iPhone finally gets copy and paste!
By Nilay Patel 
posted Mar 17th 2009 12:50PM
posted Mar 17th 2009 12:50PM
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apple finally listens... for once
This wasn't the first time.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/meet-the-new-mr-jobs-he-listens-to-customers/
"iPhone finally gets copy and paste!"
Could have sworn that wasn't important.
Welcome to 1998, Apple.
So true
Prepare for the flood of comments about how great this is from people who previously posted about how they "never really needed it".
"We've been working really hard to design an easy to use interface for this on our touchscreen display." Seriously? It took over two years to figure out copy and paste?
OMG!!! Copy and paste!!!
Let me go clean my underoos now.
In 1998, I had a Nokia which didn't have copy and paste either.
Who did they copy it from? j/k!
"We've been working really hard to design an easy to use interface for this on our touchscreen display." Seriously? It took over two years to figure out copy and paste?"
Yeah THAT made me laugh. Apple loves to preface every statement with some grand pronouncement of how "hard" they worked on these things that existed for years, like they just invented it today.
Looks like Engadget got copy and paste as well. They seem to be copying all the text from the live event, and pasting it into a bunch of lame mini articles
How INNOVATIVE of them!
"11:33AM Q: Why did copy paste take so long?
A: Scott: It's not that easy. There were security issues."
WTF?
> "Looks like Engadget got copy and paste as well. They seem to be copying all the text from the live event, and pasting it into a bunch of lame mini articles"
...so we can comment on the individual features.
So many good things, but how come they can't add "mark all read" in e-mail folders? How come they won't include native voice dialing support, much like the cheaper phones include. I would much rather get lost without a GPS and arrive in one piece because I had to hand dial a call, or download a third party app that doesn't work too well.
My lord. After all this time I expected something that would change the way we copy and paste forever.
I bet they just hired an open source developer and had it made in a day flat.
Look_Around_You @ Mar 17th 2009 2:06PM
"iPhone finally gets copy and paste!"
Could have sworn that wasn't important.
Welcome to 1998, Apple.
- hey look at me, i'm using a feature debuting today!
Meh...I've been using copy/paste on my iPhone for a long time. Apple made a nice piece of hardware. The community makes better software. (What the heck is up with no background changing on a non-jailbroken iphone!)
Change You Can Believe In
The world's most elegant implementation of cut, copy, paste, undo. Kudos, Apple, you've done it again. Will the innovations never cease?
What's this talk about a Palm Pre? There is no Palm Pre. That non-product is vaporware. Palm isn't even sure it can raise the money to manufacture the Pre. Please stop referring to non-existent products for iPhone comparisons.
It's about time
It wasn't that easy, remember: "there were security reasons"
...
like...
It's like Sony VHS players,
it should've been there,
even if they don't admit.
Cut too.
Paste me grateful
woot! finally a phone that supports the island from Lost!
looks like the plane crashed because of the iPhone.
Well, they finally did it because everyone wouldn't STFU about copy + paste. Now if only everyone whines more about MMS...
No can do that either. :)
http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/17/mms-finally-comes-to-apples-iphone/
I don't care about MMS since email can perform the same function. I'd rather have video with the camera first.
And now they also have A2DP! How are we supposed to make fun of them now?!? :P
I'm going to miss those "He must have copied it" "Well then he definitely isn't and iPhone user." exchanges.
And to think, I was worried about it catching up to the Pre. Copy/paste, push notifications (aka fake multitasking with what seems to be really annoying notifications), game micro-transactions (who the hell wants to be nickel and dimed for a cell-phone game to buy weapons in it), what's next, finally MMS?
AGREED! Who the hell is going to pay 99 cents to buy one missle for their crappy cell phone game? Micro transactions are companies ways of milking more money out of the clueless consumer. I can see it for some things, such as the city guide where you purchase cities...but still even that's pushing it. If one of their big new things for the SDK is micro transactions, they are thinking wrong. I can see myself easily sticking to only downloading the free apps as I do now. Most of the stuff on the App store is just crap, most--not all, but most
TADA!!
I'm quite appalled at that too, but hey, they spent a couple hundred for a phone they surly won't mind another .99 cents for some rocket launchers right? -__-
"And to think, I was worried about it catching up to the Pre."
Wow. Unless you directly profit from Palm's success that's without question, the lamest, most fan-boyish comment on here. Why the hell would you be against progression from ANY company, on any device? I mean seriously.. pathetic.
If you can't appreciate what Apple did for themselves, which is understandable, at least appreciate the kick in the ass they provided for every other manufacturer out there. The current landscape of phones looks like it does because of the iPhone and the progression in user interface that it brought to the table.
If it caught up with the Pre especially with actual real multitasking, I'd be stuck considering a device with no hardware keyboard just based on the sheer number of apps. I would highly prefer a device with a hardware keyboard. Therefore, yes, it is a good thing for me that this update leaves Apple still way behind Palm. I have no stock in Palm, don't work for them, or anything like that.
I appreciate what Apple did for web browsing and interface on a phone (iPhone's interface to me was second to none until the Pre), but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
I guess you're all pretending the Pre is actually available.
that the flight number from LOST lol nice
Cut and paste only works on the ISLAND
Before today, only the Others had it.
Is this not included in 3.0? If so, why am I reading about it in a separate article?..
Groundbreaking...nascent...innovation...awesome...feature...new
etc
And don't forget to stay tunned for the iPhone OS 3.0 round up kids!.
And iPhone 3.0: One Week On
And How would you change iPhone 3.0?
I've had copy and paste for ages! Clippy FTW!
Pfft, my dumbphone had it for years.
What an innovation!
It's gone past ridiculous, funny and is now almost cute the the time Apple took to get around to this.
Chinese Democracy
Copy/Paste iPhone
pending: Duke Nukem forever
Seriously, if I were the guy doing the presentation, I would have just left this out entirely. Not the feature, because it's basic stuff that's long overdue, but the announcement. The fact that it *is* such basic stuff makes it embarrassing that it hasn't shown up yet, and if I were them, I would have just put it in and pretended it was there all along. The RDF would have taken care of the rest. "The iPhone has always had copy and paste."
you people are never happy. You wanted C n' P? Now you got it, so shut up and be happy. If they gave it to us in 2.0 you'd still be bitching it took too long. You're all disgusting.
uhm the only reason people are mad, is because apple refuses to listen to customers. They play it off after this long and say "it was security reasons" BULL
lol.. "revolutionary" phone finally gets a copy and paste! lol...proud owner of htc touch diamond pro...LMAO!!!!
Touch Diamond Pro? They make a pro version of the Diamond?
I know you mean the Touch Pro but I just had to.
Apple, Thank you for listening to your customers (and naysayers) by bringing copy & paste to the iphone. Also, thank you for making it "classy".
Kudos to the third party apps like Clippy for trying to do it.
As for the other people saying every other phone does it. great, go use that phone. for those of us who spent quite a bit of money on these when they were new (600 dollars and 300 dollars) we welcome the long awaited feature.
"As for the other people saying every other phone does it. great, go use that phone. for those of us who spent quite a bit of money on these when they were new (600 dollars and 300 dollars) we welcome the long awaited feature."
Uh, for months we've heard nothing but how it wasn't necessary. And like clockwork, the same people now are happy to have it, and also like clockwork they need to find a way to make Apple look like they didnt drop the ball on this by using the tired cliche of:
Apple made it better!!!!
Or as you said:
"Also, thank you for making it "classy""
Yeah,ok.
so.. do you have an iphone or are you just a troll? I'm guessing you don't.
@Look_Around_You
Or
"Kudos to the third party apps like Clippy for trying to do it."
As if it makes their efforts to fix what Apple failed to do less important because it's not officialy Apple sanctioned, or they somehow dd it less classy than Apple did.
The kudos were for people who actually tried to do something about it and implement it while other people (You) bitch about lack of availability. They were actually doing a damn good job about it. No one else things the handles on the copy paste is "classy?" if anything, it's intuitive and that's what people wanted.
If you cant fix something, do something about it or quit bitching and sit down.
"oh but it took so long to implement" .. sure, apple should have never released it EVER just to make people happy.
grow up.
"If you cant fix something, do something about it or quit bitching and sit down."
alright i'm not trolling or anything, but i gotta say, if it weren't for everyone's bitching -- even though they couldn't fix it -- there probably still wouldn't be copy and paste.
bitching is good sometimes. got potholes all around your neighborhood? call city works and bitch. neighbor playing loud music and speeding through the neighborhood? call the HOA and bitch. mailman screwing up your mail? call the post office and bitch.
At this point, it goes without saying that this is pathetic.
Three versions in, and we finally get what we've been asking for since 1.0
Apple must recruit their developers straight out of primary school or something.
The following comment may contain sarcasm, and may not be suitable for all audiences.
Nyah Nyah!
We iPhone owners
finally get a feature
that's been on winmo phones
for a looong time.
You suck
We rule
Nyah nyah nyah
nyah nyah nyaaaah!
About time we've only been asking for copy/paste for almost 2 years now
Oh, no... All new phones with Copy 'n' paste will now be iphone rip offs.
Can't stop laughing!!!
/sarcasm
So whats going to be the iPhone hater battlecry now?
oh no!! STILL NO FLASH!!!
i'm pretty happy with what they've done today.
i'll be digging landscape SMS and email, copy n paste, MMS and turn by turn GPS. sweet.
but of course, "your xxxx model phone has done xxxx things for years now, and so does xxxx operating system".
I sure hope apple fans dont go trolling around on PALM (fap fap fap!) sites as well WinMO sites.
...background apps? there's still a ways to go
People will always bitch about something, like copy and paste was that big a deal. mms should have been included but still i wouldnt trade my iphone for anything. its still worth going without those features considering what i can on my iphone.
"I sure hope apple fans dont go trolling around on PALM (fap fap fap!) sites as well WinMO sites."
Would you like to go and look?
While many of us are just joshing you iPhone fans for getting what we had for YEARS, your fellow Apple fans routinely go onto sites for WinMobile users and troll their asses off.
bluetooth functions
No multitasking of course!
I could care less about most of the new features. They're really just 'extras' for me. I'm happy to have my phone, ipod, email, and internet in my pocket at all times.
Copy/paste, multitasking, MMS, stereo BT - these are things I can (and have) live without.
I have mixed feelings about flash...on one hand, it'd be nice to be able to view more videos online. On the other, pages load faster and I don't have to deal with all those annoying ads. I think I'm happier without it.
Once again Apple innovates while others stand still!!! First they INVENT 3G and now they're the first to add copy and paste and....oh whoops
uhhhmmm..okay..inksy if i have a cookie right i will hand it to u!..wow..i bet that made u extra special right?! lol..make u happy..HTC TOUCH PRO...u really didnt have to...bisssnatch!
I was kidding about it. At first it threw me off because I was thinking you meant Diamond 2, then I realized you meant the Pro. It was a joke.
Oh well.
I'm gonna have to buy a Palm Pre.
no one noticed the text they're copying from? oceanic flight 815, nice shoutout to the LOST fans :)
i use double tap in safari to zoom in and out to blocks of text. if that starts selecting that's going to be very frustrating.
You guys are so pathetic. Useless discussions. Use the device you like and stop whining!
i say Apple did a terrific job of hanging everyone by the leash and keeping them at awe with mediocre upgrades. Steve Jobs, the world's most successful swindler and magician that tricks and carves your pocket for relatively nice products meant for dummies. So if steve jobs was the president of the united states, i think we will not have all the social problems we have right now because everyones been reduced to a simple dummy. Good stuff what human ego does.
WHAT? OH MY GOD! How you can advertise this shame in public!
Iphone didn't have copy and paste for years!? and illiterate people said it was the invention of year?????
WOW! I understand that Apple is trying to make money but I would be so ashamed to advertise with something that others had for years!
The best bet would be trying to hide them! you don't have copy and paste when others had it for 10 years? Try to hide it so it is never seen and spoken!
UNBELIEVABLE!
How long do you think we will be waiting for the "10 reasons why Iphone OS3.0 misses the mark?"
That guy would rather drink a cup of bleach than to risk his carrier doing that.
I had cut and paste on my Newton.
Oh thank God! I am finally going to have copy and paste as well as landscape keyboard for SMS and email, I am in Heaven!@
RT
why are they putting oceanic flight 815 next to united flight 73. 815 is a tv show, people dies in flight 73?
BREAKING NEWS huh?
I'm slightly offended there isn't an article for 'cut' and another article for 'paste', there's still room on the front page.
ROFLWAFFLES!
So Apple's finally catching up?
That's pretty much sums up all of what Apple's anounced so far in 2009.
Anyone noticed how the interface look exactly Clippy?
Soon the fanboi comments will begin:
"The copy/paste on the [insert mobile device here] is just a clone of the iPhone's" Apple will probably call it, iCopy with iPaste.
So nobody is gonna point out the Lost reference? Oceanic 815. Steve Jobs is a lost geek, awesome.
actually four people did before you.
Steve Jobs was there?
It's nice to see Cut & Paste come to the iPhone. But in all honesty, I've had my 1Gen iPhone for almost 2 years and in all that time I've had the need to cut and paste maybe 3 times tops. I still don't see what the big fuzz is. What I'd prefer seeing is Data Detectors to auto recognize phones, addresses and such, just like Mail App in desktop OS X, but applied universally (for all apps) in iPhone.
Apple taught me a valuable way to avoid responsibility at my job! Check it out:
Boss: "We needed the UPS ship feature last week, why is it behind?"
Me: "There were... security issues."
Client: "Why did it take so long to get the live inventory feature complete?!"
Me: "There were security issues."
Responsibility? So you're saying Apple had the contractual responsibility to give you Cut and Paste?
If Apple had announced since day 1 that the iPhone would support cut and paste, and then failed to deliver on their promise, then they would be at fault. But that wasn't the case was it?
If you were hired to develop a UPS ship feature and then failed to deliver it, then your boss does have the right to ask for an explanation. You knew since day 1 what your task was.
CaptSalty Jack needs to get off that rotten barrel grog.