14 DAY TRIAL // Surprisingly, there is less and less talk of an upcoming iPhone OS update, with Apple fans now focused on “Apple Tablet” talk. Still, security issues plaguing the software keep emerging, while new functionality is always welcome, and Apple loves to innovate. With these two factors on the table, a new iPhone OS release is never far off. In the same manner we asked Mac OS X fans to write down their wishes for the next incremental update to Snow Leopard, we now ask iPhone / iPod touch users: what would you like Apple to add / change in iPhone OS 3.2?
Although not yet confirmed (not even rumored to be in development, really), new additions to the iPhone OS are likely being tested in Cupertino, even if they will ultimately take the form of mere tweaks, or security fixes.
Widely reported are newly emerged iPhone worms, which, up until recently, were thought to affect only jailbroken devices. As it turns out, clean, untampered-with iPhones can also get infected, and pretty seriously too. Reinforcement is definitely in order here. But leaving vulnerabilities aside (since there will always be someone eager to exploit the iPhone OS, the iPhone Dev Team leading the pack), iPhone fanboys will want more than just security fixes. So, what could they want?
I’ll tell you what I want on my iPhone – a new web browser! Safari is just too limited for my web-surfing needs. An iPhone version of Opera, however, would make my day. I’m such a fan of the Opera web browser – now more than ever thanks to the Opera Link and Unity features –, that I’d probably ditch Safari without ever looking back. One of my favorite features of the Opera web browser is the ability to assign a nickname to each of my bookmarks.
Safari not only lacks this feature, but dozens others that could make my web-surfing experience more enjoyable, and more efficient. Don’t get me wrong – I love the iPhone and everything it ships with, but when there’s huge potential, why limit yourself to the standard configuration? Well, there’s a small impediment – Apple! They won’t allow it, for one reason or another. So I’ll just keep dreaming, as I’m sure many of you are dreaming about your favorite services making it onto the iPhone.
Some are speculating that Google Maps updates with Latitude should make a fine addition to iPhone OS 3.2. Others believe Apple is taking longer with the software update because it is adding major stuff. Whatever happens, we’d like to know what you think and, most of all, what you want in the next iPhone OS update. With enough comments posted, we’ll be able to work up a bit of a wish list, which we’ll post online for Apple to see. No registration is required to write down your thoughts, so you can do it right away.
How about you, iPhone developers? Would you love Apple more if more APIs were opened to you? Hopefully, the Mac maker will decide to renew its agreement with devs as new versions of the iPhone OS and iPhone SDK are simultaneously rolled out. Some policies are definitely not in the favor of small developers.
So, what do you all think: should we keep our fingers crossed for iPhone OS 3.2?