iPhone 3.0 & iPhone 3GS

[Darcie]

So here it is. The eagerly anticipated World Wide Developers Conference or the WWDC as may of us affectionately like to call it, took place yesterday and now we have the much anticipated iPhone 3GS with 100 new features for both the 3G S and the 3G including, but not limited to: maps with GPS (Tom Tom GPS with voice directions), support for enterprise features like Exchange and the new App Store, cut, copy, paste & undo across all applications, a landscape keyboard. Push for app developers, search your iPhone, send photos, contacts, audio files and location via MMS (as expected), and tethering.

Peer to peer connections will be available, which will enable multi-user game playing and hopefully a way to share your information with people, through a sort of virtual handshake/business card trade.

The new 3GS is said to be up to 3x faster than its predecessor, a new 3 mp autofocus camera, video recording that can be edited & sent via mms, voice control for the entire phone (calling people and playing music), a compass, better battery life and there will be a 32gb version.

One of the best bits, in my opinion, but is not a free option, is the “Find my iPhone".
A service, MobileMe subscribers only - will show you on a map where your iPhone is. Alert sound will play whether or not you left it in silent mode, and also features a remote ‘wipe’ feature should it be completely lost or stolen, which will remove all your data and if you are reunited you can restore it from backup.

So. Was it everything you wanted it to be? Did you expect more? Will you be upgrading to the 3GS and if so, do you have a 3G or a first gen phone? Do you already have plans for the apps you’re developing to be bigger and better?

[Matt Johnston]

There are 33 of us from Northern Ireland at WWDC - it's quite an experience!

[Darcie]

How amazing! I hope you give us a speil about it and upload some pics!

Have an amazing trip and look forward to hearing about it from someone who was there first hand!

[Jon Mountjoy]

An extremely important feature for developers is the new model for in-app purchase, which enables subscription or extensions to applications as add ons.

[Matt Johnston]

Jon Mountjoy said:

An extremely important feature for developers is the new model for in-app purchase, which enables subscription or extensions to applications as add ons.

To be honest, I predict consumer backlash against being nickled and dimed for content or features. This will be a fine line. Obviously it will be expected for things like TomTom for iPhone maps but spending cash to buy a BFG for the iPhone version of Quake? I think not. Or for a red sofa in Sims 3? I doubt it.

[Dr John Sutherland]

Its another bit of Apple 'ooh, look what we've got for you, kiddies' hype. I love Apple (I've always used them), but wonder if they ever really intend to become mainstream. The iPhone has well less than 5% of the mobile phone marketplace. The Apps Store is a mess. I'd love to teach my students Apple games dev, but Apple don't take gaming seriously. Yes, there are some games on the iPhone, but its clunkware gamekit when compared to the DS or PSP. I've seen Quake on it, but using the screen to control the game is awful - buttons, we need buttons!!

Rant over. Those with the iPhone love it. They'll sell a shed load of the new iPhone. Apple are run by marketing geniuses. Who else could sell you a phone that will actually cost you around £1,800!

[Jon Mountjoy]

If there is to be consumer backlash for in-app charging, it will be against the app, not against the phone. Which is how it should be. And if an app misbehaves in such a way, evolution will drive it out. The fact that it can be abused doesn't make it any less important though.

[Matt Johnston]

Dr John Sutherland said:

Its another bit of Apple 'ooh, look what we've got for you, kiddies' hype. I love Apple (I've always used them), but wonder if they ever really intend to become mainstream. The iPhone has well less than 5% of the mobile phone marketplace. The Apps Store is a mess. I'd love to teach my students Apple games dev, but Apple don't take gaming seriously. Yes, there are some games on the iPhone, but its clunkware gamekit when compared to the DS or PSP. I've seen Quake on it, but using the screen to control the game is awful - buttons, we need buttons!!

Rant over. Those with the iPhone love it. They'll sell a shed load of the new iPhone. Apple are run by marketing geniuses. Who else could sell you a phone that will actually cost you around £1,800!

It's true that Apple has 5% market share in the whole global market but that's not something to count considering that most of those phones are either dumbphones or featurephones and won't be running any software. In the Smartphone market, Apple have a much more healthy market share just as in the laptop and desktop market, they're doing much better - when you stop counting ATMs, Cash registers and static displays as 'market'.

Apple doesn't want to become mainstream. This should be apparent. At the EBC in Cupertino, they said they want to make the best computers on the market. Not the cheapest or the best value or even 'competitive' but 'best'. This has to be tempered with what best means to a company so focussed on user experience, interface and product design. I certainly don't have 'lust' for any other manufacturers products and I don't see many of them offering power plus design at any price.

The App Store is a mess - but this is what happens when there is 'some' control over it. Every other AppStore out there is going to have to work hard to compete and there's going to need to be a more effective referrals service out there. Web site reviews are doing this 'okay' but not perfect by any means. What are the other stores going to do? Implement stronger restrictions? Leave it wide open? I guess it will be a problem for them when or if they ever get developer mindshare.

I think it's silly to expect games which usually demand WASD plus Mouse to work the same on the iPhone and any company that does a direct port is really just cashing in on the name. This isn't to say that the iPhone OS doesn't have great support for games - and to a degree that's as much a game changer as anything else. Lots of popular games don't need the Twitch response of the FPS - but require good multi-touch skills and that's entirely more exciting to me. What does it say that I've found the FPS ports to be boring as hell yet I'm engrossed in tower defense (Fieldrunners), racing (LightBike FTW) and strategy (Galcon). And I'm betting there are a heap of game types and gameplay that we've not even discovered now we have new APis to exploit. Having trouble developing games for it - you might be developing the wrong sort of games.

As for buttons - expect a "Game Sleeve" this year...

And £1800. *sigh*. Where do you get THAT number from? Every smartphone costs about the same. The E75 sitting beside me here, on a comparitive plan, costs about the same as the new 3GS. It actually irritates me that folk trip out this 'number' as meaning something. Most smartphones are going to cost minimum £30 a month on a 18 month plan and with a chunk of change up front. That puts the cost of the phone around 900 total, usually, service plan inclusive. And makes the iPhone no different to every other smartphone out there. Except, of course, the rest suck.