100 new features for iPhone, iPod Touch

Apple said Tuesday that it is adding more than 100 new features for its iPhone and iPod touch via a software update due out later this year.

The tweaks include many features iPhone users have long lobbied for. They include the ability to cut, copy and paste text; rotate from portrait mode to landscape mode in key applications; and the ability to send photos, locations and audio information over the cellphone network via MMS.

Other tweaks include Spotlight, a single application that allows users to search for information in Apple's mail, calendar and music applications; shake the phone to shuffle between songs; and record and share voice mail.

Apple discussed the updates as it offered a sneak peek of the next version of its iPhone operating system to developers and the press at its headquarters. The software will be available Tuesday as a developer beta and as a free update for iPhone customers sometime this summer. The software will cost $9.95 for iPhone touch customers.

The stakes are high: Apple is relying on its smart phone business to deliver growth as its iPod business matures and the worldwide PC market stagnates.

Apple sold 13.7 million iPhones last year. The iPhone operating system now powers more than 30 million devices, including the iPod touch. That's in large part thanks to Apple's App Store, introduced last year, which opened up the iPhone software to outside developers.

More than 25,000 applications are available on the iPhone now, and iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded more than 800 million applications over the past eight months.

Separately, Apple introduced more than 1,000 APIs, or software hooks, that developers can use to add new capabilities to their applications. They include the ability for software makers to sell subscriptions to new content, additional levels for games and the ability to sell new content--such as a book--inside an application.

Apple also introduced the ability to automatically discover other applications running on nearby devices using Bluetooth. This will allow gamers, for example, to square off against other players.

Developers can also pair up their applications with hardware. That trick would allow a software developer to turn an iPhone into an equalizer for a set of speakers.

Maps and directions will also play a bigger role in the iPhone. Developers will also be able to embed Google's map service into their applications and build turn-by-turn directions using the location data collected by the iPhone and iPod touch.

Finally, Apple also added a long-overdue push notification service, allowing developers to ping a user with an audio or text cue when, for example, they get a new text message.

Shares of Apple rose $2.49, or 2.6%, to $97.91 in Tuesday afternoon trading. So far this year, the company's stock has risen more than 8%.