New iPhone OS may improve contact interface

Friday, January 15, 2010

springdial

Apple filed a patent recently which may (or may not) appear on the new operating system for the iPhone 4G. Based on the popular jailbroken app called Springdial, this feature could place all your contacts as icons for easy access. iPhone Alley is saying that not only does this patent copy Springdial, it also ventures into customization territory.

“What we weren’t expecting from Apple is that this patent goes a little farther than just putting speed-dial buttons on your home screen. The patent defines these custom icons as being able to perform a broad range of things, such as launching any app you specify that is personalized to the contact or display info about the contact. One option it mentions is having the icon for the contact (most likely someone with an iPhone) show up on your home screen based on that person’s proximity to you (and your iPhone). (Example: Person “A” gets within a set range of you, and his/her icon pops up on your home screen.)”

Apple patent

This degree of personalization on the home screen would be a nice touch. The only problem with this is that patents are like popcorn. Apparently this could be a “defensive” patent by Apple to protect itself from legal wrangling from other phone companies. It’s always good to push the envelope, and perhaps Apple is attempting to do that with this patent. Certainly it will constitute an improvement to accessing phone numbers and contact information, which is critical in the mobile market these days. We will have to wait until June or July before we find out what exactly Apple plans to do. (And look, the camera, above the speaker is still there!)