All Articles Tagged 3.0

Back in March, Apple’s App Store was blessed with the free Amazon Kindle iPhone application. One of the biggest gripes that we had with it was the inability to purchase new books right from the app itself. While we still did not get that ability, Amazon has done the next best thing: last night they flipped the switch on an iPhone optimized Kindle store.

This freshly optimized store is nice to have but what, if anything, will change when iPhone OS 3.0 is released? If you remember, 3.0 has the ability to make in-app purchases. Will Amazon finally allow in-app purchases and give Apple a 30% cut off the top, or will Amazon stick with the current arrangement to avoid paying Apple for every book that is sold?

So what do you, our readers, think about this one? Either way, it should be interesting!

The iPhone Dev-Team has posted a few words regarding Jailbreaking the 3.0 software:

Because there are so many beta releases, we couldn’t possible refine, test, and release both PwnageTool and QuickPwn for each of them. That’s why we’re waiting until the final release. You may have seen other “hijacked” versions of QuickPwn out there, but all of them are buggy, none of them work on OSX, and almost everyone who uses them reverts back to 2.2.1 (because none of the useful jailbroken apps (Qik, Cycorder, and others) work on 3.0 yet).

Now this does not mean you currently can not Jailbreak 3.0 because you can, it’s just that the Dev-Teams software is not fine-tuned for the iPhone beta software. If you do decide to Jailbreak the 3.0 beta you will run into some issues. The biggest issue, as stated above, being a lot of the applications available via Cydia will not be compatible with 3.0. It is also important to note that if you ever want to unlock your iPhone 3G, you need to avoid the 3.0 software altogether unless and until the Dev-Team provides a safe jailbreak path.

So our advice to the Jailbreakers of the world: have some patience. When the final build of 3.0 drops sometime this summer you will be able to Jailbreak your iPhone 3G.

(The only way Apple could prevent a Jailbreak does not rest within the software, rather the hardware. As for Jailbreaking the next generation of iPhone, only time will tell, we are sure Apple will make it interesting…)

Apple released a surprisingly early iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 last Wednesday, and we spent all night covering it. Now we’ve rolled that coverage up into our massive iPhone 3.0 Walkthrough, to make it all up to date, and even more massive.

If you have any questions on the iPhone 3.0 Betas, or know anyone who does, send them on over.

Apple Insider has a pair of reports up, the first of which cites one analyst following up two other analysts who would all really, really like to see AT&T reduce data plan charges by $10 a month.

So would consumers. However, nothing to back it up yet but wishes and analyst musings to make it so.

The second report highlights that if AT&T does drop rates, and drives adaptions, they’ll only reach saturation level faster, forcing Apple to look again at Verizon and their 15 million customers to drive further growth.

Verizon customers would certainly love it, but can Apple wait long enough for LTE-compatibility to roll out?

Lastly, Dmackdaddy tipped us to what looks like AT&T seeking a lot of “retail sales consultants” in the Bay Area. Looks like some other areas may also be stocking up on staff. Regular business cycle, or just one more sign of the big iPhone 3.0 and iPhone next generation release expected for the summer?

BGR, citing sources of the shinobi-kind, has posted a couple of screen captures showing the Settings for the digital Compass enabled via debug menus in iPhone 3.0 Beta 5.

We’d heard rumors of a digital compass being included in the next generation iPhone — widely speculated for a WWDC 2009 introduction this coming June — but it’s nice to actually see some confirmation.

Google Maps integration is a no-brainer, but could Apple figure out more ways to leverage this? Could 3rd-part developers?

Maybe this explains, at least in part, the new iPhone 3.0 Beta 5released yesterday? Looks like Apple is super-eager to get developers testing and submitting 3.0 compatible applications.

We’re really eager to see what developers are coming up with to leverage all those great 3.0 features as well. Really, really eager. Ahem.

Full text of Apple’s email to developers:

All apps must be compatible with iPhone OS 3.0

Millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers will move to iPhone OS 3.0 this summer. Beginning today, all submissions to the App Store will be reviewed on the latest beta of iPhone OS 3.0. If your app submission is not compatible with iPhone OS 3.0, it will not be approved.

Existing apps in the App Store should already run on iPhone OS 3.0 without modification, but you should test your existing apps with iPhone OS 3.0 to ensure there are no compatibility issues. After iPhone OS 3.0 becomes available to customers, any app that is incompatible with iPhone OS 3.0 may be removed from the App Store.

Begin testing now

iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 and iPhone SDK 3.0 beta 5 are now posted to the iPhone Dev Center. Start testing today to ensure your application runs on iPhone OS 3.0. Visit the iPhone Dev Center for additional development information including iPhone SDK Release Notes for iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 and Getting ready for iPhone OS 3.0.

(Thanks DevX for the tip!)

Apple made mention that some developers, when updating to iPhone 3.0 Beta 5, might experience problems connecting to AT&T’s data network. Apple asked any devs so affected to contact them, and one dev who had the problem called in and let us know what Apple told him:

Apple just called me back, had me turn the phone off then back on. Then turn the wifi off and try it and it seems to be back to working. Thaaaank you apple.

Thanks indeed! If you’re experiencing similar problems, you might want to try the above. If that doesn’t work for you, however, get on the phone with Apple asap.

(Thanks Josh for the tip!)

More new finds in iPhone 3.0 Beta 5: it seems like those Restriction Settings — allowing parental control over apps based on ratings — we heard rumored in the wake of Reznor-gate have been surfaced in the latest beta.

Options include:

• Don’t Allow Apps
• 4+
• 9+
• 12+
• 17+
• Allow All Apps

It’s still unknown, however, whether Apple will take it upon themselves to determine ratings, leave it up to developers, or use a hybrid model where devs pick a rating and Apple approves or returns it for re-rating.

Regardless, we hope — when it’s finally released to the public this summer — it puts an end to the sillier rejections we’ve seen.

Looks like iPhone 3.0 Beta 5 doth giveth a little as well. That tiny email icon present in the top navigation bar of podcasts was decorative only until Beta 4, when it began to allow you to email the iTunes Store link for a friend for any podcast you’d downloaded over-the-air (at least for some it did). Now, with Beta 5, that tiny email icon is powered up and working for podcasts synced over via iTunes as well.

Earth shattering? No. But if you’re enjoying a great episode of Phone different, GDGT, TWiT, YLNT, or whatever else floats your audio boat, and you want to give a friend easy access to equal entertainment, it’s certainly a great convenience.

[Thanks anon for the tip!]

Along with iPhone 3.0 Beta 5, which appears to hide away MMS functionality for AT&T, Apple also seeded the second pre-release version of iTunes 8.2, which looks like it blocks editing of the iPhone carrier file. In previous beta releases, developers were able to use the carrier file to enable tethering, something built into iPhone 3.0 by Apple but entirely dependent on as-yet-not-given carrier approval.

Did AT&T ask for the new lockdown? Perhaps the MMS stripping as well? Nothing but speculation so far…

(Thanks Andrew for the tip!)