5 Predictions for the iPhone 3.0 Event


NOTE: Kevin Rose started talking iPhone 3.0 predictions at the live Diggnation taping this weekend and let a few things out of the bag that are very likely to happen. I had these 5 predictions in mind before reading that article, but there’s no way of avoiding it now…so take them for what you will…

Tomorrow we’ll get a chance to see just what Apple has in store for iPhone 3.0. Many people (myself included) have high hopes for some exciting announcements. The iPhone OS is amazing…but the Palm Pre has laid the gauntlet down (although with no price point yet announced for that device, there’s still good reason to question what its success is going to be).

So will Apple be responding to the Palm Pre (and for the record, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I’m sure many fanboys will want to dismiss the idea that Apple would “respond” to anyone, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen).

Here are 5 Predictions that I hope/expect to see from Apple for iPhone 3.0 tomorrow.

1) Copy and Paste – let’s just get this one out of the way up front. It’s time. It’s become an ongoing joke, and its time that Apple stepped up and provided some sort of copy and paste.

2) Organize with Stacks or Folders – The iPhone has SO MANY applications now, that better organization is a must. If we could organize our apps under one icon (i.e. all Games under a “Game” icon, All Utilities under a “Utility” Icon etc.) we could keep our iPhones much more organized and not have to scroll through 9 pages of apps. Of all the possible updates this is the one I hope for the most. It’s essential to taking the OS to the next level in my opinion.

3) Laptop Tethering – Apple and At&t are due to announce this at some point, and it makes perfect sense to do it tomorrow. It won’t be free, and it won’t come with your current plan, but it will be an option.

4) Multitasking Applications – Keeping multiple applications open at once is one of the most interesting things that the Palm Pre has managed to add to their roster. I full expect Apple to respond with a way to do this beyond their messaging system that appeared and then disappeared last year.

and finally…

5) Changes to Developer Contracts – Something is stirring in regards to the developer community. Contracts are starting to expire, and Apple has said it “needs more time” to get those contracts out. That seems odd. Developers has gotten emails saying that their contracts have been extended…which is good…but what is the hold up?

Sure, you could say that its going to take a massive undertaking to renew all the contracts from the thousands of iPhone developers. I would agree with that…but that has nothing to do with sending out a contract.

You only have to write a contract once to send it out…assuming that there will be only one contract that needs to be sent out. It make take months to process them all, but it doesn’t take months to write one…especially if nothing is changing.

So it seems logical to me that we’ll see some kind of change for developers on Tuesday. Perhaps it will be in the form of a “premiere partnership” where Developers can pay an additional fee and get fast tracked service, or better control over things like release dates…who knows? It just seems odd to me that this event is popping up right as contracts are expiring…so we’ll see.

Well, that’s my take…what do you think?



Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

7 Comments

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  1. One thing I hope for, if they do not implement your #2 prediction, is the ability to at least organize applications within iTunes. I had seen some pretty nice concept designs where the user could arrange the pages within iTunes. This would be much easier than just dragging one app at a time across multiple pages. The worse is when you drag it to one full page, hoping to go past, and end up messing up on the page you just passed.

    One thing I do not see in your predictions is MMS. This is not a huge deal breaker for me, but it would be nice to have a better means of sharing and recieving cell phone photographs over the network.

    I guess we will have to wait and see tomorrow. Hopefully it will not be a let down.

  2. Just curious – why do you say that Tethering would be an extra fee? My work cell is a Nokia 3G phone from AT&T. I have the Unlimited Internet / Data package on that phone ($15/month) and I’m allowed to tether to my laptop and GPS system without any extra fees. Why would AT&T allow tethering on my NOKIA without extra cost beyond the Internet/Data package, but then charge extra on my iPhone?

  3. @edu.Mac.nation

    I didn’t include MMS because I don’t think the iPhone will ever have MMS. To me MMS is kind of like when Apple moved to USB before anyone else. For a while Apple was out there with USB and most everyone else was still using the old style connections, but eventually everything moved to USB…Apple just did it far in advance of everyone else.

    MMS is the same thing. The cell companies would rather use email than MMS – and it’s something they’re going to phase out over time. Eventually MMS will go away and be replaced by using email or IM connections through your data plan…at least, that’s what I think…and why I don’t think we’ll ever see MMS messages (at least not as they are done now) on your iPhone.

    @Goldndoodle

    I think Tethering will be an extra fee for the iPhone, because Tethering is an Extra fee for the Blackberry. That’s already out there from At&t. The Data plans for the iPhone aren’t anywhere near $15 a month either – so the closest thing to compare it to is the Blackberry (which has similar data pricing).

  4. Let’s be clear about the multitasking the Pre promises. On Pre each app is a local web page (with JS extensions to access the platform) running on WebKit, and running multiple apps is equivalent to keeping multiple tabs open simultaneously, but they are all sharing the same WebKit process. It is not multitasking as we normally think of it, using separate OS processes. This technique lowers the overhead of each app enough that they all fit in memory, but the cost is performance (running javascript instead of native code) and stability (when one app dies they all die).

    Apple will need to introduce background processes eventually, but the Pre offering is not something that Apple needs to worry about yet.

  5. The organization thing is harder then it sounds, so I think Apple will punt.

    Consider the obvious: I download an app to my iPhone. There it is, on page three, in all of it’s glory. Now how do I get it into my “Games” folder, which happens to be on Page 1.

    Drag it? How do I drag across multiple pages? Copy and Paste? That could work, but it’s kind of clumsy.

    Also, as an aside, I’m not convinced that there is an issue with multitasking applications–depending on what the application is doing. Pre-iPhone 2.0, I remember reading about a Twitter app that worked in the background. The problem was that the Twitter app had to remain connected to the Twitter server which meant the radios on the iPhone had to be kept running which gave you battery life measured in “Talk Time” (eg, about five hours).

    So I could see Apple allowing background applications but not giving them access to the 3G or WiFi radios. So you could have a GPS application that runs in the background (everybody has given up on turn-by-turn directions?) but you won’t be able to stay logged in to Twitter from your background app.

  6. @Peter

    Yeah, I think dragging it is exactly what you would do, and you would drag it across multiple pages just like you do now. I drag icons across multiple pages all the time.

    I think you’re right on the multi-tasking. Apple could allow, but limit, what the background apps could do. Maybe checking Twitter every 15 minutes or something like that (in the case of your example). I think that makes the most sense. If not, some developers are going to create Apps that just drain the life right out of your battery.