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Apple working on its own social networking app for the iPhone?

Apple working on its own social networking app for the iPhone?

Posted: 20 Mar 2010, 16:12, by John V.

Categories: Apple Apple Unofficial Unofficial Touch Touch Software Software iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G S iPhone 3G S Bookmark

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This article contains unofficial information.

Apple working on its own social networking app for the iPhone?

With a lot of attention focused on what new hardware consumers can expect to see as the next generation Apple iPhone inches closer to reality, there is a new document that details a new app for the smartphone which might be coming in the horizon. Documents published to the USPTO shed some light on Apple's potential workings on a social networking application for the iPhone. Known more conveniently as iGroups in the patent filing, it essentially aims to allow people to get together and transfer information privately with their group of contacts – it looks to utilize “virtual GPS” if there is no present true positioning technology in place which could mean something along the lines of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to approximate a user's location. Friends can easily be in the loop of things as the app will work in conjunction with MobileMe to transfer information between specific people in a group. Even if this become a reality, Apple will need to figure out a way to resolve a naming dispute with the existing iPhone app called iGroups – we'd figure there would be decent sum of monetary compensation to the developer.

Apple iPhone 3GS Specifications | Review

source: Patently Apple via Mashable

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1. matt1q2aw3 (unregistered) posted on 20 Oct 2010, 01:45 0 0

Looks like the new Iphone might have a D-pad for games (upper right part of the phone) and a video call camera. By slimming down that circular button at the bottom of the phone they could make the screen bigger.....

2. hmcougar09 posted on 20 Mar 2010, 17:27 0 0

It's not going to be better than the BBM on BlackBerry though! :]

3. DonkeyPunched posted on 20 Mar 2010, 22:59 0 0

I actually think it will. I'm sure this will go further than BBM on Blackberry because I know apple will integrate this into their Macs as well and somehow able to always be able to access them online or something.

4. scottmbolt (unregistered) posted on 21 Mar 2010, 08:14 0 0

iGroups will be iGay!

6. whocares posted on 22 Mar 2010, 12:52 0 0

stop fantasizing.

5. SPcamert posted on 21 Mar 2010, 12:27 0 0

Looks interesting. Not an iPhone user but can appreciate the technology that goes into it. I like the indications on the bottom edge (fig. 462, 490, and 464) that there might be some more LED indicators as well as the circle that appears to be another touch sensitive area below the screen (fig. 470) kind of the way the Palm Pre has it setup. I'm also very curious about the notches on the left edge (fig. 486, 488) as to what they do.