price. No matter what it said in the description, under our laws you would still have a good case to make for deceptive conduct. That would require a refund (mandated by law, so it overrides Apple's "no refunds" policy) if it was found that the screenshot mislead consumers into thinking the water level came with the initial purchase price.
I can see how it makes sense in a few contexts, but for most apps the very idea of requiring further expenditure is so horrible and bad that I believe it will now be a hazardous process to go shopping on the App Store. Right now, I love it, I have got hundreds of apps and I have paid money for more than forty. But I will not be purchasing if there is any doubt in my mind about future expenditure.
If your app description does not say "No further expenditure required for complete functionality AND content" then I will pass.
And it does not seem to me to be necessary, anyway. I bought ToyBot 1, and I knew it was only the first instalment and I knew how many levels it had, so there was no deception. ToyBot 2 comes along, and same deal.
Under the new model, I would buy "ToyBot Diaries" and think it was the complete thing, for the stated purchase price. Then, after the first third of the game, I'd get a pop-up saying "Get the next third for another $5 ?" and I would be irate, I'd stop buying apps, and Apple would start to lose their share of the app revenue.
I think this is a short-sighted decision made to appease developers at the cost of consumers. Apple must remember it is the consumers, not the developers, who are paying them the money. Without a lot of systems in place (like having warning messages on screenshots that contain additional-cost content, and rules about how clear you have to be in the description about what comes initially and what costs extra) this in-app purchasing system *will* place the App Store in breach of consumer protection laws, and how is Apple's "no refunds" App Store going to cope when refunds have to made under law?
I am going to be watching this system closely!
Mark said 8:03PM on 3-17-2009
Really happy to see everything included in this update, but so surprised that they have note-syncing but still no to-do syncing.
I know there are a million to-do apps in the App Store but come on, it's built already into Mail and iCal!
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jsw said 9:02PM on 3-17-2009
[Sigh] Yes, I was wondering the same thing. Just a nice simple to-do app, that syncs directly to the iCal to-do list, that would be nice.
No, I don't want to use the cloud -- my to-do list has client information in it. And I don't want to have to learn a whole new program just to get to-do items onto a product manufactured by the same people who make the desktop to-do app I already use.
Big John said 12:19PM on 3-18-2009
I Agree totally with your annoyances with lack of MMS for original Iphones. I also think it's just a way to get people to upgrade. There are 3rd party apps out there for jailbroken iphones that had this working just fine on original iphones before 3G came out last year. If third party developers could make it work I'm sure the "geniuses" at apple could as well. As an owner of an original iphone, it really bothers me how apple is starting to kick us to the curb. Accessories are virtually non existant for the 1st generation phones and now they are holding back features on us. We shelled out $400 or more for our iphones to help get apple moving. I think they should offer us some kind of trade in offer if we still have the original and give us money off of a new phone.
Troy said 1:45PM on 3-18-2009
You can "trade up" to a 3G iPhone pretty easily. Put it up for sale on eBay. My friend just sold his 1st generation iPhone for $100 bucks. There is still a market for them out there. Once you've received payment head to the nearest AT&T store, grab a 3G version for an additional $99 then ship your old phone to the buyer. Problem solved :-)
I'm holding off for the next hardware revision. Given Apple's history there is probably going to be one sometime this summer. I'm hoping they'll double the storage capacity of the entry level model so I can get an additional 8 GB of storage for my $99 bucks.
Big John said 2:52PM on 3-18-2009
Yeah I'm just waiting for the next version too. I was hoping they would announce something yesterday but I guess we'll have to wait. I know that if I buy a 3G now I'll be kicking myself in July so I'll wait for the new stuff. My wife wants my old one anyway so that will work out.
hangon said 8:10PM on 3-17-2009
can't see why everybody is so excited with MMS....it's an old technology and is so lucrative for operators....
why don't they send just an email....MMS is crap
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Hawkman said 8:21PM on 3-17-2009
It's the same problem as with things like IM clients – you don't get to use what you want, you have to use what your friends use. Fact is, MMS is way more widely deployed than mobile email, and has been established for years longer (at least here in the UK), so it's the de facto choice for most people I know.
Ed said 8:42PM on 3-17-2009
It doesn't really 'excite' me. But just occasionally I want to send a photo to someone with a 'normal' phone.
More importantly perhaps, occasionally people with 'normal' phones send me photos. Currently that makes my network send me a link with a code in that I have to type into a website so that I can view the image. That's hardly ideal.
nycwilbah said 8:12PM on 3-17-2009
Couldnt agree more... I felt this way when the 2.0 upgrade came out. Herein is the advantage of the original keyboard-less design, in that while there will be hardware upgrades, the software is what drives the device.
I'm not that pissed that MMS won't be avail for the original iPhone, (although I can't understand what sort of hardware deficiency would prevent this) because to be perfectly honest, having not yet upgraded my original 8GB iPhone I was planning on upgrading when the new device is released - more for storage than anything else because 3G stinks where I am, and the GPS wasn't a deal breaker.
I recall countless Palm-based phones (Kyocera's 6035 -then 7135) and then the treo's (600-650-700) where each year you sort of had to have the new phone... now with the iPhone a two year commitment to a device (or even longer perhaps) doesnt leave you completely in the dark as far as feature upgrades.
All in all, these upgrades are overdue, and necessary (phone wide search, MMS, Cut, Copy, Paste, Push, in app upgrades, etc). If you follow how they are implementing these changes it looks like Apple first figures out how they can profit from it, and then they implement the changes from the OS down through the third party apps... make no bones about this... if they can figure out a way to squeeze another few beans out of this platform then they'll build the software / app store / data (including SMS, and MMS ) around it).
I'm looking forward to it!
W
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Marduk said 9:50PM on 3-17-2009
The presence or lack of a keyboard has nothing to do with the ability to upgrade the software. The iPhone could have had a physical keyboard, and that would not have precluded these updates. Maybe you like the lack of a keyboard, and that's fine, but it really isn't related to the adaptability of the software.
aelle said 8:13PM on 3-17-2009
Love the new 3.0 update... But summer is so far away!
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Hawkman said 8:14PM on 3-17-2009
Actually, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a while before Kindle.app gets purchasing added. The extra-content stuff all goes through the iTunes Store – Apple's billing, Apple's accounts, Apple's hosting, Apple taking a cut – whereas Amazon have their own store, their own billing and accounts... and vitally, their own agreements with publishers for selling through _that store_.
I suspect Amazon will either have to make sacrifices and spend a long time retooling their own infrastructure, or come to a special arrangement with Apple (if that's even possible). It could take time.
All in all, today has been mindblowing. Everything that's been asked for is being delivered – with the possible exception of background processes, the exclusion of which I happen to agree with – and a whole lot more. Google have been struggling for months trying to add features like a soft keyboard and get their browser up to spec, just to catch up to iPhone 1.0. If Apple can just avoid the fiasco that came with 2.0, then they've jumped another couple of years ahead of the competition...
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Ed said 8:48PM on 3-17-2009
I disagree with the background processes. I know this is massively over discussed.
I think Apple (perhaps intentionally) are misrepresenting the issue with background processes. Sure, background processes _can_ waste loads of battery, but equally, a well coded system could avoid that. Scheduled background tasks would avoid that for example.
Say I wanted to send my GPS position to a website every minute. The app to do that could either run in the background all the time and do nothing most of the time - it'd have very little memory footprint, and basically no CPU usage when it isn't doing it's per-minute update.
The OS could support this built in - allocate background apps with only say 1 second of CPU time per minute.
I can see Apple's justification entirely, but I think there are technical solutions available that they're ignoring. It's the one reason I'd Jailbreak my phone. I want the choice to waste my battery!
Hawkman said 8:58PM on 3-17-2009
I can understand where you're coming from. I do jailbreak, actually. I trust the author of Cydia – he's proved he can make great, solid software, and I run some background stuff that he's written. I accept the battery life and performance tradeoff I have to make.
I don't trust official iPhone developers. There is some appallingly bad software on the App Store, and I really don't like the idea of them being able to throw background processes into my phone. I also don't trust Apple to spend the time thoroughly vetting apps to make sure any background processes are lean and speedy, because they've let the current crud through unchallenged.
In the end, Cydia lets me keep tabs on exactly what I'm letting happen on my phone, and gives me terminal access so I can sort out any problems. I can't see the combination of being handicapped in Apple's walled garden as a user, and developers running around pantsless and doing nasty things in the bushes, being a great experience!
Tagbert said 10:09PM on 3-17-2009
Amazon already does purchases on their Amazon Mobile application. (It's got a really nice interface). I don't think that they have to wait for 3.0 to add that to their Kindle Reader app. My guess is that working out the integration would have delayed the Kindle Reader and they decided to ship it without for now.
It sounds like what Apple is planning it to allow apps to make purchase through the iTunes api. That is great for things that are purchased from Apple but adds nothing to apps on other store systems.