Comments on: iPhone 3.0 OS channels Xbox Live (plus cut & paste)

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:02:48 +0000

Har har, I obviously have the TomTom enterprise server with topographic maps. 800MB, sheesh.

The accounting stuff is BS. I read that excuse with the activation of the N spec on some Macbooks awhile back. All sorts of other devices and companies manage to provide upgrades, updates, and new functionality without charging…

By: Scott Lewis

Scott Lewis — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:44:11 +0000

Hey Dave – couple of things. The iPod Touch is not sold on a subscription basis where they book revenue over a 12 month basis for the sale of the device. Therefore they have to charge for upgrades, based on accounting rules. They book the entire sale of an iPod when it occurs, whereas the iPhone over a rolling 12 month basis.

Secondly – what Tom Tom do you have? 800gb is a lot of memory for maps, no?

Also to Griffin – the reason that certain features are restricted to the newer products are the subtle but real hardware changes. For example, 1G iPhone can’t do MMS because it has a completely different cell radio inside. This was actually covered during the Q&A phase of the announcement. Apple has a fantastic track record of not leaving the iPhone and iPod Touch users behind with new features. But obviously some things just CAN’T be done.

By: Ben Drawbaugh

Ben Drawbaugh — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:24:45 +0000

Ohh, I almost forgot.

I’m actually the most excited about the possibility of an external FM tuner. I know it sounds silly, but I’ll finally be able to retire my Rio Cali which I currently use to listen to the announcers when I go to football games. And if you’re wondering why I don’t just stream the audio, it’s because AT&T’s network sucks and when you put 65k people in one place no one can use the data service.

By: Ben Drawbaugh

Ben Drawbaugh — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:20:53 +0000

I certainly hope that the new streaming services API will allow developers to write an application that would enable you to listen to Slacker and read email.

My biggest gripes are with the email and I only saw one of my pain points addressed in the liveblogs, maybe there is more in the video.

As for timing. 90 days makes perfect sense to me. They have to give developers time to test their existing applications and to develop new ones. They wouldn’t want to launch all these great new features without any great new apps that actually use them. Which is why the beta is available in developers now.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:18:18 +0000

Chris, any new features tied to new hardware would be announced with that phone. There’s probably more to 3.0 which we’ll discover this summer…

Regarding navigation and battery life, here’s my solution:
http://www.zatznotfunny.com/2008-12/hands-on-with-griffin-roadtrip/

By: Chris H

Chris H — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:20:58 +0000

I was also impressed with the number of short comings that this update addressed. If someone had told me yesterday that A2DP, horizontal keyboard, and turn by turn navigation would be supported in this release I wouldn’t have believed it. And there is a ton of other good stuff as well.

I’m sort of surprised that their is no movement on video at all. And I am skeptical of battery life on turn by turn GPS. Even when using GPS currently with Google Maps you can practically watch the battery meter drop to zero.

By: Griffon

Griffon — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:18:08 +0000

Sounds like a number of features will not go live for original iphone like A2DP. Total BS, bye bye apple hello pre.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 02:18:14 +0000

They can also request a certain level of confidentiality with these regulatory entities of like 60 or 90 days. While at Sling, we attempted to do it as well… but one of our OEM’s flubbed the paperwork and the FCC announced our product for us. Apple’s done a very good job of mastering this process and keeping most info under wraps. Still not perfect, but better than most. More impressive when you consider the amount of scrutiny they are under versus other manufacturers.