WWDC 2009 Unveils New iPhone Applications & Abilities for OS 3.0

By Stephen Kral on June 8th, 2009

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There’s a whole lot of talk and excitement going on at the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco this morning — and for good reason — as Apple takes the opportunity to unveil their latest and greatest software and hardware developments. And while most of the talk will certainly be centered on the new iPhone 3GS — which looks pretty cool — current iPhone users should also make sure to note the new developments for the iPhone 3G OS 3.0. Cause they’re impressive too.

To start it off, the 3.0 update will give iPhone users the ability to cut and paste, type in landscape mode (whenever you wish), receive MMS (multimedia messaging services) messages, activate phone-wide searches (via Spotlight), and tether (use your iPhone’s internet connection for your computer). This new upgrade also comes with improved Safari performance (that remembers your passwords and other info), push and blue-tooth capabilities and — my personal favorite — an application that can locate lost or stolen iPhones (called Find My iPhone). Especially neat about that last one, is that if your iPhone is stolen and you have sensitive information on it, you can still delete its entire contents through a website. Pretty cool.

Apple is also taking the opportunity to highlight a few of their new applications that will be available with the new upgrade, and, again, these are worth paying attention too. But before I start, I should note that Google Maps will now be fully integrated into all applicable applications. Nice!

Alright, first up is a Gameloft racing game. This game takes advantage of the phone’s increased speed and also has a nice feature that allows you to play music from your iPhone library while in game. Next up, is an app called Airstrip Technologies that has an impressive real-time stream that features heart monitor rates and other patient data. From here there’s the Iceberg application (allows you to buy books for your phone — watch out Amazon!), Star Defense (a tower defense game, but in SPACE and with cool graphics), Zipcar (finds the nearest Zipcar, allows you to rent it and – get this – will lock and unlock the car too, all from your phone!), an app that controls guitar and amp levels (live), and finally TomTom (a GPS device that gives audible driving directions).