The focus of the Apple September announcement is always the iPod, but yesterday there was a ton of iPhone news announced by Steve Jobs. Here are the iPhone-related news items and my thoughts on each.
The numbers. Steve Jobs started by noting that Apple has sold over 120 million iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Apple now activates 230,000 new iOS devices every single day. There are over 250,000 apps in the App Store, and there have been over 6.5 billion downloads from the App Store. 200 apps are downloaded every second. Wow.
HDR Photos. The new iOS 4, due out next week, will give you an option for the iPhone camera to take high dynamic range photographs, allowing the iPhone to take even better pictures that don't wash out the background. I have some iPhone apps that do the same thing and dramatically increase the quality of pictures, but with this ability built-in to the iPhone I'm sure that it will work even better. The iPhone 4 already has the best smartphone camera, and with HDR it will be better than many "real" cameras. Here is an example from the Apple website of what HDR can do for an iPhone photo:
HD video upload over WiFi. In iOS 4.0, you can take HD video but need to connect to your computer to get that video off of your iPhone in full HD quality. With iOS 4.1, if you have a WiFi connection, you'll be able to upload that video so that you can more easily share HD video with others when you are on the road, away from your computer.
Fix the proxmity sensor bug. iOS 4 had the annoying tendency to turn the screen on when the iPhone was next to your face, meaning that your cheek could touch a button on the phone while you were talking. iOS 4.1. is supposed to fix that bug. Thank goodness.
Fix the Bluetooth bug. I don't use Bluetooth with my iPhone 4 very often so I had not noticed that there was a problem with Blluetooth, but if you noticed any problems with the Bluetooth connection dropping, you'll be happy to learn that these problems supposed to be fixed in iOS 4.1.
Speed up the iPhone 3G. If you use iOS 4.0 on an iPhone 3G, you know that it is V-E-R-Y S-L-O-W. iOS 4.1 is supposed to speed it up.
Rent TV shows for 99¢. You can already rent movies on your iPhone, but with iOS 4.1 you can rent TV shows for only 99¢. That is cheap enough that you won't feel guilty renting an episode (or two, or three) of the show that you missed last night to watch on a plane when you are traveling home from business. In the past you had to buy TV shows, and with very rare exception I only want to watch a TV show once. A cheap rental makes a lot more sense.
Game Center. If you like the idea of playing multi-player games on your iPhone, Game Center in iOS 4.1 will let you connect with friends and share a game. I'm not sure that I will ever use this feature, but I'm sure many people will like it.
Ping. Yesterday, Steve Jobs showed off a new social network for music that lives in iTunes called Ping. You can choose to let your friends see the music that you are buying on iTunes, your friends can allow you to see their purchases, artists can let you follow them, etc. It looks like Facebook with a music angle. While mostly a feature of iTunes 10, Ping will also be incorproated into the iTunes app on the iPhone.
Printing from the iPhone and iPad. In November, iOS 4.2 will be available for both the iPhone and iPad, and one of its features will be the ability to print documents from an iOS device. I suspect that this will be more useful for iPad owners than for iPhone owners, but it will be nice to see this addition.
AirPlay. Apple also announced a new $99 AppleTV today (due in four weeks). With iOS 4.2 on your iPhone or iPad, any video that you are watching on your iOS device can be viewed on your large screen TV connected to an AppleTV with just one button. That way, if you haven't finished watching the TV shows you rented on that plane ride home, you can finish watching on your TV once you get home. Nilay Patel of Engadget notes that Apple will let third-parties use this technology. "That means you'll be able to stream music from iTunes, your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to speaker docks, receivers and stereos from companies like Denon, Marantz, Bowers & Wilkins, JBL and iHome, complete with song, album, and artist info and album art." Sounds great.
New iPod touch. I know tons of people who want an iPhone without the phone (and the monthly AT&T contract) and thus they use an iPod touch. The new version of the iPod touch incorporates most of the great new features added to the iPhone 4 such as the retina display, the fast Apple A4 chip, the gyroscope, FaceTime with a front-facing camera, and a camera on the back that can take HD video (although the picture quality is lower than the iPhone 4). Suffice it to say that if you like the iPhone 4 but don't want the phone, you'll love the new iPod touch.
New iPod nano. I understand that the new iPod nano doesn't use the iOS, but with the multitouch interface and the icons lifted from the iPhone, the new nano definitely copies from the iPhone.
New AppleTV. My focus here is on iPhone news, but the new AppleTV has a relationsihp to the iPhone because of the AirPlay feature I noted above. Additionally, I understand that the new AppleTV actually runs a version of iOS, although you cannot tell that just by looking at it. That makes some sense becuase the the AppleTV has always been essentially an iPod for your TV. If the best selling iPod (the iPod touch) runs the iOS, then why not put it on the AppleTV. Will we ever see third-party apps on the AppleTV? Only time will tell.
These were interesting announcements for iPhone owners. You can download the new iTunes 10 now, and look out for iOS 4.1 next week.