World of Apple

Apple has today announced that the App Store has surpassed two billion app downloads since it opened in July of 2008 and over 85,000 apps are available.

Apple also stated that 125,000 iPhone developers are registered into the iPhone Developer Program.

“The rate of App Store downloads continues to accelerate with users downloading a staggering two billion apps in just over a year, including more than half a billion apps this quarter alone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The App Store has reinvented what you can do with a mobile handheld device, and our users are clearly loving it.”

Announced back in June at WWDC Apple has now released an iPhone app allowing access to MobileMe iDisks.

The app which is free to download allows MobileMe users to browse and view files stored on their iDisks, sharing is also available via email.

• View files on your iDisk
• Access Public folders
• Easily share files from your iPhone
• Quickly access recently viewed files
• View iPhone-supported file types-including iWork, Office, PDF, QuickTime and more. (Files larger than 20MB may not be viewable.)

The MobileMe iDisk iPhone app requires a MobileMe subscription and iPhone OS 3.0 or above.

Apple has given iPhone developers access to version 3.1 of the iPhone SDK. In addition Apple has also released iPhone OS 3.1.

The new iPhone SDK 3.1 carries the build number 9m2736a where as the OS has the build number 7C97d.

Following the official public release of iPhone OS 3.0 earlier today Apple has also posted an updated version of iPhone SDK 3.0.

Build 9M2736 of iPhone SDK 3.0 includes several fixes and feature enhancements:

• Organizer: the iPhone Development grouping now collects crash logs, install bundles, and provisioning profiles in a single location
• iPhone OS 3.0 Simulator uses frameworks more closely matching the device
• Mac OS X: GCC 4.2 & LLVM GCC 4.2 optional compilers for use with 10.5 SDK
• Toolbar uses a single popup to choose platform, target, and debug/release
• Integrated SCM support now works with Subversion 1.5!

Earlier today Apple released a new beta of iPhone OS 3.0 to registered iPhone developers. Unlike the previous three builds of OS 3.0 the new beta delivers very few face value changes. In terms of stability Beta 4 is far more stable as would be expected.

Below are a few screenshots from iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 4.

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Following the release of iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 3 yesterday evening World of Apple has been combing the release for any major or even minor changes. Unlike previous builds Beta 3 contains very few major visible changes but there are several minor cosmetic changes which can be viewed below.

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Apple has this evening released beta 3 (build 7A280f) of iPhone OS 3.0 due for release in the Summer.

Of note in the latest seed is that Apple advises developers, “Applications targeting devices prior to iPhone OS 3.0 beta cannot be tested in this seed. This bug is intended to be fixed in a future seed.”

Changes to the iPhone OS 3.0 beta 3 will not become apparent at first.

Also bundled with iPhone OS 3.0 beta was a new SDK build, seed notes accompanying the SDK can be seen below.

New in Xcode IDE 3.1 and later

• The assistant interface has been completely revamped, making it easier to create “New Project”, “New Target”, and “New File” resources. This release of Xcode also adds new assistant templates for both Mac OS X and iPhone OS applications.
• A new Overview toolbar item lets you see and set the project’s active Target, Configuration, Executable, Architecture, and SDK with a single control.
• It is now possible to set a global “override” SDK as the Active SDK, making it easy to test the build of your entire project against a different platform.
• New interface shortcuts have been added to the Build Setting inspectors making it easy to set the desired compiler, architectures, and SDKs
• You can now add Libraries and Frameworks directly into the Target window and relate them to the project’s SDK.
• The Xcode UI now allows you to designate a library or framework as weak-linked, to support building with newer SDKs while targeting older OS versions.
• New “Edit all in scope” option within the Xcode source editor makes it easy to update all instances of the selected symbol within the current scope of code.
• You can now have conditional build settings assigned for any combination of architecture and SDK.
• LLVM GCC 4.2 is a new optional compiler based on the LLVM.org open source project. LLVM GCC 4.2 provides an LLVM-based back-end optimizer using the GCC 4.2 front-end parser. This compiler is both source and binary compatible with GCC 4.2 and requires the Mac OS X 10.5 SDK or “Current OS” SDK.
• GCC 4.2 is a new optional compiler with stricter C and C++ language enforcement, security enhancements, performance optimizations, and bug fixes over GCC 4.0. Requires the Mac OS X 10.5 SDK or “Current OS” SDK

New in Interface Builder 3.1

• New drag & drop functionality allows easily re-parenting objects with the normal drag gesture
• The document outline view has been enhanced to support full drag re-ordering.
• A new string table interface allows localizers to make quick text changes across documents.
• Generates XIB files that are more diff friendly while retaining full backwards compatibility with Interface Builder 3.0.
• Now supports previewing image resource content in Carbon controls.

New in Dashcode

• You can now use Dashcode to create web aiPhone, as well as Dashboard widgets.

AppleInsider is reporting that the EasyPay system which Apple adopted in 2005 to improve queues at checkouts will be phased out this later this year. The system which currently runs on PDA devices running Windows Mobile will reportedly be replaced with iPhone units running customised point of sale software.

The device will also hook up to an external credit card reader thanks to the new iPhone 3.0 OS and the POS software will reportedly offer concierge, ordering and store management features according to AppleInsider.

The system is expected to hit stores in July with a full rollout by September.

Apple on Thursday sent out an email to registered iPhone developers enticing them begin testing applications using the Apple Push Notification service.

Start testing your applications using the Apple Push Notification service today. Log in to the iPhone Dev Center and review the Apple Push Notification Programming Guide and Getting Started video.

The Push Notification service is Apple’s answer to background applications on the iPhone. The system which is set to be released alongside iPhone OS 3.0 in the Summer will allow applications that are not currently running to listen for notifications which can be delivered in the form of icon badges, text messages, and alert sounds. For example an instant messaging application will be capable of notifying the user of new instant messages without the application actually running.

Apple claims that running applications in the background would damage battery life of the iPhone, adding that the Push Notification Service will only have a 23-percent hit on battery life when in standby mode.

Apple has today begun a promotion to celebrate the future milestone of one billion Apple Store downloads. The promotion offers a prize worth over $13,000.

As of today, nearly one billion apps have been downloaded around the globe. So we just want to say thanks – a billion. Download an app and you’ll automatically get the chance to win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro. Just go to the iTunes Store, browse the App Store, and download your best app yet.

Apple offered a similar promotion when nearing one billion iTunes Store song downloads.