On the Apple campus today March 17, Apple hosted a special media event that focused on and introduced the next generation of the iPhone OS... 3.0. It was an invitation-only event that has drawn much interest over the last week, across many blogs and in turn created much speculation of what was going to be announced. If you asked any self respecting iPhone developer, you would get many wish-list items as well as the same from iPhone users, well now the truth is out there!

Here are the statistical points from the event...

• iPhone now in 80 Countries - 13.7M units in 2008
• 17M altogether.,.. including iPod Touch 30M units
• 800,000 downloads of the SDK & 50,000 companies & individuals join the Apple iPhone Developer Program (62% never developed for Apple before)
• Over 25,000 Apps Submitted 96% approved... 800,000 downloads

3.0 is a major update for iPhone & iPod Touch for Developers...

• 1000 new API's
• App Store, new model of selling  added, called In-App Purchase (sell the app, then sell new content within the app as it comes... same as iTunes username/password and API's)
• Peer-to-Peer Connectivity - New API's to discover & connect to other iPhones over Bluetooth
• API's for accessory developers able to build custom apps to talk to their new hardware via the dock-connector or bluetooth using standard protocols & custom protocols
• Google Maps API for embedding Maps into your own applications and developers can use core location to make turn by turn directions in their applications.
• No background processes - bad for the consumer & bad for the battery life 98% drop)
• Push Notification is now good to go! (Battery Life on 23% drop) - Apple Push Notification Service.. rather than background services Push Notification Service.
• API for in-game voice
• API's now open for UIAlertView, streaming audio & video, data detectors, text selection, playing music in your application and battery API's etc
• CUT, COPY & PASTE...cool interface... undo using SHAKE!
• MMS
  

3.0 Also introduces Landscape mode to email, calendar etc as well as some search facilities and a brand new home screen.

Interesting fact for Enterprise users... JD Power ranked the iPhone #1 for customer satisfaction for business smartphone users.

It will be interesting to see how these announcements will be accepted by developers, 3rd party software vendors and users alike, but time will tell!

The SDK 3.0 will be available immediately for developers already registered on the iPhone Developer Program and will be available on devices from the summer.

The upgrade will be free for iPhone users and at a cost for iPod Touch users.