IPhone OS 4.0 Release Announced

Steve Jobs took the stage at the Apple campus in Cupertino, Ca on Thursday, April 8 to announce the impending release of iPhone OS 4.0. According to the live blog of the event on CNet.com, Jobs began his presentation by illustrating how many iPhones, iPod Touches and IPads have been sold in the past year, touting the 4 billion apps downloaded by Apple customers as a plumb market for software developers. Those developers can now start working on products for the newly announced iPhone OS 4.0, a platform that features many user-friendly changes.

1. Multi-taking - A feature common to other smart phones, will now be available on the iPhone OS 4.0. Users will no longer have to shut down one app before opening another app. It will work by allowing the user to double-click the home button to move between apps. Open apps will be pictured at the bottom of the screen.

2. Folders - You will be able to drag a series of apps together and it will make a folder. Much easier to have all your games in one place, or all your recipes apps together. Tap the folder and it expands to show you the apps. You can make as many folders as you want and you can also drag a folder onto the dock.

3. Wallpaper - iPhone OS 4.0 will allow users to change wallpaper, just like on a full-fledged computer. Pictures for the lock screen and wallpaper can be different.

4. Unified mailbox - If you check more than one email account on your iPhone, iPhone OS 4.0 will allow you to have them all go to one inbox. No more switching between accounts to check mail.

5. Organize mail by thread - iPhone OS 4.0 will allow you to group threaded messages together by date.

6. iBooks - Apple has been working on competing seriously with digital book readers. The iPhone OS 4.0 will feature iBook, allowing you to purchase a book once from the iBook store and read it on any Apple platform.

7. Better data protection. iPhone OS 4.0 will allow you to encrypt all your e-mail, including attachments with PIN codes.

8. Social Gaming Network - Apple is getting serious about gaming by introducing this into the iPhone OS 4.0. Gamers will be able to invite friends to play or use a "matchmaking" service to find other like-minded players. It will also keep track of achievement and have a leaderboard.

9. iAd - No longer will clicking on an ad cancel the app you are on and open in another app. iAd will allow developers to incorporate ads right into the app, allowing free enterprise to not be so annoying to the iPhone user.

10. Bluetooth keyboards - We all suspect that someday the iPhone will have all the capabilities of a traditional computer. Apple moves it one step further by allowing for the use of Bluetooth keyboards, just like on the newly iPad.

By Apple's count there are 90 other improved features in the iPhone OS 4.0, which will be available sometime this summer for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Unfortunately some of the new features, such as multi-tasking, will not work on the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3rd generation models. You can use this as an excuse to buy a new iPhone 4G, which will also likely be available by July. iPhone OS 4.0 for the iPad will be available in the Fall of 2010.

CNet News, iPhone OS 4.0: Multitasking arrives (live blog)