iPhone OS 3.0: Hallelujah for Cut, Copy, and Paste

Down at its headquarters in Cupertino, California, Apple kicked off a product event Tuesday morning to preview the upcoming launch of the new iPhone OS 3.0. But beyond the more technical announcements such as the 1,000 APIs that will be made available to developers, and that the new edition of the OS will support peer-to-peer networking via Bluetooth, the biggest announcement is a small but critical piece of functionality that has long been absent, but widely called for by iPhone lovers: cut, copy and paste.

Well, fear not, my fellow iPhoneers...it's finally here!

iPhone's latest OS will allow copy and paste across all applications, not just email. And for all you thumb monkeys out there, Apple is updating the iPhone's text messaging app to allow users to forward and delete multiple messages adding long overdue support for MMS, and offering up the ability to record voice memos. 

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iPhone OS 3.0

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uploaded by Jarrett Martineau

But as radical as these improvements sound, OS 3.0 does little more than bring the iPhone up to speed with its smartphone competitors. And, unless you're a developer, you'll still have to wait until Summer 2009 to get your hands on it. The good news is that OS 3.0 will be a free update to 3G users and, shockingly, most of the functionality will still work on the original iPhone. 

Just imagine: a phone that copies and pastes! No wonder Apple's expecting to sell even more iPhones in 2009 than the 17 million units that have already flown from the shelves.

Still no video recording, though. Maybe in another couple of years?