Apple Announces June 17th iPhone Version 3 Software Release

8th June 09 - Apple has just announced the release of version 3 of the iPhone software: the new version of the iPhone's built in software willb e available on the 17th of June. The new version was announced for general release at the Apple developer's conference, but had previously only been available for software developers.

The new software includes a number of long-awaited features, including the ability to cut and paste, the ability to undo a past and a range of new APIs that allow for better access to the iPhone's hardware by applications.

Another significant new feature is tethering, which allows a computer to use the iPhone's 3G connection as an Internet connection, either over the USB cable or through a wireless Bluetooth connection. However, it will not be available in the US at present: the only Us network to offer the iPhone (AT&T has not announced any plans to support it. 22 carriers in other countries will be supporting it, though, although it is not clear at the time of writing if there will be an additional cost for this feature.

Apple is also adding a feature called Find My iPhone, which allows a user to locate their phone using the built-in GPS system if they loose it. The new system works through (and requires) a MobileMe subscription, and also allows the user to remotely wipe the iPhone, deleting all of the data on the phone. If it is then found, it can be restored from iTunes.

Also included is support for MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services), which allows images and videos to be attached to text messages. However, this feature won't be available until later in the summer, as Apple claims that AT&T's network won't support it at present.  Support has also been added for buying and renting videos and movies straight from the device, without using iTunes on a desktop device. A full list of the new features is available in our preview of the new software here.

Apple has also lifted some of the restrictions on devices that canb e connceted to the iPhone, which means thart developers have more freedom to design devices that add features. Some of the examples demonstrated at the announcement were a GPS receiver from TomTom, a blood sugar meter for diabetics and a number of scientific sensors from Pasco.


The final major new feature is support for push notifications, where apps can bring up alerts on screen. The example that apple showed was an ESPN app that notified the user of sports scores.