Cut and paste finally arrives on iPhone

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 17 Mar 2009 at 17:00

Apple has unveiled the third version of its iPhone operating system, which finally brings push notifications and cut and paste to the device.

Push notifications immediately alert users when a new email or instant message arrives, but Apple has been reluctant to introduce the feature for fear of its effect on battery life.

"We were asked, why don't you do background processing?" explained Scott Forstall, the senior vice president of iPhone software.

"It's bad for the customer. It drains battery. We've been running some background processes on some phones. We took a popular AIM client, and we just let it go in the background then we measured the standby time. And it dropped by 80% or more."

Instead Apple will introduce a central push notification service that will have a persistent connection to the iPhone. Third-party servers will ping this service when they want to contact the user with updates.

The other notable announcement is the introduction of cut and paste, which allows users to drag a selection box across a block of text. Tabs then offer cut and paste options for further use. The text can even be pasted into other apps.

Amidst a series of generally dull announcements, the other headline feature turned out to be the ability to purchase additional content from within an application.

"You can now purchase a game that comes with 10 levels, and when you're done playing those levels, you can purchase the next 10 levels for the game," said Forstall.

Also notable was the introduction of peer-to-peer gaming over Bluetooth. When running an application the iPhone will now detect other iPhones and iPod touches in the vicinity running that same application. Though the feature is obviously aimed at gaming, Forstall also pointed out it can be used to share contacts and other information.

iPhone OS 3 also brings the ability to send multiple pictures over email, support for MMS, a landscape touchscreen keyboard and a universal search application called Spotlight which will allow you to root through all apps, emails and messages for a search term.