Next iPhone software update to allow copy-paste
Apple will release an iPhone software update during MacWorld Expo 2008, well informed sources confirmed MacScoop. But it appears that the unpolished iPhone sofware version recently leaked on the Internet doesn't include all the features of the final release.
Context & Ripple Effects
The copy-paste claim arrives on top of a December 2007 report that the same firmware build, iPhone 1.1.3, would carry voice capture and disk mode — so MacScoop's sourcing paints 1.1.3 as a feature-dense release rather than a bug-fix bump. MacRumors' same-day pickup shows the story traveled fast through the Apple-watching press, though it remains a sourced rumor, not an Apple announcement.
The timing matters because the update lands just as the bigger question — whether Apple opens the platform at all — is unresolved after Business Week's October piece asking Will Apple Open the iPhone?. A firmware release stacking long-requested features gives Apple a way to show momentum on the closed OS while the developer-story decision looms over Macworld week.
First-order effects
- If the sourced claim holds, iPhone owners get copy-paste as a free firmware download during Macworld Expo 2008 — closing the most-cited gap between the iPhone and conventional smartphones without buying new hardware.
Second-order effects
- The confirmed leak of an unpolished pre-release build means the jailbreak-and-rumor community will dissect 1.1.3 before launch, setting public expectations for which features make the final cut and pressuring Apple's announcement to outshine its own leaked roadmap.
Third-order effects
- A pattern of shipping marquee features through free OS updates rather than hardware revisions would let Apple keep the installed base current at near-zero marginal cost — reinforcing the closed-platform economics under debate in the open-iPhone argument.
The trend: Smartphone differentiation is shifting from hardware generations to firmware update cadence, with Apple using free OS releases to compound the value of devices already sold.