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iPhone OS 3.0 to Allow Users to Share and Recommend Apps?

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BusinessWeek reports that Apple has included features in its upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 that would allow users to share apps with other iPhone users, although whether Apple decides to activate those features remains to be seen.
Apple's new iPhone 3.0 software includes features that, if activated by Apple, may let users share software with one another, according to a person familiar with the technology. Eventually, iPhone users may even get a commission when they've induced someone else to make a purchase, says Richard Doherty, director at consultant Envisioneering Group. Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock wouldn't discuss features that might be available in the future, saying only, "We've made no announcements at this time."
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The report discusses the role users might play in promoting applications to other users, pointing to the existing "Top 10" lists in most mobile app stores and "Tell a Friend" features built into some apps as useful but incomplete means of drawing attention to standout applications. Apple could take advantage of the "peer-to-peer connectivity" described at Apple's iPhone OS 3.0 preview event in March to allow users to "invite" nearby users to download applications.
One example of P2P connectivity will be available in the new iPhone 3.0 software, due this summer. Users will be able to play multiplayer games with one another using Bluetooth connectivity, rather than needing to be on a carrier's network. A player's phone will automatically detect nearby iPhones and iPod touches that run the same app and send them an invitation to join the game. Initially, the feature will work only when both parties already have a particular app. "Now you can sell copies of your app to two players instead of one," says Dave Howell, a former Apple engineer who now runs peer-to-peer file-sharing apps maker Avatron Software. In the future, a player may be able to invite another to a game when the second person does not yet own a particular app. Such invitations could trigger additional purchases.
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iPhone OS 3.0 will be a major topic of discussion of next week's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Article Link: iPhone OS 3.0 to Allow Users to Share and Recommend Apps?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/06/03/iphone-os-3-0-to-allow-users-to-share-and-recommend-apps/
In the future, a player may be able to invite another to a game when the second person does not yet own a particular app. Such invitations could trigger additional purchases.
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So does that mean that we will be able to transfer the game to the other iPhone/Touch or would they still have to download it from the app store. Some games are huge and can’t be downloaded over 3G.
 
No. For the love of God, no.

You all do realize that this will immediately turn into the hellish experience that Facebook has turned into, getting dozens of stupid application invitations each day from friends you haven't talked to in years?

I will only call this a good development if there's a good way to turn it 100% off, and without any hassle.
 
More than any of this crap I'd like the simple ability to gift an app to a friend like I can with music and movies! I don't understand why this is not there yet as I've wanted to buy apps for friends several times but can't.
 
I think that this is a necessary feature. If I want to play Checkers with a friend and he doesn't have the game, it's a lot easier to use this "Sharing" feature than to have him search the AppStore for the game.

LillieDesigns said:
I hope this is nothing like 'squirting.'
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That's what she said.
 
Sweet!

But will it be like NDS where one person can host the game for everyone? Or will everyone have to be in some Connect-To-Players-Limbo waiting for people to offer them invites?

Hopefully push notifications will work like text messages for game invites when you can detect local iPhone/iTouches.

I do see one problem with this though. I very very very seldom use bluetooth as it sucks battery power, it seems.

Mine is always off. They will need to make a way for you to accept notifications and then turn on bluetooth automatically to set it all up.


meh.. they'll figure it out.
 
Am I the only person who foresees a dystopian future where every iPhone user is effectively turned into a "dealer" for Apple, hawking wares on every street corner...

Also, isn't WiFi faster than Bluetooth? Why not just use that?
 
No....

Unless I have misunderstood the article, I don't like the idea of more peer to peer introducing rubbish on my stuff.

Have you seen the results of MS*N, BEB*O et al.?

Its bad enough having to run anti malware progs on my PC (like the excellent Spybot), but I don't want that on my Mac stuff. ..... It's the amount of time these days.... I simply haven't got it to spend correcting and checking things 24-7!


What I WOULD like is something to allow me to SECURELY 1 to 1 videochat to my wife or friends, without someone hacking into it or incurring any costs .
 
I'm thinking about ditching my iPhone all together and just buying a 32GB iPod touch. Then I don't have to worry about paying a $100 bill every month.
 
I think this sounds like a good idea, and I say that as a user AND a developer! 🙂

I would want the trial to expire after an amount of time though or something like that so they can't just keep a shared app they didn't pay for forever.
 
hob said:
Am I the only person who foresees a dystopian future where every iPhone user is effectively turned into a "dealer" for Apple, hawking wares on every street corner...

Also, isn't WiFi faster than Bluetooth? Why not just use that?
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You might actually be the only one since at least myself and maybe a few others don't know what the heck "dystopian" means. 😉
 
I think this is similar to the way the PSP does game sharing. It share through the infrared sensor on the PSP. And knowing that the iPhone/iTouch(2nd gen) has bluetooth, I think they will allow game sharing like the PSP through a bluteooth connection.

Just my take on it 😀

-Tony
 
MD5Hash said:
You all do realize that this will immediately turn into the hellish experience that Facebook has turned into, getting dozens of stupid application invitations each day from friends you haven't talked to in years?

I will only call this a good development if there's a good way to turn it 100% off, and without any hassle.
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If true, there will definitely be a Preference setting that toggles this feature ON/OFF. Much like Location Services. No way Apple will allow any iPhone user to bombard other iPhone users in the vicinity with random requests. No way. Nope. Not happening.
 
A quick easy way to send someone to an app link from my phone would be useful. Right now I have to go to DESKTOP iTunes to get a link and email it--or just tell them verbally to search for it.

Please also allow GIFTING apps at long last--as you can already do (in desktop iTunes) with music.

hob said:
Am I the only person who foresees a dystopian future where every iPhone user is effectively turned into a "dealer" for Apple, hawking wares on every street corner...

Also, isn't WiFi faster than Bluetooth? Why not just use that?
Click to expand...

People already recommend apps they like, and that's a good thing for users. Making the process easier won't cause people to recommend apps they DON'T like. For a few cents commission? Better to search your sofa cushions 😛
 
JayLenochiniMac said:
Share apps and lose the ability to re-download over the air? No thanks!
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Agreed.
I own ~200 apps. Not only can I not fit them all on my iPhone 3G, I wouldn't want to. Thus, there have been enough times I have been away from my Mac and wanted/needed an app that I owned but wasn't sync'd to my iPhone, that I could simply redownload and keep moving. Loosing that ability is a real bummer. I hate when Apple removes features in an update. More like a downdate.
 
Boring Boring Boring..

I truly wonder if Apple is keeping everything under really tight seals or if it actually has something interesting at all for WWDC?!
 
This would be pretty sweet for head to head games. I can also see how it would be annoying if you received several recommended application requests all the time.
 
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