Since the very beginning, Apple was criticised for not providing some of the simplest features that even most dumb phones have. Most critical of these were text message forwarding, Bluetooth connectivity, MMS and so forth. Well, after almost two years and over 17 million devices later, Apple has finally come clean.

At Apple’s press event today, it showcased the new operating system for its iPhone and iPod Touch — iPhone OS 3.0. For consumers, the new OS brings –

1. Cut, copy and paste across all apps including Safari
   
2. A2DP stereo Bluetooth
   
3. Ability to forward text messages
   
4. Landscape keyboard in mail, notes and other apps
   
5. Push notification not just for e-mails but also apps. Possibility to have IM via push notifications
   
6. MMS
   
7. Voice recorder (hurray! no more paying for lousy voice recording apps)
   
8. A universal search app called Spotlight for users to search their mails, messages, contacts, music and so on…
   
9. Bluetooth connectivity and ability to exchange contacts (and hopefully some files) and pairing with other devices/accessories
   
10. Multi-player gaming over Bluetooth
    
11. Turn by turn navigation based apps
    
12. In-app purchasing (you can first purchase 10 levels of a game and the next 10 from within the game)
    
13. Tethering support to use the iPhone as a modem, though carrier support is unknown at the moment

There was a reason to cheer for developers too as the can now have access to 1,000 new APIs including Bluetooth, on device media, push notifications and much more!

The iPhone )S3.0 will be available for end consumers later ‘this summer’ (don’t be surprised if it lands up in June). The upgrade will be free for iPhone users though users of first generation iPhone won’t get MMS and A2DP Bluetooth. Users of iPod Touch will, however, have to shell out $9.95.