iPhone OS 4 has been announced. Among other things, we is now clear that Apple considers the iPhone/iPad domain theirs alone. They reserve the right to eliminate any apps that pose any strategic or competitive threat. This was pretty clear after Apple banned Google Voice, but there was still a bit of wiggle room. Not any more.
Only antitrust action is going to change that, and Apple is not yet dominant enough in mobile to worry about antitrust. Maybe in a few years.
For now, it’s Apple’s way or the highway. On the less dim side, I was impressed by what they’ve added to their way. OS 4 is a good upgrade.
Given what they announced, here’s the current state of my personal wish list compared to OS 3. X means never – I’m dropping those items.
| Wish | Rel 3 | Rel 4 |
| Multiple exchange accounts | N | Y |
| Keyboard | N | Y |
| Calendar API | N | Y |
| Google Voice app | N | X |
| Google Latitude location sharing | N | X |
| Cable/wireless sync API for 3rd party apps. | N | ? |
| Fix the Notes fields in Calendar and Contacts | N | ? |
| Fix broken iPod playlists | N | ? |
My two biggest “wishes” have been granted and there’s a decent chance Apple will fix the two big bugs I experience routinely.
Maybe we’ll see the cable sync API, but at this point wireless sync would be fine too. We won’t see Google apps on the iPhone, but Apple did do a location sharing API – so half points there.
Apple also added several other nice features – but they weren’t on my wish list.
Now it’s all about how Apple makes up for the Google services they’ve blocked. That will be tough, though Google’s declining competence does lessen the sting.
See also
- My current iPhone wish list – as of OS 3.1 (Oct 2009)
- iPhone 3.0 - how many of my wishes were granted (Mar 2009)
- iPhone- my demands (Aug 2007): These were mercifully met
No comments:
Post a Comment