Apple Unveils iPhone 3.0 OS, New Features

In its first major product unveiling for the iPhone (News - Alert) since the 3G model was introduced last summer, officials at Apple (News - Alert) Inc. reportedly announced during the so-called “iPhone 3.0” operating system event today that they’re expanding the ways that third-party software developers can sell content on the device.

 

According to Rachel Metz of the Associated Press, who is attending the event at Apple’s Cupertino, California headquarters, the company’s senior vice president of iPhone software, Scott Forstall, says developers now can create apps with items for sale within them, “such as electronic books or additional levels of a video game.

 

“Apple also said developers will be able to access the music within users’ iPhone libraries, so songs they own can be included in games, for example,” Metz said.

 

The event, like last summer’s introduction of the iPhone 2.0, is attended by industry journalists such as Tom Krazit of CNET News, an online news site that’s owned by San Francisco-based CBS Interactive.

 

As Krazit reports with live blog coverage today, much of the talk prior to Apple’s preview of the new operating system and software development kit revolved around the possibility of seeing cut-and-paste, MMS, “and any number of long-awaited iPhone features.”

 

Calling iPhone OS 3.0 “a major update to the operating system,” Forstall reportedly discussed the SDK, App Store policies and what he called an “In-App Purchase.”

 

 “The example is a magazine where you can renew a subscription within the app,” Krazit writes. “Or, say, a game has 10 levels, but you want to keep going: the game will download the new levels automatically upon prompting from within the app. Everything works with your iTunes account, it’s sort of the same thing as when you download an update to an iPhone application, prompting you for your iTunes password and sending the download after verification.”

 

Forstall (pictured right and below by AP photographer Paul Sakuma) goes on to talk about peer-to-peer networking – where, for example, users can find other iPhones and iPod Touches in a given area that are playing the same game – as well as accessories, such as medical devices, and a “Maps” application.

 

“Apple and Google (News - Alert) developed this application and developers want to be able to add a map into their application,” Krazit writes. “Developers are going to get access to the Maps API with iPhone 3.0 and embed maps in their apps. That means you can take advantage of all the views and zooming capabilities in the Apple/Google Maps in your application. Location information is also part of this.”

 

The Maps also features what Forstall calls “Core Location,” a GPS technology that will allow app developers to build turn-by-turn directions.

 

Much of the rest of the event featured testimonies from supports of the new APIs, including Meebo, EA and ESPN (News - Alert), according to Krazit.

 

“Forstall reminds the crowd that 100 new features will arrive with iPhone 3.0, but that he doesn’t have time to go through them all,” Krazit reports. “You can sync notes with your Mac, use the “shake to shuffle” feature on the iPod Nano, and stereo Bluetooth, a much-requested missing feature from the current iPhone.”

 

According to Apple, about 13.7 million iPhones have been sold since the product’s release last summer 2008.

 

Apple shares were up $2.51, 2.6 percent, at $97.93 in afternoon trading, the AP says.