iPhone is getting its third major software makeover in June. Today Apple previewed iPhone OS 3.0, to frenzied anticipation. Would photo messaging, video capture, Bluetooth tethering and other conspicuously absent features be added in the upgrade?

Peer-to-peer networking
After all the talk of requested-features, Apple began its preview, at its Cupertino headquarters, with something not on anybody’s list: peer-to-peer networking.

Upgrade your iPhone’s software to OS 3.0, and you’ll be able to wirelessly network and share (non DRM-protected) content with other iPhone and iPod Touch owners in your immediate area or - once developers come onboard - engage in multiplayer games, or multi-person GPS-based apps.

Nice - though like many of the iPhone’s previously missing features, it’s nothing new. Wireless networking has been available to PlayStation Portable (PSP) and Nintendo DS owners for years.

iPhone OS 3.0's wireless smarts also now include the ability to wirelessly log on to a wi-fi hotspot.

Landscape keyboard
A landscape keyboard is now available for email and txt, which will make life easier for thumbers.

In-app purchases
Another new feature is in-app purchase. The example given was an e-version of a magazine. As you read it on your iPhone, you could renew your subscription, via AppStore, without leaving the virtual pages of the magazine.

Push notification
iPhone OS 3.0 will also add support for push notification, or email and calendar updates being synced between a desktop and phone in real-time, a la the BlackBerry. A presenter for ESPN also took to the stage, showing how the iPhone OS 3.0's new push notification capability could be used for enhanced, real-time sports game updates.

Better search
A new "Spotlight" feature allows searches across all iPhone apps, including email - allowing the iPhone to finally  catch up with BlackBerry and Windows Mobile in this area.

Bluetooth tethering
Support for bluetooth tethering (the ability to use your iPhone as a wireless modem) has been added, although it will require the installation of an extra app. Unfortunately it seems only half way there, with client supported added, but telco support still to come.

Stereo Bluetooth support is also added, so expect a rash of stereo bluetooth headsets for iPhone shortly.

Pump up the maps, pump up the volume
Third-party map developers get support for turn-by-turn directions in Google Maps, plus APIs for adding geolocation and geocoding features.

And makers of speakers and other iPhone and iPod Touch accessories will now be able to make their devices talk directly to Apple's gadgets - meaning, for example, that the volume on a set of external speakers could be controlled directly from your iPhone.

And lo, there was cut-and-paste
After making the audience wait for more than an hour, cut-and-paste was finally announced. The feature will be avialable across email, and all iPhone applications.

A shake of your iPhone or iPod Touch will undo any cut or copy. Nice touch.

You'll be able to cute-and-pase HTML contents from websites, too, and photos.

However, for now cut-and-paste is limited to iPhone's own apps - either within them, or between them. Third-party developers will have to wait for the next iPhone OS update.

Multimedia messaging
The addition of multimedia messaging support was also confirmed. Subject to carrier support, you'll be able to send photos or audio files from your iPhone - but not yet video.

A voice memo recording app has also been added to iPhone's built-in suite of programmes.

Still AWOL
Apple's presenter, senior vice president of iPhone Greg Joswiack (Steve Jobs, as expected, is absent) confirmed that background processing - the ability to run more than one app in the background at once - will not be part of iPhone OS 3.0.

There's also still no video recording capability - a stock feature in even most budget phones these days. Better luck with iPhone OS 4.0.

iPhone OS 3.0 will be available in June as a free upgrade for iPhone and a $US9.95 upgrade for iPod Touch.