During a presentation focused on re-highlighting iPhone OS 3.0 features that had previously been demonstrated at an Apple SDK event, Dock Connector accessory failures twice interrupted an extended look at OS 3.0 development efforts to date. Following smooth and occasionally impressive presentations by Gameloft, Airstrip, ScrollMotion, Tom Tom, and Ngmoco, an educational company called Pasco demonstrated what was to be a science teaching application with an iPhone OS 3.0 balloon-monitoring sensor accessory, which failed to perform during the demonstration; subsequently, co-developers Line6 and Planet Waves were scuttled in a presentation of a software and accessory-based guitar and amplifier control system when the accessory failed to work.
Though the developers made light of the accessory failures to some audience applause and laughter, Apple Senior Vice-President Scott Forstall—a participant in the first presentation—noted that the problems seemed to be correlated to the number of people watching, and said that the software had worked properly during rehearsals. Combined with problems iLounge’s editors have noted with recently released accessories and their related iPhone applications, the demonstration failures raise questions as to the user experiences that will follow when broadened Dock Connector accessory support is introduced in the iPhone OS 3.0 release this month.
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