This summer Apple will release a major software update for their iPhone and iPod Touch devices, one that will add a number of useful and productive features, including the ability to copy and paste text and send MMS messages. The update will be made available for free to iPhone users, but will cost $9.95 for iPod Touch users.

Apple feels the changes they are introducing are significant enough to consider the iPhone as getting a whole new operating system and are calling the updated software iPhone OS 3.0.  They have yet to discuss any physical changes to the iPhone device itself, but this week’s announcements are positioned merely as a“preview” with more details to come later this summer when the update is released.

According to Apple there will be more than one hundred new features and refinements added, most of a more practical nature than innovative, increasing the useful value of their devices.

These include the ability to cut, copy, and paste text frome-mails, messages, and notes by simply tapping and selecting text with a spread of two fingers. You’ll be able to capture text, multiple images and web contentin this way.

 The keyboard can now be used in landscape mode for all features and applications, includinge-mail and note taking.

MMS messages can be sent, with attached pictures, audio clips, even a link to your GPS location.

Apple’s Spotlight search capability is being added, allowingyou to quickly search across all applications and features in the device, a handy feature for those with hundreds of apps or large photo libraries.

The iPod Touch will be given a Bluetooth connection to match the iPhone and both devices will be able to use it with stereo music accessories and to connect with other devices to play multiplayer games.

Apple will be adding a new voice memo app for recording audio clips and an update to their existing Stock app that will feature news updates.

Shaking the iPhone or iPod Touch can now be used to shuffle music, but also to act as an undo for editing changes made to text.

New parental controls are being added for TV, movies, and Apps.

And users can sync their notes to their home computers, both Mac and PC as well as sync their calendars with those used by iCal, Yahoo, Google,and Oracle.

Apple held a special presentation yesterday for the many software companies and individual developers who create Apps for the iPhone andiPod Touch, showcasing new tools and updates that they themselves can use tooffer their own updates.

Apps will now have the ability to make use of the Google Maps feature on the iPhone and iPod Touch, laying their own content on top ofboth the maps and the satellite imagery.

They will have the ability to access the iTunes library, to feature personal music collections for use with their features.

They can tap into the Bluetooth connection to connect multiple phones together, to create games with voice chat, but also tocoordinate other applications. One example given was combining two iPhones as musical instruments for a cooperative performance.

Those who create GPS software can now introduce turn-by-turn directions with their own map tiles.

Apps will now have their own push notification systems, allowing users to receive constant updates on incoming messages, communications, and new features.

Apps will also have the ability to offer paid updates, allowing companies to sell additional levels for their games or to create Appstores where users can then buy e-books and other content types.

Perhaps the most powerful update introduced by Apple fortheir App store is the ability for the iPhone and iPod Touch to interact withspecial devices, for companies to create their own controls and software for use with iPod accessories and special tools.

Two compelling examples of this included the use of a blood pressure cuff, one that could connect to the iPhone just like a speaker or dock, and then have the ability to read, record, and interpret blood pressuredata right from the cuff itself. LifeScan, a division of Johnson & Johnson showcased a new product they are currently working on, a glucose level reader that can be connected to an iPhone or iPod Touch to record glucose levels, but also keep track of food intake, calculate needed insulin levels, and present historical data in a graph.

Both moves, the array of new productivity features and the new tools for App developers, seem designed to help Apple maintain their edgeover an exploding Smartphone market where many competitors have been quick tointroduce features that have been absent from the iPhone (The BlackBerry Storm has copy and paste) and to announce their own plans to launch applications markets and stores.

As RIM, Google, Nokia, and Microsoft launch their ownversion of Apple’s App store, developers will be quick to duplicate theirinnovative apps for those brands too. With the new tools and updates beingoffered by Apple this summer, the company will assure that the version of these apps that appear on the iPhone will offer features not available on the others, that the Facebook or eBay app on the iPhone will be better than the version offered for BlackBerry or Windows Mobile devices.

Whether that proves to be true or not, it will be aninteresting summer that will at least add more value to the iPhone and bring itcloser to being a more complete smartphone.