The third beta of iPhone OS 3.0 has been launched by Apple, though with comparatively minor changes to the developer APIs. However, Ars has reported that the beta includes a rather significant transformation to push notification methods - badge, text alert, and sound.

The Tuesday-launched third beta - with build number 7A280f - showed some early signs of optimizations, and carried with it a restructured edition of the iPhone SDK 3.0. Launched exactly after two weeks of the second beta, the new beta is available in four discrete distributions - iPhone; iPhone 3G; first-gen iPod touch; and second-gen iPod touch.

Along with the change in the UIKit API, including separate types for the three notification methods, the Interface Builder updates have brought in new drag-and-drop capabilities for repairing objects and reordering files, and a new string table interface simplifying the course of action for undertaking textual changes across multiple documents.

The developers have received an Apple notification about an issue with beta 3 of iPhone Software 3.0 that would thwart their operations related to running the iPhone apps that have been assembled for the previous iPhone software version. Nonetheless, the company has also expressed its hope for work out the problem with the launch of its next beta.