iOS 6

According to the internet, Apple has to everything everyone else has ever done, plus make real everything science fiction has ever imagined, or WWDC 2013 will be a disappointment, and Apple will again and forever be doomed. No pressure there. But what exactly is this unattainable goal being set for Apple? Justin Willaims of Carpeaqua has placed tongue firmly in cheek and laid it plain.

The U.S. Department of Defense has approved the use of iOS 6 devices, which may help Apple to build some strength in a market still dominated by BlackBerry devices. The US D.O.D. currently has about 470,000 BlackBerrys in use across its networks, with 41,000 Apple mobile devices and 8,700 Android devices.

The Department of Defense is building a multivendor environment, it said in a press release, with BlackBerry and Samsung Knox devices also receiving similar approval.

The D.O.D. has cracked the door open to Apple and Android users, but it's not a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environment: The organization doesn't support personal phones to connect to the network.

A few minutes ago BlackBerry announced BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) for iOS. With that announcement, every single one of Apple's major mobile competitors now makes apps for iOS. Google, who also has Android, makes many very popular apps including Gmail, Maps, Google+, etc. Microsoft, who also has Windows Phone, makes a bunch of apps and games for iOS, including OneNote and Kinnectimals. Nokia, Microsoft's primary Windows Phone partner, also makes Here Maps.

Now, BlackBerry makes BBM.

Apple, by contrast, makes precisely nothing for Android, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry. Not even iTunes.

Interesting.

Since the dawn of time, BlackBerry smartphones have been the mobile communicator of choice for the United States federal government. The federal National Institute of Standards and Technology has been approving hardware and software to meet the FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) since 1995, and today iOS 6.0 was granted FIPS 140-2 certification. Specifically, the iOS CryptoCore Kernel Module 3.0 was assured to to meet the security requirements of the government.

Interested in iPhone, iPad, or Apple and looking to have some great conversations? Got a burning question or frustrating problem you just want help fixing? Already an expert and eager to share your knowledge? Well, all that and more is just waiting for you in the iMore forums.

Here are today's hot topics:

• What features do you want in iOS 7? Your post in this thread may be posted in an upcoming blog post so please be as descriptive as possible and keep your features realistic. 
• Do you want a larger screened iPhone?
• iMessage issues
• iPhone 5S release date

If you already have a Mobile Nations, FaceBook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft Account, simply log in and start posting. Otherwise,  register now, and don't forget to download our free iMore Forums app for iPhone and iPad!

Facebook Home has just launched on Google Play, the Android app store, today. Kinda. Turns out Android may be openy, but it ain't easy. Right now the full Facebook Home experience is only available on the HTC First. An almost-full experience, minus the deeper system hooks HTC made for the First, can be downloaded and installed on other Android devices, but only if they're flagship Samsung or HTC phones. And only in certain countries. That means the shiny Nexus 4 I have sitting next to me right now isn't (yet) invited to this particular Facebook event, nor is any device in my home and native land of Canada.

Apple has posted two new entries to their developer news page, the first warning developers they need to stop tracking people via UDID, and the second warning them they have to start supporting the double density Retina display, and 16x9 iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5 dip-lays, by May 1.

Given how many great phones are coming out these days, it's not wonder one of the hottest topics on the iMore forums is iOS vs. Android, or more specifically, the iPhone vs. the latest and greatest Android phones. Every so often community members start to wonder out loud about jumping ship and trying their hands at Google's mobile platform.  Being someone who enjoys new technology myself, I can understand the curiousity, and, of course, the feeling that the grass always greener on the other side. One particularly interesting discussion this week comes from the thread leaving iOS for Android and more specifically, the Samsung Galaxy S4.

For years there's been angst over iOS' lack of Home screen widgets. Nokia/Symbian/Meego/etc. has had them for what's probably been decades. Android has had them for years. Even Apple had widgets on OS X going back to Dashboard in OS X Tiger in 2005. iOS on the other hand has eschewed them completely until 2010/2011, and even then restricted them to the fast app switcher, Notification Center and Siri. That Apple had Dashboard should show they, as a company, didn't have an aversion to widgets, they just avoided them on the iOS Home screen. And a post on the HTC Blog today by their head of design, Drew Bamford may give some context as to why:

Apple has released iOS 6.1.3 beta 2 to developers. The second beta to what was originally numbered iOS 6.1.1, recent updates meant to address cellular connectivity on the iPhone 4S and an Exchange calendar bug on all iOS devices, caused the latest beta to get re-sequenced to iOS 6.1.3.

If you're a paid developer, you can grab it now through the usual channels.

More: developer.apple.com