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Apple unveils iPhone OS 3.0

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Josh Lowensohn CNET News

Published: 18 Mar 2009 08:32 GMT

...the upcoming EA title The Sims 3, which will let users buy items for their virtual character using an in-game store interface.

This payment system is only for paid apps, meaning free applications cannot be upgraded to a paid premium version. Apple is also using the same revenue model for per-app purchases, meaning developers can charge whatever they want, and keep 70 percent.

Better GPS baked into apps
Apple announced that Core Location would now be available for developers to build into their applications, meaning they will be able to include turn-by-turn directions into their apps. However, they will not be able to build it off the iPhone's Google Maps application. Apple says this is due to licensing issues. However, map providers may step up and start selling mapping data to iPhone developers.

P2P networking and hardware communication
No longer will handsets exist as single entities. A new system, built using Apple's Bonjour technology, will let devices talk to each other. This would let people play multiplayer games with one another, and potentially exchange data files — all without the need to be connected to a third-party server or a central Wi-Fi hub. To do this, Apple is using the iPhone's built-in Bluetooth antenna.

Apple is also opening up how much control accessory makers can have over external hardware. Forstall showed how the iPhone would be able to hunt for FM radio signals using an attached dongle, and even read a patient's blood pressure — putting the controls on the iPhone instead of the attached device. This is very similar to the partnership that Apple has with Nike and its Nike+ running attachment, which could be controlled using an iPod. This new system works both from the dock connector and over Bluetooth.

To demo this new level of communication, Johnson and Johnson company LifeScan went onstage to show off a new blood-sugar application that uses the phone to process what user's blood glucose level and keep track of it both on the device, and by sending the data to LifeScan's servers.

Other iPhone items of interest included the following:

Original iPhone users will not be getting all the new features; Apple has already said MMS and stereo Bluetooth music playback will not be available.
Apple has sold 13.7 million iPhones through 2008, and 17 million iPhones total. This figure includes first-generation hardware.
There have been 800,000 downloads of the iPhone SDK.
Notes made in the Notes.app can now be synced to your computer.
Shake to shuffle is coming to the iPhone.
Safari browser is getting antiphishing and auto-fill.
Parental controls will work on the App Store. This could mean a new explicit-content rating for applications, similar to the one used for music and films.
No Adobe Flash has been announced for the iPhone, although the device will play HTML 5 video, and developers now have API access for streaming audio and video in their apps.