Now that Proximi’s MagicPad has shown that it is possible to do copy’n'paste using the iPhone’s touchscreen, a group of programmers have decided to ‘help’ Apple and try to get this method adopted by other apps.
The problem with implementing something like copy’n'paste on the iPhone is that iPhone apps cannot run in the background. As soon as you switch to another app, the contents of the original app’s memory (including the clipboard) are lost.
The solution proposed by the voluntary group OpenClip is for app developers to agree to use a common shared storage area for clipboard data and to agree to support the same UI conventions. This will require developers to buy in to the concept, and not ‘enhance’ it (thus breaking it for everyone else).
Eight such apps are either supporting the standard now, or have pledged support for their next release. Could this example of people power force Apple to act, or just mean that they don’t have to?
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