Apple Schedules iPhone 3.0 Preview for Journalists
They’re busy dusting off the chairs and sweeping the stage in the big auditorium on Apple’s corporate campus. Around the country, iPhone-geek journalists are getting ready to descend on Cupertino, Calif., lured by Thursday’s e-mail announcement of an “Apple event” on Tuesday, March 17. Details are scant, but the company is promising “an advance preview of what we’re building” for an upcoming iPhone 3.0 software release.
The event is scheduled to get under way at 10 a.m. Pacific time in Building 4, Town Hall, and a number of tech Web sites have promised live blogging and Twittering.
Feature Speculation
Despite the lack of substance in the Apple invitation — or perhaps because of it — tech journalists spent much of Thursday speculating about what Apple might talk about.
At the top of nearly every list are some basic iPhone usability improvements, including such items as copy/paste from one application to another, the ability to send multimedia text messages, expanded Bluetooth capabilities, or even the ability to tether the iPhone to laptops and provide a cellular data connection when there’s no Wi-Fi available. There is also widespread expectation that Apple will announce the introduction of a true global search capability, perhaps off an icon on the iPhone home page.
Another popular theme is more extensive and better use of push services, not only for e-mail messages and other online services, but also for application updates. Currently, all updates have to go through the Apple’s App Store, which introduces an often-frustrating delay for new versions. Apple may be willing to loosen the reins slightly to allow developers to push updates directly onto the phones of their subscribers.
SDK and Store Changes?
There was at least one specific hint in Apple’s invitation: Journalists will have a chance to “learn about the new SDK.” There have been growing complaints in recent…
No related posts.