Cut and paste to be in iPhones

CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) — Apple Inc. is updating its software for iPhones so that users can cut, copy and paste text — a basic computing feature that was missing from the gadget that seems to do everything.

At an iPhone event for journalists Tuesday at Apple headquarters, the company also pledged to broaden the way that third-party software programmers can build and sell content for the device.

Among other things, software developers now will be able to create applications that have items for sale within them, such as electronic books or additional levels of a video game. And developers will be able to access the music within users’ iPhone libraries, so songs they own can be included in games, for example.

Despite the adulation over the iPhone, which shook up the smart- phone market after launching in 2007, many users wondered why it couldn’t cut and paste text. Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software, said it was “not obvious” how to overcome several hurdles, including getting cut and paste to work with the device’s touch-screen interface.