Apple Seeds iPhone 2.1 to Developers, Adds New Features

Apple fans deterred from the iPhone 3G because of some of the device’s shortcomings will be happy to know that the company has handed out a beta build of the iPhone’s 2.1 software. The new release will bring improvements to the phone’s GPS capabilities and introduce the push notification service for developers.

The iPhone’s CoreLocation service adds support for directional GPS and the ability to track speed, both of which are ingredients for a turn-by-turn application. These new features will theoretically give Apple, and third-party developers the power to create more accurate and more feature-rich applications.

The push service, which was formally announced at WWDC 2008, will allow developers to send notifications to iPhone handsets without running background processes, Apple’s solution to save battery life and increase performance on the phone. The service was slated for a September release, so the firmware will likely be made available to customers by then.

Those with hands-on access to the beta 2.1 code at Gear Livenote that Core Location can now recognize the cardinal direction of an iPhone with GPS as well as its velocity, both of which are ingredients necessary to providing turn-by-turn directions.

Separately, AppleInsider has also confirmed that Apple is implementing a rough version of its background push notification service in the 2.1 firmware.