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At Macworld last week, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs made the icons on his touch-screen iPhone jiggle. That's right, jiggle. "They all get a little restless," he said.
The jiggling comes courtesy of Apple's January 2008 iPhone Software Update, and it's a feature that indicates a new mode of customization that lets you change the position of application icons on the iPhone's home screen. Plus, with a side flick of your finger, you can create up to nine additional screens -- neighbor screens, so to speak.
Finally.
Imagination Sparks
If there's one side-effect of the iPhone, it's that it sparks the imagination of its users. The simple elegance of the phone's features and functionality seem to inspire users to hack it to make it even more functional. While most users won't risk turning their iPhone into a paperweight by hacking it, they can definitely see potential for new and cool applications. The latest iPhone update offers new functionality -- and hints of things to come.
In nutshell, Apple introduced the ability to customize the home screen, add Web page bookmark icons (called "Web Clips") to the home screen and neighboring screens, automatically find their location using the redesigned Maps application, text-message multiple people in one message, and watch movies from iTunes Movie Rentals.
Closer Look: Web Clips
When the iPhone first launched, Apple left four spots empty on the iPhone home screen but never explained the lack of any buttons. A few months later, Apple filled in one of those vacancies with the ability to browse and buy music from iTunes directly from an iPhone. Three spots left ... what would fill them?
Answer: Anything you want.
The basic use of Web Clips works like this: You use Safari to browse to a Web page you want to turn into a one-click Web Clip icon button. At Macworld, Jobs made a Web Clip of The New York Times. Frequently accessed Web sites are an obvious choice for Web Clips. There's more. Because iPhone users can zoom into Web pages to read certain areas or articles, Web Clips is smart. If you zoom into a Web page and scroll to a certain area -- say, new headlines -- Web Clips will remember your preference. Right. Someone is thinking at Apple.
To make the Web clip, all you have to do is tap a new "+" icon at the bottom portion of the Safari browser. It's easy and intuitive.
There's still more, however, and this is where Web Clips and the new home screen customization really start opening the doors to new worlds. The iPhone doesn't currently allow for third-party applications, but it does let you use more than 600 third-party Web apps -- all of which can be turned into Web Clips. Suddenly the previously cumbersome process of navigating to a Web app in order to use it has been erased. You get one-click access.
So how many new Web Clips can you create? Including the standard application icons built into the iPhone, there are 148 total spots available -- 16 on each of the 9 pages, plus the four static icon spots that remain at the bottom of each page.
Furthermore, Apple will release an iPhone Software Developer Kit (SDK) in February, which will let third-party developers create true applications for the iPhone. When these applications reach the public, users will have lots of spots to place and organize their new apps.
If You're Lost
Apple's jazzed-up Maps application now has GPS (Global Positioning System)-like functionality to help you find your location. By tapping a new button in the bottom left corner, Maps will triangulate your position using near-by WiFi base stations or cellular towers. Even if you're not accessing the local WiFi networks, the iPhone can still use their signals to help identify your location.
The feature, as you might guess, only works well in areas with plenty of WiFi hotspots or multiple cell towers. If you're driving down a rural highway, the iPhone will likely pick up just a single cell tower signal and give you a very large map of your location -- you're found, within a couple of miles.
The feature gets better, though, when you consider it as a directional tool. Your iPhone can use your location as a starting or end point to help you find directions or local points of interest. If you want to get from some restaurant back to your hotel, you can use Maps to help you.
The future, as it relates to this application, is location-based services and advertising that will likely come in the form of third-party applications. Need a pizza? I can imagine an application that would not only pinpoint pizza places on a map, but also show you the latest coupons or special deals.
Mass SMS Texting
Previously, you could only send an SMS (short message service) text message to a single person a time with the iPhone. Now, you can text multiple people at a time.
Serious texters will appreciate this feature, of course, especially those that have a need to send messages to groups of people.
iTunes Movie Rentals
If you have movies imported into iTunes, you can play those movies on your iPhone. Previously, these would have been movies purchased from iTunes or ones that you ripped from a DVD into an iPhone-playable size and format. Transferring and watching those movies on your iPhone was simple enough, and now you can do it via the iTunes Movie Rentals model.
You can't rent movies directly from the iPhone, just through iTunes, which then lets you move the rental to your iPhone. The rentals go for US$2.99 for older titles, $3.99 for new releases, and a dollar more for high-definition versions. You have 30 days to start watching a movie, but after you start, you've got to complete the movie within 24 hours. Within that 24-hour window, you can watch the movie as often as you like.
The iPhone and iTunes seamlessly manage and transfer that 24 hour time limit, and both iTunes and the iPhone remind you how much time you have left. Once your time runs out, the movie mysteriously disappears. There are only a handful of movies available today, but by the end of February, Apple says it will have more than a 1,000 -- from all the major Hollywood studios, too.
Overall, the software updates are wicked-cool, but not groundbreaking. When the SDK hits in February, though, look out -- 4 million iPhone users will suddenly have the keys to whole new world of mobile apps.
