A major update for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch has been released. There are over 100 new features included in the update which replicate those already offered by other smartphones on the market. The new features include cut, copy and paste, which has been demanded for a long time by iPhone users, picture messaging and a search feature (within the phone), but still no Flash video.
“The upgrade is a big big deal and will help persuade consumers to stay with Apple,” said Gartner analyst Van Baker.
“While things like copy and paste and multi-media messaging (MMS) are things they have needed to do for a while, other features will in essence stop consumers buying other smartphones and raise the amount of money people spend on the iPhone, ” he said.
Analyst Gene Munster from Piper Jaffray also agreed that the iPhone software upgrade was a major advancement for Apple.
“We believe Apple addressed key issues that were leading some consumers to competing devices for multimedia messaging and enterprise e-mail.”
Stereo Bluetooth and a voice memo system were two other features which turned heads at the unveiling of the update. A new search tool called Spotlight will allow users to search files and applications on the iPhone or iPod Touch just as on the Macintosh OS X operating system.
