Apple's curiously uninteresting iPhone 3.0 announcements

You've missed a big blob of stuff they showed off - push notifications, voice memos, subscriptions and APIs for ad-hoc multiplayer games (complete with DLC etc.): http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/17/live-from-apples-iphone-os-3-0-previe...

"I feel it has to be said" Wow. That was unexpected coming from a Microsoftie making a living off writing positive about Mircosoft. Amazing.

I'm also pretty sure that whatever AT&T charge you for disconnecting your contract with them, will more than likely be covered by a nice fat cheque from Microsoft?

There IS tethering. It's one of the features that's been added to the phone although it will be up to the individual carriers how or if can be used. (My guess is AT&T will be pretty strict with it's usage and O2 in the UK will be pretty open). There's also A2DP added which in my opinion is a more major addition than most of the other things you chose to mention.

What do you all think about those annoying pop-ups trying to sell you more game levels and such? Wasn't it Bobbi Jo or one of the other Apple Fanatics on this site that was laughing at Microsoft about Vista Anytime Upgrade saying that it would be annoying pop ups trying to get you to upgrade at every other mouse click...which, by the way, it isn't. --tayme

"They're basically just playing catch up with all the consumer features." Um...yeah. 30 million units sold, and Apple's playing catch-up. Riiiiight.

"And while I know that saying so just lumps me into the you just hate Apple category (which isn't true, but whatever)" No, it lumps you into the "I don't make any money from writing books about Apple products" category. One could easily argue that the upcoming Vista upgrade (aka "Windows 7") isn't terribly compelling, unless one is writing a book of "secrets" about said upgrade. Then it becomes a major new version worthy of multiple paragraphs about such minutia as customizable desktop patterns. But as you say, "whatever".

Apple... yawn. Somebody wake me up when we get back to talking about Windows 7. ;)

Wow, Attack of the Strawmen clones. You guys are making this way too easy. The iPhone Software 3.0 update merely gives features that other phones already have. How in the heck is this newsworthy? Just because Paul chooses on his blog to cover things his way? This isn't Supersite for Mac, this is the Supersite for Windows. If you guys can't hack it, go somewhere else. This is ridonkulous that cesjr, bettieblu, and other hardcore Mac fans attack only when Paul is critical of Apple. Who's next? johnpapola? bonch? Once again, this fuel's the "iCabal" theory posted by Thurrott. Yet when he's critical of Microsoft, he's panned for making a living off of Microsoft. Where were these guys over the last couple of days and weeks? Why do they mysteriously turn up exactly when Paul Thurrott is critical of Apple? Which is it? He's either in the pocket of Microsoft or he's not. He's either fair to Apple or he's not. Once again hardcore Mac fans, you can't have your cake and eat it too. I'm calling your false outrage and BS right here. Paul, this is precisely why should have some additional moderation on this blog so we can block or ignore some of these guys. They do nothing to add to the discussion. If they can't take critcism of Apple, then tough for them. Keep doing your thing. Peace.

"The iPhone Software 3.0 update merely gives features that other phones already have. " Which other phones have in-app purchasing? A non-battery-hogging way to get IM messages and other similar features? APIs for peer to peer connectivity? Hardware accessory APIs? Access to a whole google maps application, or the ipod from within APIs.

"They played catch up, that isnt even a debatable point." Your right, it's not debatable -- it's simply wrong. See my prior post re API features.

@cesjr - "Your right, it's not debatable -- it's simply wrong." Fore several examples of Apple basically saying that they were playing catch up see - http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/17/live-from-apples-iphone-os-3-0-previe... 10:23AM "Next, Push. You know, we're late on this one." Wow. 11:33AM Q: Why did copy paste take so long? A: Scott: It's not that easy. There were security issues. 11:34AM Q: Flash? What are you doing? A: We have no announcements on that topic today. 11:43AM Q (from us!): Are you addressing any of the lagginess with the new OS? We saw some of that when you loaded SMS up. A: (short and sweet) We're definitely addressing those issues. The units you saw today are demo units. 11:40AM Q: Push notification, will you make uptime promises? A: No. --tayme

"This is ridonkulous that cesjr, bettieblu, and other hardcore Mac fans" Wow I am a hard core Mac fan?? Wow better turn off the 5 PC's in my house, burn my MCSE and MCITP certificates and quite my Windows System Engineer job tomorrow. This was a software developer announcement, hence the question and answer. It was in no way a hardware announcement as so any reference to the rumored 10inch screens being bought by Apple would NEVER come up. This just puts the iPhone that much further in front of anything. This closed the loop on missing features. Unless your a huge fan of sending video via SMS????? It also showed developers they can 1000X more creative with apps they write. That is pretty big news if you are a iPhone developer. For everyone else at this site, Paul should have posted another 5 page piece showing screen shots of Windows 7 gui changes from one beta version to another, and bitching about the new task bar some more.

@tayme: Maybe your mom can show you how to post links in your comments. :)

@cesjr - I have not denied that Apple has made some great improvements in the mobile phone arena...in fact, I said that I would buy one if they were on my carrier of choice. Yet, you continue to deny that Apple was playing catch up here... --tayme

@tayme "11:43AM Q (from us!): Are you addressing any of the lagginess with the new OS? We saw some of that when you loaded SMS up. A: (short and sweet) We're definitely addressing those issues. The units you saw today are demo units." Oh I love how when you see early betas and alpha of things like WinMobile 6.5, the Apple boys couldn't stop howling about how slow and laggy it was and that it meant it would be horrible. When they see it in iPhone 1.0 service pack 2, their mouths mysteriously slam shut, and we are to understand that it's only a beta! Where is Robert troll and Co. to rag on the buggy, laggy iPhone OS?

@Master3 - I am still trying to figure out what the units used in the demo had to do with the OS being slow. From all accounts, no new hardware was announced...just a new OS. Yes, its beta...maybe even alpha; but as you said, the iPeople love to point out flaws in W7 and other non-Apple betas. --tayme

"Once again hardcore Mac fans, you can't have your cake and eat it too. I'm calling your false outrage and BS right here." I consider myself a hardcore Mac fan. Please don't misconstrue that as being anti Microsoft, anti Linux or anti anything else. I read this site because while I do not personally Windows I do live and work in a world that does and I have an interest in technology. The reality is that Mr. Thurrott does a great job of covering Microsoft and Windows news. He does get accused of cheerleading for MS sometimes, but I have seen him clearly call out the company as well. I think the Apple coverage here is lack luster and wish the subject would just be skipped if due diligence is not going to be done. It is unfortunate that an otherwise great Windows blog is being mired down by the last hold outs of the Mac VS. PC crowd (mostly talking about commenters here). This argument is done, over and really is not something that people really give much of a crap about. P.S. - The iPhone 3.0 update was great from a developer standpoint. This is clearly glossed over in the original post, but really the iPhone is really about what developers can make of it at this point and whatever Apple can do to help them is icing on the cake. I would assume Paul would agree since he has been evangelizing the iPhone as a platform and a platform is only as strong as the developers who support it.

"why would Apple announce a Mac Tablet or anything else at a software preview?" I thought it was a developer show. When did it turn into a press release? Re, A2DP: Apple playing catch-up again. I started with that feature 2 phones ago and still have it. BTW: I see that Apple no longer refers to it as "OS X" as Dead Steve Walkin' had called it. It's now "iPhone OS". Funny, that. ....and I wanted to run Cocoa apps in their Aqua glory on it. It *IS* OS X after all, RIGHT STEVE??! ....all I hear is the sound of crickets....and daisies being pushed up.

@tayme: robertsjoe hasn't figured out fractions yet. He still thinks the numerator goes on the bottom. Nobody has addressed this issue: What happens when the EU clamps down on their newly mandated USB charging standard for mobile phones? (Bye-bye dock connector is my guess)

@ModernDislocation - That does not work with the likes of robertsjoe and Waethorn... --tayme

@tayme: Nothing Apple makes impresses me. Sorry, but that's the truth. Correction: many of their failures were interesting. It's even more interesting that they chose to drop them before they even had a chance at being successful. 2nd correction: what impresses me is that people actually buy their crap. I mean, have you seen this new iPod shuffle? iPhwn pOS 3.no?! Solid aluminum manufacturing process that inflates material cost during a recession? Bueller??

@Waethorn - "Nothing Apple makes impresses me. Sorry, but that's the truth." That is fine...but there are some that are impressed, and that is fine as well. You have said yourself that you have looked into what it would take to sell Macs in your store(s). Apple's requirements were too much for you. You have a financial stake in it and were willing to sell Macs, if only the price was right. That is good business sense...I do not have a problem with that. --tayme

Yawn. Who cares about Apple crap. They just now get copy paste for their phone and now its a new innovative feature (actually 2 features). Looks like the Apple advertising campaigns really have people here by the balls. I guess people will believe anything these days...

"Wait, are you guys claiming that voice memos are a revolutionary feature? The meat and potatoes of the announcement was certainly addressing the well known shortcomings of the device. MMS, copy/paste, A2DP support. The fact that it lacked voice memos pre-3.0 was certainly a surprise to me. 'The iPhone 3.0 update was great from a developer standpoint.' I agree, and this is the area that they are not playing catch up but setting the playing field. But sorry, the rest is catch up, plain and simple." Okay, so you are saying that they are playing "catch up" when they are not "setting the playing field. Well, I think it goes without saying that no matter what field you are in, you are doing one or the other. I am not sure who said voice memos are "revolutionary" but a quick search of this page shows that you are the only person to use the term so I am going to go ahead and say you are doing a bit of a straw man here. In addition you claim that the "meat and potatoes" of the announcement was addressing "well known shortcomings" and used MMS, copy/paste and A2DP as your examples of the "meat and potatoes". Of the hour and a half presentation, less than a half an hour was dedicated to those things. The other hour was largely dedicated to developer APIs. So, the "meat and potatoes" was really about the developer APIs. There is no doubt that the iPhone has areas where Apple is catching up, but that was in no way the bulk of the 3.0 announcement.