Smooth Sailing Into 3.0?? Don’t Bet On It

A quick flashback to mid-July last year is all you need to be reminded of how quickly a fantastic and stable device can become a nightmare. The number of times I had to completely format and rebuild my iPhone after upgrading to Version2.0 is hard to imagine… but true.

More than once it promted me to think "If I wanted instability I would never have left Windows Mobile." (In fairness, WM is now quite stable… but when I first used it… not so much.)

The release of 2.1 was a welcome move that came just in time to keep me from jumping ship but nothing can erase the memories of those early weeks.

So it is a year later, Apple has learned from last year and the jump from 2.2.1 to 3.0 will be silky smooth. Right? Don’t bet on it.

Last year Apple made the mistake of announcing a release date long before they had any business doing so. The result was that they released OS2 before they really should have. This year feels like they are moving a bit faster than planned as well but for a host of other reasons such as the pressure from new devices. That they are only NOW doing a high volume test on the Push Notification system with AIM speaks to that. (All inidication are that it works great but remember, the release is less than a week away. What if it DIDN’T?)

While I will be updating to 3.0 on my first generation device immediately and look forward to getting my iPhone 3G S with 3.0 preinstalled two days later, I do so knowing that there may well be some issues. In fact, there are already indications of this.

A post over on the leftcoastlogic forum warns users of their main app SmartTime

"If you want to continue to run smartTime 3.0, please do not upgrade to OS3 until we have solved the compatibility issues with Apple"

While it does not sound like this is anything major it is a reminder that the transition will likely not be entirely smooth. There will be glitches and that is to be expected. After all, with 50,000 plus apps in the store and the majority built for OS2.2 there are BOUND to be some conflicts and errors. Has Apple done a great deal to limit them? Sure, but that doesn;t mean there WON’T be some.

So what are we, the end-users, to do? We have some choices…

If stability and ease of use is the most important thing to you… don’t upgrade yet.

If having the latest and geatest available is most important upgrade immediately BUT make sure you back up your data before you do. AND when issues arise remember- you made the choice to upgrade right away.