Apple had a religious experience preview event to annouce that iPhone 3.0 has offically gone into beta. There’s a rather lengthy list of features that come with iPhone 3.0 including the following:
- In-App Purchasing: Allows developers to sell additional content from within applications. Highlighted uses include magazine subscriptions, eBooks, additional levels and items for games.
- Peer-to-Peer Connectivity: Find other devices running sharing applications via Bonjour over Wi-Fi of Bluetooth. Good for gaming, but also for sharing porn data.
- Push Notification: This is a feature that has been MIA for a very long time. For those of you who might have forgotten what this does, a third-party server pushes text and audio alerts from/to applications.
- Turn by Turn Directions: Apple will allow developers to use CoreLocation for turn-by-turn GPS directions. Basically turning your iPhone into a navigation system.
- Cut, Copy and Paste: It’s about time this made it! It will be available across all applications. Shake to undo or redo.
- Landscape keyboard: Available in all key applications, including Mail. Another feature that should have been there from the start.
- MMS: Picture messaging now available. Finally.
- Voice Memos: Record notes, lectures, interviews, etc. using your iPhone. Why wasn’t this there from the start as well?
- Spotlight Search: Available across all applications. Systemwide search available from main home screen by flicking to the left.
- A2DP Bluetooth: Support for stereo bluetooth headsets, but only if you have an iPhone 3G or a newer iPod Touch. So that means that coming soon to an Apple Store near you are Apple bluetooth headsets with a built in microphone so you don’t miss a call. I’m calling it now.
If you want to play with this as well as the software development kit, Apple has posted a page describing how to score yourself a copy of this. Remember it is a beta so if things go south, you only have yourself to blame. If the stars are properly aligned, this should hit the streets this summer and it will be a free upgrade for iPhone users, but cost $9.95 for iPod touch users.
What do the fanbois think? The reaction on ehmac.ca (Canada’s leading Apple fanboi site) is largely positive. Why not leave a comment with your thoughts on this as well?
UPDATE: A Quicktime stream of the event is now available.