Dominating Apple news this week was the announcement of the third major revision of the iPhone operating system. Users will see it this summer, but developers can get their hands on it now.
There is a lot of buzz over new standard features, like copy and paste, MMS, landscape typing in Mail and a few improved standard apps. But the real news may be in what Apple will let developers do in the new OS. There will be push notification to allow apps to get messages even when not running, in-app purchases, and communication with external devices via bluetooth or the dock.
You can see a full report of what is new and what it might mean to you in episode 217 of the video podcast.
In other news, Apple has finally appeared on Twitter with an account that highlights new feed that tells you what new trailers have been posted in iTunes. @itunestrailers is thought by many to be Apple’s test of using Twitter, so we might see more eventually.
Apple followed up last week’s Mac announcements with a new iPod model this week. The iPod Shuffle is now smaller and bigger — smaller size, but 4GB of storage. It also works with VoiceOver, technology that will read out song and playlist names. This allows you to select playlists on the screenless Shuffle. But the new model is already receiving criticism since it places the critical controls on the earbud wires, requiring the use of earbuds and ruling out using your own headphones or plugging it into a car. You can check out this episode of MacMost Now for more details.
Apple also released an update to iTunes this week, presumably to support the new Shuffle. But it also adds “iTunes Plus” as an import option so you can have your CD imports at the same quality level as iTunes purchases.
Rumors are getting stronger that a Mac NetBook might be on the way. Latest reports claim that 10 inch touch screens have been ordered by Apple. If this is true, then not only will a new product fill the NetBook niche, but also be the first touch screen Mac.
This was a huge week for the Mac. Every Mac desktop machine, all three product lines, received significant updates. There are new iMacs, a new MacPro and a new Mac mini. All feature upgraded processors and video chips with the new Apple DisplayPort plug. You can watch episode 211 to find out more.
In addition, new versions of the Airport Extreme base station and the Time Capsule base station were released. The first supports multiple bands thanks to a second antenna. So now you can have 802.11g for your iPhone and 802.11n for your MacBook going at the same time. Time Capsule has the ability to share files through the MobileMe service, which could be very handy for a lot of people. It is now an Internet file server too.
Apple also introduced a new version of its standard USB keyboard that matches the smaller wireless keyboard without the numeric keypad. It will come standard with all the new desktops, though you can upgrade to the numeric keypad version.
Almost lost in the news this week was the release of a free iPhone app that will have a significant impact on the ebook world. Amazon released Kindle For iPhone. Now you can purchase ebooks on Amazon and get them delivered to your iPhone in a nice ebook reader. It will instantly become the dominant ebook reader on the iPhone, and open up Amazon’s ebook business to a whole new set of customers.
Apple news was dominated this week by the release of a beta version of the next version of Safari. This new version features faster JavaScript, the programming language behind dynamic elements all over the Web. It also has a 3D view of favorite sites, cover flow view for history and bookmarks, and is integrated with Google’s smart search service. The later will show you suggestions as you type a search term.
The release wasn’t painless, however, as many people are complaining of problems with Mail after installing Safari 4. You can see some of these new features on this episode of MacMost Now.
Apple also started something new in the iTunes music store with iTunes Pass. It is similar to purchasing a season pass for a TV show on iTunes. But instead of TV episodes, you get new and sometimes exclusive content from a band over the course of several months. The first iTunes Pass features Depeche Mode.
Looks like there will be a Mac OS X 10.5.7 soon, as developers seem to have been given a copy of the new version of Leopard to test. No word still on a release for 10.6, or Snow Leopard.
Looks like Apple is finally feeling an effect of the recession. One research firm says that Mac sales fell six percent in January, most likely due to the economy. But on the other hand, a traffic analysis of mobile phone Internet traffic shows that the iPhone now owns 51% of all smartphone traffic on the net. Part of that is probably due to the fact that iPhone users simply access the Internet much more through the full-featured Safari browser and other net-related apps.
The new 17-inch MacBook Pros started shipping this last week, slightly delayed from their original date, and lagging a good month behind the 15-inch MacBook Pros.
In rumors, the most interesting new rumor has Apple getting rid of the distinction between the QuickTime Player and QuickTime Pro. Currently, you need to pay $30 extra to upgrade from one to the other. The Pro version allows you to record, export and modify QuickTime movies.
