iPhone OS 3.0 Launching June 17th - MMS, Tethering in Some Countries
Apple today announced that its iPhone OS 3.0 will launch on June 17th, just prior to the release of the new iPhone 3G S. The upgrade will be free for all iPhone users, and will be priced at $9.95 for iPod touch users. While many of the features of iPhone OS 3.0 were previewed at Apple's media event in March, several additional features and clarifications were mentioned during today's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote.
- MMS: While the inclusion of multimedia messaging in iPhone OS 3.0 was discussed at Apple's previous media event, Apple today revealed the MMS will not be available for AT&T customers until "late summer", as much as several months after the launch of the new operating system. A number of other wireless carriers throughout the world will be supporting MMS at launch.
- Internet Tethering: At its previous media event, Apple chose not to focus on tethering, addressing it only in a Q&A period by saying that while the functionality is being built into the iPhone OS 3.0, cooperation from carriers would be needed in order to enable it. During today's keynote, Apple announced that tethering via USB and Bluetooth will be offered on a number of carriers at launch, although AT&T will not be supporting it for the time being.
- "Find My iPhone": A newly-advertised feature only for MobileMe subscribers allows customers to track the location of their lost iPhone, send alerts to the device, and perform remote wipes for data security. If later found, wiped iPhones can then be restored by syncing with iTunes.
- MMS: While the inclusion of multimedia messaging in iPhone OS 3.0 was discussed at Apple's previous media event, Apple today revealed the MMS will not be available for AT&T customers until "late summer", as much as several months after the launch of the new operating system. A number of other wireless carriers throughout the world will be supporting MMS at launch.
- Internet Tethering: At its previous media event, Apple chose not to focus on tethering, addressing it only in a Q&A period by saying that while the functionality is being built into the iPhone OS 3.0, cooperation from carriers would be needed in order to enable it. During today's keynote, Apple announced that tethering via USB and Bluetooth will be offered on a number of carriers at launch, although AT&T will not be supporting it for the time being.
- "Find My iPhone": A newly-advertised feature only for MobileMe subscribers allows customers to track the location of their lost iPhone, send alerts to the device, and perform remote wipes for data security. If later found, wiped iPhones can then be restored by syncing with iTunes.
Top Rated Comments
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35 months ago
sigh
i was so wishing for the ol' "available now!"
but...no....still waiting. for something we already knew about....
yay? :confused:
i was so wishing for the ol' "available now!"
but...no....still waiting. for something we already knew about....
yay? :confused:
35 months ago
Thanks AT&T...keep up to speed with those new, fancy features...that work on tons of other phones on your network.
This is the first time I've been disappointed with AT&T, until now they were on the ball(for my usage)
This is the first time I've been disappointed with AT&T, until now they were on the ball(for my usage)
35 months ago
I'm just wondering if ATT will ever allow tethering and if so how much its going to cost.
35 months ago
Great! A new free "toy" June 17! (I'm a paid dev and could get it now... but what if my favorite games are not yet OS 3.0-ready and I lose my saved progress or something? I know what data is REALLY important in my phone! :p Let others be the guinea pigs who figure out which apps aren't ready.)
Best news to me:
* Sending your location in Messages app! I was hoping for that. "Here's where I am" in the mall/park/hiking trail/campus/whatever. (But then messaging finally gets useful enough for me to CARE that AT&T doesn't include any free in theit plan :( ) Also, I hope other phones can exchange GPS locations via MMS in the same way. Seems like it could be standard, but I'm no expert.
* New remote control possibilities for... anything. That Zipcar car-sharing app is too cool, with the phone triggering the car's horn :) I've always thought the car-sharing concept made good sense (my city has some other brand of car sharing). Now it seems downright futuristic.
* TomTom with turn-by-turn directions at LONG last :) (And it just occurs to me that the portrait option could make more sense than the usual landscape format of GPS devices: you want to see AHEAD, not to the sides!)
I'd love Google-style satellite imagery and 3D terrain in a turn-by-turn GPS (with pre-loaded map data just to fall back on when there's no cell signal). But I know licensing that extra data isn't free. It will come, though.
Question: does iPhone auto-fill sync (both ways) with the logins in your OS X Keychain? That would be great.
Random hope: AT&T's tethering is usually $30/month (no thanks!). So I wonder... could the U.S. delay indicate ongoing negotiations for a lower tethering cost from AT&T? At $5 I might be tempted. Or even $10 for tethering plus unlimited MMS (yeah, I'm dreaming).
Best news to me:
* Sending your location in Messages app! I was hoping for that. "Here's where I am" in the mall/park/hiking trail/campus/whatever. (But then messaging finally gets useful enough for me to CARE that AT&T doesn't include any free in theit plan :( ) Also, I hope other phones can exchange GPS locations via MMS in the same way. Seems like it could be standard, but I'm no expert.
* New remote control possibilities for... anything. That Zipcar car-sharing app is too cool, with the phone triggering the car's horn :) I've always thought the car-sharing concept made good sense (my city has some other brand of car sharing). Now it seems downright futuristic.
* TomTom with turn-by-turn directions at LONG last :) (And it just occurs to me that the portrait option could make more sense than the usual landscape format of GPS devices: you want to see AHEAD, not to the sides!)
I'd love Google-style satellite imagery and 3D terrain in a turn-by-turn GPS (with pre-loaded map data just to fall back on when there's no cell signal). But I know licensing that extra data isn't free. It will come, though.
Question: does iPhone auto-fill sync (both ways) with the logins in your OS X Keychain? That would be great.
Random hope: AT&T's tethering is usually $30/month (no thanks!). So I wonder... could the U.S. delay indicate ongoing negotiations for a lower tethering cost from AT&T? At $5 I might be tempted. Or even $10 for tethering plus unlimited MMS (yeah, I'm dreaming).
35 months ago
Won't this put pressure on AT&T to support these features since it is all out in the public? Apple made them look like A**s since the other carriers had support from day one.
The "Find my iPhone" feature is nice. I am so glad AT&T didn't break that function.
The "Find my iPhone" feature is nice. I am so glad AT&T didn't break that function.
35 months ago
Do you think that the GM will work w/o UDID activation on normal iphones?
That way I can just download and install it tonight hehe
That way I can just download and install it tonight hehe
35 months ago
Ugh. When will the ATT tyranny end?
How absurd is it that Apple is announcing relatively minor new features that AT&T can't/won't support?
It's time for Apple to drop the exclusivity agreement with AT&T. What a tremendous mistake that was to begin with. 40,000,000 iPhone/iPod touches would seem like a small percentage had they not chose to go that route.
How absurd is it that Apple is announcing relatively minor new features that AT&T can't/won't support?
It's time for Apple to drop the exclusivity agreement with AT&T. What a tremendous mistake that was to begin with. 40,000,000 iPhone/iPod touches would seem like a small percentage had they not chose to go that route.
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