You may be tiring of iPhone news, but this — the post Worldwide Developers Conference keynote days — is just the quiet before the next iPhone deluge — the July 11 availability of the phone and the grand opening of the App Store.
For the next 30 days or so, you can expect lots of iPhone news to trickle out. New third-party apps. New hardware reviews. New analysis.
We’ve sifted through the first day of post-keynote jubilation to provide you with new software announcements, transitioning from iPhone 1.0 to 2.0 and moving from .Mac to MobileMe, the change in the iPhone business model, and the disappointments voiced by some now that the WWDC hangover is clearing.
Additional software announcements
OmniFocus: This is one of the iPhone apps I’ve been waiting for: OmniFocus, the personal task manager from OmniGroup, will be available in July at the opening of the App Store. Merlin Mann at 43 Folders says OmniFocus will be location-aware, a nice surprise and hopefully helpful. I have high hopes for this program.
Mobile NetNewsWire: Another program I’ve been wishing for is a native app for NetNewsWire, considered by many the best desktop RSS reader for the Mac. The folks at Ars Technica were given a peek by NetNewsWire creator Brent Simmons, and the program looks promising for all of us who are not big fans of Google Reader (for shame!).
TomTom: Dutch navigation device maker TomTom says it already has a version of its software running on the iPhone and plans to sell it to consumers (no word on pricing). TomTom is Europe’s biggest maker of car nav systems. [Reuters]
TuneWiki: The karaoke-like lyric and music syncing app for jailbroken iPhones is going legit [The Industry Standard] This program is also being developed on the Google Android platform.
iPhone games are front and center at WWDC: More analysis than new games [via Macworld]
Transitioning from iPhone 1.0 to 2.0, .Mac to MobileMe
Can you trade an old iPhone for a new one? [Apple 2.0] What first generation iPhone owners can expect [The Unofficial Apple Weblog] An iPhone upgrade breakdown [TUAW]
How to completely erase your iPhone’s data [via Lifehacker, with links]
iPhone 3G pricing, activation detail [via Gizmodo] — $10 increase for consumer data plan (now $30) and no iTunes activation (in-store only). [also see zdnet]
3G iPhone hands-on review [from Gizmodo] — “lighter, fits better, and noticeably thinner,” “reception is noticeably better.” And Uncle Walt from the Wall Street Journal.
Transitioning from .Mac to MobileMe. I also have high hopes for “Exchange for everybody else.” Let’s hope Apple delivers with MobileMe and it’s not just a cleaned-up, rebranding of the aging .Mac. [also .Mac Transition Overview and MobileMe Guided Tour; 43 Folders also takes a deep look at MobileMe]
Making iPhone 2.0 work at work [InfoWorld]
Explanation of Apple’s new notification system [webware]
Change in iPhone business model
Om Malik at GigaOM digs into this in Q&A fashion. Also, Om interviews AT&T’s mobility chief about the iPhone being a “game-changer.”
Trio of analysts predict iPhone sales will “explode” [compilation via Ars Technica]
Disappointments (for some)
As Joe Wilcox of Apple Watch aptly says, “as reality sets in and more facts are revealed, some of the iPhone 3G glow diminishes.
MMS, video recording: @christinielsen, a photographer and video artist with the University of Texas at Dallas’ Mobile Lab, lamented the lack of a video camera, writing on Twitter: “The new iphone — meh — no mms, no video recording. These are basic features on cheap phones, dipshits.”
Others include:
- Front-facing video camera for video conferencing or video chat
- A 32 GB model, with more RAM, and removable storage
- Still, no cutting and pasting! (maybe when App Store arrives?)
- iChat, or a native instant messaging program (maybe when App Store arrives?)
- Voice search
- Complete over-the-air syncing for all programs, not just iCal, Address Book, and Mail
- No Red iPhone, to match the iPod Nano (what turns on some people never ceases to amaze)
- Smoke and mirrors: The iPhone costs $200 less, but the data plan costs $10 more a month. Over 24 months, that’s $240 — $40 more than than the initial savings
- A few naysayers.
- And, finally, the iPhone is still tied to one carrier!
