The State Of Copy/Paste On The iPhone
With Pastebud scheduled to launch today, its got me thinking once again about copy/paste on the iPhone. It's now been a year and a half since the iPhone launched and the lack of copy/paste is still my number 1 pet peeve about my favorite toy.
I watched the Pastebud demo which shows some javascript tricks to let you copy information from a webpage and compose an email from it. I applaud the developers for bringing the missing functionality to the iPhone, it could be very useful, but it is hardly convenient.
Learning more about Pastebud left me longing for more. It reminded me of when I first learned about iCopy many months ago. It's a pretty creative solution but it doesn't address the core problem. It is not a solution that addresses how Apple could implement copy/paste systemwide. It does not show a method of text selection that would work across all applications, and thus can't cure all our frustrations.
Instantly, I thought of MagicPad, an app that's in the app store and solves the bigger problem. I have been very high on MagicPad since I first got my hands on a sample copy. Granted, in its current form of only working within its own app, it is only moderately useful. But it shows that an easy and intuitive method for text selection does exist. After using MagicPad for only a few minutes it felt natural. It felt Apple. I found myself in the mail app instinctively trying to select a large body of text. The developers even put a video on their website which told of their own shortcomings and how Apple should implement copy/paste across the entire iPhone.
Now that MagicPad has a price tag of FREE, I finally feel it has a chance to hit a critical mass. I hope people will download and try it just to test the proof of concept for copy/paste on the iPhone. If this little app shoots to the top of the free list with thousands of positive reviews, would Apple not have to take notice? Would Apple not have to at least give some compromise and move this issue way up on their priority list?
From iCopy to several proof of concepts to MagicPad to OpenClip and finally to Pastebud, the desire for copy/paste on the iPhone is clear. The state of copy/paste is still in flux and there is no solution in sight. But the louder we make our voice, and the more solutions that try to address this problem will hopefully get Apple to act.
