Last night, Apple unveiled its 3G iPhone during the keynote address by Steve Jobs, at its WWDC developer show. It ended weeks of speculation, revealing that the new model supports up to HSDPA data speeds, has built-in GPS for navigation and location-based services, and will be much cheaper than the previous version (in the UK, O2 is also promising to give it away for free to anyone who signs up to a £45-a-month contract). It goes on sale on 11th July. Meanwhile, Jobs also talked about the potential for downloadable iPhone applications, which will be sold through the iPhone App Store from next month. So what does all this mean for the virtual worlds and MMO industries?
The first thing to say is that the 3G iPhone is perhaps the most suitable mobile handset yet for virtual worlds and MMOs, given its fast data speeds, slick user interface, and ability to give applications access to its full processing power and other features. Indeed, the first iPhone MMO was announced several months ago, in the form of Parallel Kingdom. More will follow.
But what about virtual worlds? The 3G iPhone would seem to support both models - browser-based worlds and those that require a downloadable application. 3G and HSDPA should be fast enough to enable all the required streaming - certainly for 2D and isometric worlds - while companies like Vollee are already working hard to get Second Life running on the device, through a thin client. I would expect most, if not all, of the web-based virtual worlds to be looking hard at the new iPhone, and how best to make their worlds available on it.
There are some reasons for caution - if you run a virtual world aimed at teens or tweens, how many of them will realistically have a 3G iPhone in the near future? And the issue of whether iPhone’s Safari browser will support Flash, which is used by many browser-based worlds, remains a hot debate.
Yet there is also considerable potential for the iPhone to spur new technological development for virtual worlds, particularly as developers get to grip with its touchscreen and motion-sensor as control mechanisms. During a recent trip to the BREW 2008 mobile show in San Diego, I saw an innovative first-person shooter game using motion and touch as its UI (more information is here), and this idea could easily be adapted for a non-game virtual world.
Virtual worlds were conspicuous by their absence from yesterday’s WWDC keynote, but the coming weeks and months will hopefully see some announcements from companies in this space about their iPhone plans. With an existing install base of six million users even before the 3G model comes out, the potential is certainly tempting.
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