Apple held an event recently to discuss the upcoming (summer) iPhone 3.0 OS. I actually wrote this right after the fact, but as I mentioned earlier, some personal issues came up that delayed me from posting it. But… better late than never! Here’s some thoughts and impressions.

Of course, everyone had their wish lists of what they wanted to see, and well, I have to say… it looks like Apple is really going to deliver. Here’s the main goods:

System-wide Copy and Paste (text and photos)
MMS for photos, vcards, audio
SMS forwarding
Landscape keyboard in major apps
System-wide Spotlight Search
App Store subscriptions (i.e. subscribe to magazine apps)
In App purchases (i.e. buy a weapon in a FPS)
Google maps-within-apps
Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation in App Store (but not with Google Maps app)
Push Notification Service for badges, alerts messages, sounds
Peer-2-peer service using Bonjour and Bluetooth for interaction and data exchange
Access to Dock port for Apps to work with accessories
Voice recorder
Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
Audio/Video tags
Live streaming
CalDAV Calendars
Calendar subscriptions
Improved Stocks widget, landscape mode for details
YouTube Account login
YouTube Subscriptions
YouTube Ratings
iTunes login
iTunes account creation
Encrypted profiles
WiFi Auto Login
Call log
LDAP (directory services)
Shake to shuffle music (like iPod nano)
VPN on-demand
EAP SIM
Proxy Support
OTA Profiles
Revoke Certificates
Exchange ActiveSync Policies
Notes sync
Media Scruber
Parental controls for TV, Movies, Apps
Languages: More languages, better keyboards
Anti-Phishing in Safari

And some more stuff that is either not clear or just little tweaks.

Basically, Apple kicked some butt with the announcement. They added almost every feature people have been asking about. There are a couple missing – video recording and categories/folders/more organization options were high on people’s lists. And one thing they announced sounds like a terrible, terrible idea. But overall? They kicked butt.

Bad news first: The new subscription-based application pricing/in app “shopping”. This one really, really scares me. For now, you buy an app, that’s it, you’ve got it. But now developers can charge for “subscriptions.” Updates are free right now; will they suddenly cost money? Will the app not work at all if you don’t subscribe/re-subscribe?

I see potential here for good; for example, MLB already charges yearly for its app, which I’m OK with, if you’re willing to pay; it’s only five bucks and by all accounts, is pretty awesome. Five bucks a year for full broadcast streaming, video highlights, etc.? That works. And now, you can simply re-subscribe, without having to delete and re-download it. Makes total sense. In addition, with something like Kindle (not in Canada, OF COURSE) you can now potentially buy books directly in the app instead of buying them on amazon.com and syncing them.

This also makes sense with the announcement of GPS apps in the app store; I don’t think most people mind paying a $25 yearly fee for updated GPS maps, for example.

But the problem is, as we all know, Apple exercise absolutely zero control over the apps or the pricing in the store. These developers will be able to charge whatever the hell they want, as often as they want, for whatever they want, and Apple won’t police it. $10 a month? $25 a month? Weekly!? Hopefully the market will dictate the prices and people won’t pay those ridiculous sums… but you know it’s going to happen.

And on the other end of that extreme example, you will see some serious nickel-and-diming going on. I really think you will see egregious abuse by developers. Charging every couple weeks, and for every update. For tiny little things. Making a 99 cent suddenly a $10 app because the 99 cent app arrives with limited functionality, and you have to pay to get the rest of the full features. Even during the Apple speech, “charging for additional levels of a game” is mentioned? Really? Fuck that, if I buy a game, I want the whole game! That’s pure BS. I mean imagine if you bought the iPhone but the headphone cord was 8 inches long? And you had to pay for every inch you wanted it to be longer? It’s exactly the same thing – you’re getting an incomplete product that you will be forced to pay more up front to fully use.

And how much do you want to bet that developers will “update” their current apps to remove features, that you will now have to pay to get? It will happen. And good luck figuring out in advance if an app is going to rip you off or not! And how easy will it be to “cancel” a subscription? Is it an automatic charge? That’s hardly fair since there are no refunds.

I am really worried about this, and honestly, I’m surprised there isn’t more outrage on the Web about it. Seems everyone is so happy about cut-copy-paste they didn’t even notice that Apple just gave developers a new way to rip us off, and coincidentally, didn’t address any of the issues people already have with the app store. This is going to be horrible; it will completely destroy the app store as we know it. And no, I’m not kidding.

BUT… on to the good news!

Cut-copy-paste is #1, no doubt, and the demo they showed, it looks like it works really well. Honestly I haven’t missed it THAT much, but, I have a feeling I will now be much more comfortable writing e-mails and blog entries on the phone once it’s available.

MMS? Well, everyone wants it, and although I haven’t ever used it (and thus not missed it) the idea sounds good (especially since you can send your map location to someone – THAT’s cool). BUT… big, big, big BUT - you can damn well bet that Rogers will charge up the ass for it. I believe on other phones, it’s currently 25 cents per message, but I guarantee they will find a way to rip off the iPhone users. Like $20 for 500. And no other option. That’s if they support it at all – Rogers has been screwing iPhone customers since day one, so don’t be surprised if they find a way to block MMS on the phone. So while I love the idea, and am 100% thrilled that Apple has finally responded, I live in the shadow of Rogers, and am leery of my being able to take advantage.

Stereo Bluetooth, on the other hand? THAT sounds great. Although my wallet may fear the cost of a set of good Bluetooth headphones, I love the idea of having an integrated wireless headset solution. Or a wireless set of speakers. I’m also curious to see the “accessory controls” that might be possible. But yeah. I want a wireless set of headphones with handsfree. Want want want. Ooh, will Apple make a headset that has click-button worked into it somewhere? That’d be awesome.

Search. Nice idea, and I know people requested it. If I was “on the go” a lot more than I am, I’d be more excited about this, but as it is, I’m not usually too far from my PC so it’s not a big deal to search in Outlook or Gmail or whatever. Still cool though, and I can see some use for searching for apps or music.

Multiple photo send, and landscape typing. Ah, finally. ‘Nuff said.

Push notification. Need to see how this works before I have anything to say about it, because I’m really not clear on it. Is it telling me that when I get an e-mail, I’ll see a notice on-screen – like a text message? Will it tell me the sender/subject? Will it show me the notification on the unlock screen, or just when its “on”? I personally don’t see as large a need for this as some people, and will probably leave it “off” if it saves battery life, but I am very happy that Apple has responded to consumer demand for it. It’s also not clear if Push notifications will require extra costs (Apple says they’re handling it themselves over a third-party server, taking burden off carriers, so I hope not; but again, if Rogers can find a way, they WILL charge for it.)

Maps within Apps and GPS. Love the idea of the Maps within Apps, as I hate it when I’m using AroundMe, I find what I want, then click on the map and realize it’s not actually as close as I want… then I have to relaunch AroundMe and search again.

As for the GPS… I’m concerned. First of all, no GPS developer can use the inherent Maps app – they have to use their own, thanks to the licensing rights. Since the Maps app is awesome, I feel anyone else’s will fall short. Second, again the subscription based pricing scares me. How much are developers going to charge? And you know, since there’s no refunds, what, you’re gonna pay your $25, find out the maps suck, then oh well, you’re screwed? And will anyone make one with Canadian maps?

Voice memo recording: Another requested feature, with limited use, but still good to see.

Phone-to-phone communication: Really interested to see how this works. Might revolutionize the gaming experience. Might not be worth anything at all.

As for the rest, most seem minor to me and my needs (and I’m even not sure what they all mean). But as you can see, just from the list alone, Apple is delivering a ton of stuff this summer. I’m really pleased with the announcement overall (I just hope to get a little more info on the App pricing issue).

Edit: Apparently you can now also delete individual text messages (as opposed to whole conversations). I’ve been looking for this for a while. Nice job, Apple.

All right, it’s been a busy couple weeks in the personal life, but things are rolling for the Raptors. Five straight wins? Two of them against playoff teams? Outrebounding the opponent in every single one? Not bad, not bad at all!

Of course, it’s ultimately meaningless since the playoffs are a practical impossibility and other than Orlando, none of these teams are particularly talented; Oklahoma City, the Clippers, Chicago and Milwaukee are all under-.500 teams, and only Chicago is playing meaningful games. And let’s not forget that right before this little streak, this team lost nine of 10, including two absolutely disgusting stink-bombs to the Bobcats.

But, there is something to be said for finishing on a positive note, especially for a guy like Jose Calderon, who’s playing extremely well after playing poorly for 60 games. If he can play like the Calderon of last year for the final few weeks games and get his confidence up for next year, that’s huge; it’s never a good thing to have a bad year and then have nothing but negatives to think about for a whole summer.

Same can be said about Bosh, and even Marion; both are playing well after having bad stretches. Meanwhile you’ve got guys like Joey Graham and Pops Mensah-Bonsu playing for contracts, their play of late has probably ensured they’ll at least be in the league next year.

Then there’s Andrea Bargnani. Has any one Raptor ever had such a big turnaround in a single season? I mean, the home crowd was booing this guy in December when he missed free throws! Now he’s become one of their most effective all-around players and a go-to guy? Unbelievable, but true. Check out these stats:

December: 24 MPG, .346 FG%, .273 3PT%, 3.4 RPG, 8.6 PPG
Jan-Feb: 36 MPG, .454 FG%, .420 3PT%, 6.5 RPG. 18.9 PPG
March: 33 MPG, .518 FG%, .519 3PT%, 5.9 RPG, 20.3 PPG

And the numbers don’t even tell the whole tale. For one thing, he’s added (or if not added, is suddenly using) things we haven’t seen before – pump-fakes, crossovers, pull-ups – and the latter is most significant since it’s helped him avoid all those charges he used to get called for.

On defense, he’s not picking up as many cheap fouls (except for the Orlando game, where he was brutalized by the referees) and his defensive improvements that we saw earlier in the year, in terms of moving his feet and boxing out, have remained solid.

He’s certainly not perfect – he’s still averaging 1.75 turnovers to only 1.1 assist, and he could definitely get those rebounding totals a bit higher – but the improvement in only a few short months is remarkable. I remember back at the end of January, when the improvement first became evident, we all said, “let’s wait to see him do consistently for a while before we say he’s back on track.” Well, it’s been almost three full months of solid, consistent play, so I’m saying it. He’s here, he’s on track, he’s doing what we need, at the position he is best suited for, on a regular basis.

Of course, for most of those three months, the Raptors were routinely terrible so it’s hard to say his improved play has had any impact. But once again, it’s a huge positive going forward, and as we all know, Bargnani is probably the only player that is guaranteed to be here next year, so his improvement is a definite positive.

As for what this team might look like… who knows? It’s pretty much all up in the air. Bargnani will be back; I think Calderon will be too. Ukic, Humphries, yes; maybe Pops. But Bosh? I think Colangelo will talk to him and unless he’s convinced that Bosh will re-sign, I think BC will quietly try and move him. If he goes, Colangelo had damn well ensure that one or both of Marcus Banks and Jason Kapono are packaged with him.

I suspect Graham will be gone; I like Joey, but let’s be honest, he hasn’t really worked out here. I think he deserves a chance to give it a try somewhere else.

Parker is a big mystery. I love the guy, you know that. But he can’t be the starting two guard on this team, he can’t be playing 35 minutes a night. He’d be a great steadying influence off the bench… you know, provided there are actually quality starters ahead of him. If you can bring him back for two years at 1.5 per year? I’m OK with that.

Marion? Well, what’s his value? Who knows? Anyone have any interest in him? I still think he thinks he’s worth a lot more than anyone else does. I have no interest in him at anything more than 6 million a year. And even then, that interest is tempered by what else is out there; in other words, if there’s anyone better to throw that money at, we need to be aware and not just give it to Marion.

There’s also Carlos Delfino to consider. The Raps still have his rights. I like Delfino; I didn’t think he was utilized well last year. Mitchell jerked his minutes around too much, and he never had the opportunity to initiate the offense, something he’s proven in international play that he can do. I think with consistent minutes and a better defined role, he’ll be much more effective, and he won’t feel the need to jack up threes. But how much is that worth? 4 mil, maybe 5… anything above that, I’m not biting. Not in this economy.

Anyway, there’s only a couple of weeks left, then we can forget about the Raps for a while we watch what should be an exciting 2009 playoffs. Come June we can start to think about what’s gonna happen this summer.

For the next few games, let’s just hope they’re as exciting as the past few!