New iTunes update heralding iPhone 3.0 software?
Let's hope so, but put your wallet on standby
If you're not opposed to giving Apple 80 megs' worth of download time, you might want to consider updating to iTunes 8.2 before next week, when the iPhone's 3.0 software is expected to be launched at the Worldwide Developers Conference.
The changes to Apple's rather chunky music, video and software organiser are fairly minimal (there's some talk of a security update, which is always a good idea to follow), but it's believed this could be the precursor to the highly anticipated 3.0 update.
If anyone remembers the 2.0 update, getting it to download on launch day was tricky, so we can probably expect a similar - if not bigger - demand gumming up the works. Getting the jump on a required iTunes update would be no bad thing.
As exciting as this news is, there's a possible (minor) downside. A couple of developers have been toying with the 3.0 software, and noticed a change in the purchase policy.
Currently, you can re-download an app you've already bought directly to your iPhone or iPod touch for free, but the beta version of 3.0 will apparently only allow you to do this in the future through iTunes.
Presumably this is to stop iTunes account sharing on multiple devices - in which several users would share a single purchase.
Whether or not this will make much of a difference to all that many users seems unlikely, and there's a chance it won't even be included in the release version of 3.0, but one or two iPhoners out there might find themselves a bit narked when trying to reinstall software on the go.
