Apple releases iPhone 3.0 software update

As promised during last week's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple on Wednesday released the iPhone 3.0 software update, a major overhaul of its mobile operating system that promises more than 100 new features and enhancements.

The size of the 3.0 update ranges from 230MB to 260MB, depending on which device you're upgrading. The update is available through iTunes. To install the iPhone 3.0 update, users will also need to be running iTunes 8.2. Apple released that update to its music jukebox software and online store interface earlier this month to support many of the new features introduced with iPhone 3.0.

The iPhone 3.0 update is free to all iPhone users. iPod touch users will need to pay $10 to upgrade to version 3.0 of the software.

First announced at a special press event in March, the iPhone 3.0 update promises 100 features and enhancements for users. Highlights to this update include the long-awaited arrival of cut, copy, and paste functionality, a horizontal keyboard for more applications than just the mobile Safari browser, and a Find My Phone feature that helps subscribers to Apple's MobileMe service locate lost phones.

"Apple has really refined the experience they first delivered two years ago to the point where everything is head and shoulders above anything else out there," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy and analysis at market-research firm Interpret.

With Apple setting the bar for smartphones with its iPhone offerings, Gartenberg said, Wednesday's iPhone 3.0 release--coupled with the scheduled Friday release for the new iPhone 3G S--gives Apple the opportunity to solidify its position in the mobile market.

Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis, agrees that the iPhone remains "well out in front in terms of applications and entertainment, but other platforms still retain unique features and capabilities. For example, RIM's BlackBerries provide a more e-mail-centric smartphone experience than the iPhone, and Palm's Pre is unique with its multi-tasking and information management."

What's new

Perhaps the most anticipated change in the iPhone 3.0 update is the ability to cut, copy, and paste text--a feature iPhone users have clamored for since the 2007 debut of the iPhone. Users will be able to select text with a double-tap, bringing up a cut, copy, and paste bubble. After adjusting the selected text with a finger drag, users tap on one of the three buttons. Once text is copied, it can be pasted anywhere--even in a different application--with another double-tap to summon the cut, copy, and paste bubble. Users can copy and paste text, HTML, and photos.

iPhone 3.0 also brings a horizontally-oriented keyboard to other apps--most notably Mail, Notes, and the renamed Messages texting client. Messages features Multimedia Messaging Support, which will let users send and receive photos, contact information, audio files, and locations--at least for customers of 29 carriers in 76 countries. That does not include the United States, where AT&T, the exclusive service provider for the iPhone, will not be ready to support MMS until later this summer.

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