New iPhone apps must be 3.0 friendly, says Apple

Stephen Withers
Monday, 11 May 2009 12:30

Opinion and Analysis

Still, that wouldn't be advisable now: "After iPhone OS 3.0 becomes available to customers, any app that is incompatible with iPhone OS 3.0 may be removed from the App Store," Apple also warned developers.

One theory about the early enforcement of iPhone 3.0 compatibility is that Apple may be planning to take advantage of the new parental controls feature as a way around the 'taste test' applied to submissions to the App Store.

Apple may be more comfortable retailing certain kinds of application if they are tagged as being unsuitable for children.

Another possibility is that Apple may be hoping developers will take the opportunity to revise their applications to take advantage of other new features of iPhone OS 3.0.

The move could see a reduction in the total number of offerings at the App Store. Apart from applications that will be redundant thanks to new features in iPhone 3.0, some developers may have lost interest in their existing apps.

Still, if Apple is correct in saying current applications should run without modification, there shouldn't be many that disappear.

The other question being raised is whether or not 3.0-compatible apps will run on 2.0 devices. That's not a major issue for iPhone owners as they receive free upgrades, but iPod touch users may baulk at having to pay $US10 or so for the new software.