New iPhone rumour round-up: new OS, Orange to offer iPhone in autumn?
Apologies for slackness of posting - hey, it’s sunny for once! At least with Wordpress on my iPhone I might actually have a hope of updating on the road.
Anyhow, whilst I promised myself I wouldn’t make this site add to the myriad rumour-peddling hype machine already out there on the web, a couple of tube-alighting stories caught my attention that deserve highlighting.
New iPhone OS ‘2.1′ seeded to select developers
It seems that Apple may have been taking heed from some of the more vocal critics of the iPhone’s ever-dwindling list of absent features, for this week a new build of the iPhone’s OS was seeded to select developers. Headline additions include some extra bits of wizardry required to make turn-by-turn GPS navigation a reality (it knows which way you’re pointing it!!!) and other bits of wizardry to allow third-party apps some limited CPU time in the background to make ‘push’ notifications a possibility. Nothing is expected to make its way to your consumer iPhone before September, but in the meantime keep an eye out for a more incremental ‘2.0.1′ build that has been spotted visiting some major Apple sites, likely to level out some bugs in the 2.0 release.
Orange to join O2 in offering iPhone in the UK?
This rumour (for it is very much that at this stage) spread around the web like the proverbial wildfire, although there seems precious little factual info to back it up at this stage. Nevertheless, it’s not hard to imagine Apple being less than impressed by O2’s handling of the recent iPhone 3G launch, and considering breaking cover to work with other carriers in the UK. Certainly this would help attain that mass-market penetration they’re obviously going for with the new handset. Ambitious rumours put the ETA as soon as the autumn, so again keep em peeled (or just keep checking TWA, of course). The only bit I don’t get is the criticism of O2’s rates - surely they’re pretty darned hot and, as we’ve already seen, among the best in the world for all-you-can-eat data plans. Some people are never satisfied…