iPhone OS 3.0 Makes Me Feel Better About Waiting
11:40 am, March 17th, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Image copyright Engadget
Apple took the wraps off its iPhone OS 3.0 this morning, and it was a veritable smorgasbord of features that probably should have been included upon the initial release of the iPhone. Take a look:
- Cut, copy, and paste
- Spotlight search
- Note syncing
- MMS
- Landscape keyboard support in non-Safari apps
- Undo
I mean, seeing that list all together, it almost begins to feel remarkable that Apple made such a great device that was oddly lacking in fundamentals! Can you imagine if the original Mac had shipped without half the items in the Edit menu?
As I joked earlier on Twitter, the best headline for the day would be “Apple whips America into a frenzy by fixing iPhone’s most glaring omissions.” (And our friend Rob Beschizza actually used the thing.) People are unbelievably excited about cut, copy, and paste, for example. I actually went back 1,000 tweets from the time that the feature was announced, and I couldn’t get to the first mention of it on Twitter — at least 1,000 excited yelps about it within the first minute.
For cut, copy, and paste.
Think about that. No other company on earth could make a big deal of announcing a basic feature more than two years late. And that’s what makes Apple so awesome at what they do. They care so much about excellence — not just adequacy, but excellence — that they don’t release anything until it’s ready. They didn’t want to put out cut, copy, and paste until it was the most innovative version possible of same. Amazing.
For myself, I feel great as a late adopter this morning. I’ve said all along that I won’t buy an iPhone until I can get a 32 GB model, and I fully expect it to ship alongside OS 3.0 in late June. It’s taken more patience than I can express, but I’ll get a phone I can live with for at least two years if I continue to hold out. This is why it’s so hard to be passionate about Apple — you need to ignore it for many months or even years to get the perfect product. That’s what it took to get to last year’s MacBooks, and I’m damn sure it will be true for the third-generation iPhone released this summer…
Developers: Feel free to send us your anonymous impressions!
Posted by Pete Mortensen in News | Comment on this article
I agree with you 100%. I’m usually out there buying products as soon as they are released, yet I’ve been holding out for the iPhone. With today’s new annoucement, I’m definitely biting the bullet and getting the phone.
Now if AT&T would hurry up and switch completely to 850mhz…
mike, on March 17th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I happen to be an early adopter if the iPhone although I waited until the price drop in the Fall of 2007. I plan on keeping my first-gen iPhone for two years and then upgrading to the new generation this fall. The thing that I don’t understand when people say, “I’ll get a phone I can live with for at least two years” is that they have to continue to suffer with another phone during that time. In the 18 months that I have had my iPhone, it has changed my life and my computing habits. I wouldn’t give that up for anything. I, for one, am glad that I am an early adopter!
John Paul, on March 17th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
It’s about fucking time
Matt, on March 17th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Well, I’m glad you’re happy to be a late adopter, but I think John Paul has it right. I’ve owned a second gen iPhone for 6 months, and while there have been one or two occasions when I wished I could cut and paste, it sure as heck hasn’t been a show stopper for me, and the phone is a total revolution in terms of how I work. Seems to me the trouble with many late adopters is that they keep ramping up their minimum specs… and wind up never being happy even when they do buy. Me, I’ll have cut and paste and a slew of other goodies 9 months after I bought, and all for free. Sounds good to me.
Charlie Bing, on March 17th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
This is a very typical progression in the lifecycle of a disruptive technology. Often the new technology, though a huge advancement in many areas, is inferior to, or lacks elements of, the preceding technologies. This can happen for a number of reason including a mismatch between the legacy features and the newly introduced paradigm. In some cases the legacy features really aren’t needed anymore but it takes customers time to get used to the new model. In other cases, a feature that is easy or natural in the old regime is difficult to do well in the new paradigm. In these cases it often takes time for the innovators to find a good way to implement or express an idea that was previously very natural.
I think that’s the case with cut and paste. Apple clearly could have added some form of cut and paste earlier, but the touch interface added some challenges to doing it well. There have been many attempts by third parties to do and IMHO, all have been lacking. It remains to be seen whether Apple has successfully adapted this tried and true functionality to the touch interface of the iPhone and iPod Touch. I hope they did. Do I wish they had done so sooner? Of course. But having been on their side of the fence once or twice, and having a guess at all of the irons they have in the fire, I can understand some of the delay.
JoeP, on March 17th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I hear ya about holding out for the new iPhone and I’m with ya brotha. I’m also hoping they will release the 32GB in late june.
JoblessPunk, on March 17th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Still no iPhone here, and the only thing keeping me back is not the iPhone itself, which I covet. It’s the damn service contract with Sprint. It expires around my birthday next year. And as God is my witness, I’m switchin’ then.
Daniel k, on March 17th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Glad to hear I’m not the only one holding out for 32GB. The bluetooth api and a few other things will be nice to get along with it. I’m sure Saling Clicker was jumping for joy at that one.
razmaspaz, on March 17th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
why wait. buy it, use it, sell it on ebay while still under warranty then upgrade to the next model. wash, rinse, repeat. i do this with all of my macs/ipods/iphones. actually, i buy the new model first, transfer data and then sell the old one. macs under warranty bring a good price. also, instead of spending on applecare, i sell while still under warranty thus i always have a current mac under warranty. of course you must buy at a good price. my current rig is a 2.4 mbp that i got from macconnection.com for $1699 shipped and including the rebate and other free crap during their superbowl special. i’ll keep it until the next sweet deal comes along. i estimate is will sell from $1400 to $1550 my wife hates getting a new computer every 8-9 months but i dig it!
vikingr, on March 17th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Before I had my iPhone I used Sony Ericsson phones which have had copy and paste for many years. However, I hardly ever used it. These “smart” devices were just too dumb to get any benefit from it.
When the iPhone came out, suddenly there were regular people using mobile data for really useful purposes. It was then that people realized how important moving text between their apps could be to empowering themselves with that data.
Having said that, I would be interested to hear what the “security” issues were that they claimed delayed releasing copy and past until now.
theguycalledtom, on March 17th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
“That’s why it’s so hard to be passionate about Apple, you need to ignore it for many months or even years to get the perfect product.”
Yeah because the iPhone OS has been just so lacking compared to other mobile phones. LOL. I’m glad it makes your ego feel better about not having one for the past year, but your argument here makes no sense.
Joseph, on March 17th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Was about time for the implementation of the copy&paste!
AOLgames, on March 17th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I can’t believe you’re not holding out for a new pony.
All those holding out for meaningless things like cut and paste or MMS have been missing out on the wonderful experience that I’ve been having for almost two years. I haven’t missed those “features” at all.
It reminds me of some girls I used to know who had a huge wish list on what they wanted in a husband. Good looking, smart, funny, spiritual, musical, rich and the list goes on and on. One girl’s list was so extensive I told her she wanted someone who could heal the sick, raise the dead and walk on water but the only problem was that if Jesus Christ walked into the room she’d complain that his hair was too long. She actually said I was probably right.
Even with cut and paste, MMS, 32 gigs and more I’m sure you’ll find something to complain about.
I’m happy with my measly 4GB iPhone. And I’ll be even more happy with my 32 GB model when it arrives. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get hiking maps with the GPS.
Oh, my girl friends all ended up getting married to guys who were not any of the qualities they thought they needed in a perfect husband. And from what I can tell they’re quite happy.
Hike Every Day, on March 17th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
To adopt early, or not to adopt early? I guess it is always human nature to want to hold out for something better – the grass is always greener etc. This will always come down to a purely subjective, personal, and not necessarliy particularly logical set of criteria. For me, I held out until the 3G came out as I felt that was about the minimum bar I was prepared to accept. But that is mostly an emotional response as the original iPhone was in most respects (and with respect to my usage habits) far better than any of the other mobiles I have ever owned. Was I annoyed when I found out the 3G couldn’t do cut and paste, or forward a contact detail via text or bluetooth – hell yes! But in the six months since I’ve had the 3G I can honestly say that these annoyances have only cropped up for me maybe half a dozen times at the most, and the pure pleasure of owning what has become my all-time favourite gadget more than offsets any disappointments. And like the guycalledtom said already, whilst the lack of these features do stick out more on the iPhone because the phone is just so damn useful, it’s also probably fair to say that for the first time I have a phone where I might actually want to use the features. With v3.0 adding in these hotly anticipated “basics” I think it’s fair to say that it will open up whole new avenues of usefulness.
Matt, on March 18th, 2009 at 4:25 am
Pete Mortensen please, please don’t get an iPhone. You deserver something better… like maybe a Blackberry Storm. Yes… thats the phone for you. It does all the things you crave right out of the box and its available now.
Mike DHaem, on March 18th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
@Mike I really hope you’re joking — sarcasm’s so hard to detect on the InterScape these days. I don’t mean to give the impression that I think the iPhone is inadequate or anything, just that I’m very particular about holding out until Apple perfects what they’re working on. I think the iPhone coming this summer will be just that…
And the BlackBerry Storm will be off the market by then…
Pete Mortensen, on March 19th, 2009 at 12:56 am