TechMiso

In a little less than 4 hours from now Apple will unveil iPhone OS 3.0 to the world. For months the tech world has speculated on what Apple might be working on adding to the next version of the iPhone OS, with predictions ranging from the entirely plausible to completely out of this world. Let’s discuss some of the various predictions, their plausibility and whether they would be welcome additions to the greatest mobile device ever conceived.

Cut and Paste

The number one complaint about the iPhone – how can such a powerful and advanced device like the iPhone not have the ability to cut and paste? It is the first feature most folks realize is missing from an iPhone after they start using them. This is what every single iPhone user expects to see in iPhone OS 3.0. If it’s not present, get out the torches because we are going to storm Cupertino and demand it get put in before the final release!

You have to admit there is a certain peculiarity in not adding such a basic feature to the iPhone from the beginning. For whatever reason Apple chose, they have successfully managed to keep cut and paste out of the iPhone OS for almost two years. Fortunately for consumers, I think that game of hide and seek is about to end.

Conclusion: 95/5.

Background Processing

Just as any modern computer is fully capable of running multiple applications simultaneously, the number one prediction and desire for iPhone OS 3.0 is the ability for mobile applications to continue running in the background. This feature essentially allows the device to both receive and send data in the background. One example would be a location-based application, which can send data to a service provider based on current GPS location so the service can in turn send data back to the iPhone to alert the user about a variety of things.

Full and unfettered background processing does not seem plausible at this point. Unless Apple has found a way to substantially increase the battery life of the next generation of iPhone’s this is going to be a hard feature to sell at this juncture. The current batch of iPhone’s are already quite horrible at gobbling up battery just from using MobileMe’s push functionality. Imagine adding the extra power required to allow applications to execute in the background.

Conclusion: 40/60.

Background Notifications

After Apple capitulated and did not make good on offering background processing, they stated a background notification service would be available for application developers to make use of. This is essentially the push notification service for applications we previously wrote about, whereby an application not running can receive data and process that data in some form or fashion. Originally slated for launch in September, Apple missed the deadline and things have been eerily silent since.

Additional battery and processing power is definitely required for background notifications but not on the same scale as full background processing. This is much more plausible, security conscious and seems to fit better in Apple’s grand scheme.

Conclusion: 80/20.

MMS

People are apparently not content with being able to send mere text messages these days. They demand the ability to send multimedia content, like pictures, via SMS – aka MMS because it does more than text. This is one of those features people complain about when talking about iPhone shortcomings.

I see no reason to believe it will be present in the iPhone OS 3.0. Apple just does not appear too interested in this specific feature. Maybe I’m one of the few who think this way, but I do not really expect to see MMS added in the initial 3.0 release.

Conclusion: 50/50.

Flash

There is one company which really wants to see this feature come to fruition – Adobe. Everyone else in the world seems as if they could care less, and with good reason. Flash does not really add that much of a benefit to the iPhone, and especially no true benefit for Apple. Consumers may enjoy Flash sporadically, but will ultimately opt for an iPhone app before being stuck with either Flash or Mobile Safari.

I see no reason why Flash is a priority for Apple, unless they suddenly have this burning desire to appease Adobe, and I find that hard to fathom. Like I said, Flash offers no true value to the iPhone and is a waste of programming resources.

Conclusion: 25/75.

Of all the features mentioned above, I personally want to see both Cut and Paste and one of the Background Processing/Notification services. Sure would be nice to be able to launch AIM on my iPhone and be able to receive instant messages while on the go, without having to keep AIM as the only application running. The rest of the predictions I am not really all that jazzed about – at least not so much as other folks on the internets seem to be!

No matter what, it ought to be quite interesting to see what Apple does unveil in a few short hours. Sometime tomorrow, after all the dust settles, we will pour through the release notes and see if there is truly anything worth getting excited about. We will also tally up how well our predictions of the predictions turned out!