Gear Live, whom I must admit I had never heard of before, have posted a video of the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware (and boy do their servers seem to be playing the price right now). I recently acquired an iPod Touch, so here are a few thoughts on the impending update from the perspective of someone who probably isn't going to get to see most of them. The coolest non-iPhone specific feature looks like the curled-up-page effect, so I hope it's made available to other apps and not just Google Maps.
The ability to add Safari bookmarks to the launch screen should be really useful, but at the same time it makes me a little suspicious: it makes the web apps metaphor make more sense, allowing you to treat on-line applications as equals to those built-in, but with the advent of "proper" (native) apps supposedly only a little over a month away, should this be necessary? And shouldn't this feature have been there six months ago? Maybe it's a convenience thing, allowing you fast access to your favourite site, but in that case why should Safari get the special treatment? How about putting your favourite contacts or top songs on the launch pad, too?
I guess what I'm really stressing over is, are we going to get another fudge so we come out of Macworld with web apps still as the main method for developing for iPhone/iPod touch.
Okay, I can think of three not-so-paranoid reasons for adding the feature. Firstly, because it has been on someone's to-do list since 1.0 and so it was bound to turn up eventually. Secondly, because having got developers to spend the last six months on Mobile Safari optimised web apps and even though you've just moved the goal posts again Apple still want to throw them a bone, no matter how small. And thirdly, because if the hip and groovy kids are to be believed where it's currently at is social networking and that's happening on-line. Facebook as a pre-installed icon on the iPhone some time soon?
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