thomas fitzgerald.net

With version 4 of the iPhone OS set to be announced tomorrow, I have some thoughts on what is likely to be announced. In no particular order, here’s a list of things that I expect to see coming with version 4:

1. Multitasking.

Whether it’s full on multitasking or a limited set of background services available to developers, I suspect we’ll see multitasking of some sort make it into this release.

2. Revised Lock Screen

One of the chief complaints about the iPhone has been the lack of any useful information on the lock screen. There has been some great mockups done in the past, and Apple has filed patents regarding the possibilities of a new home screen, so I suspect this will make it into 4.0. I suspect that there will be hooks fore third party developers to access it too.

3. Unified Inbox in Mail
Another long standing complaint against the iPhone is the lack of a single unified inbox for your mail. I hope this will be included. The ability to mark messages as read without reading them would be nice too.

Interesting article from Glenn Fleishman on Flash and the iPhone. Of particular interest is his point that Flash is unavailable on many other smartphone platforms and yet Adobe only loudly complains about the iPhone. It’s a good read.

Slashdot links to an article by some android developer who claims that Android is actually a better development platform because it has Java. The idea of Java being a superior development environment than cocoa is bed enough, but the best bit comes from this statement:

While iPhone developers have found that one path to success is playing to our baser instincts (until Apple shuts them down), a number of Android applications are offering practical solutions that unlock the power of a phone that’s really a Unix machine you can slip into your pocket

What the ??? Are you kidding me? So, what you’re saying is that the only Apps on the iPhone are sex apps and only Android offers practical applications? Really? Is that really your best argument for the platform? The sad this is this guy probably believes that himself. What’s even scarier is some of the comments. Particularly those claiming that they “hate the iPhone” as some sort of badge of honour or acceptance requirement for commenting on the story. It never ceases to amaze me how many people resent the idea that Apple is or ever was successful. It’s actually kind of sad.

I got a text message from O2 today with some good news. If you’re an iPhone customer here in Ireland you can now enable tethering on your phone with O2. You’ll need to update to the latest version and also install the new carrier settings that come up. You’ll also need to sign up to a tethering add on, which ranges from €12.50 a month for 1gb of Data to €19.99 per month for 15gb allowance. While a little expensive, the prices are consistent with most other companies stand alone 3g modem rates here. More details are on the O2 website.

Unless you’ve been living under a very large, internet free rock lately, you’d be hard pressed to have missed the launch of the “google phone”. The much anticipated (and leaked) “Nexus One” was finally released to the public yesterday. The first cell phone from the search giant, developed in conjunction with HTC, is also the first time the company has used their own android operating system on their own hardware. Slated to be available on T-Mobile initially or contract free in the US (with Verizon to follow) or on Vodafone in Europe, the launch has unsurprisingly attracted lots of media attention. With that attention of course come the inevitable comparisons to the iPhone and the equally inevitable labelling of the Nexus One as a potential iPhone Killer. I doubt however that Apple has anything to worry about.

CNBC is preparing to air a documentary on the App Store and the “App Revolution”. From the Programme description:

CNBC presents “Planet of the Apps: A Hand-Held Revolution!,” a CNBC original reported by CNBC’s Scott Wapner that goes inside the apps gold rush. CNBC introduces viewers to some of the creators who are designing applications and striking it rich and explains just how the big business of apps really works.

It looks pretty interesting from the trailer.

Macworld has an interesting article dealing with 5 of the most common myths about iTunes/iPods that seem to get propagated around the web and elsewhere.

The Popular UK newspaper launches an iPhone App. It looks pretty slick and certainly easier than trying to read it in the normal browser.