iPhone 4.0 is finally taking Apple’s popular mobile operating system to the next level, adding the ability to multitask, one of the systems biggest deal breakers for many busy users. Apple has also announced folder layering, iBooks support and various other improvements at today’s Apple press conference.
In response to how multi-tasking will be used and whether or not it will hinder device performance, Scott Forstall, SVP of iPhone software told GDGT:
“How are we adding multitasking while preserving battery life and performance. We looked at tens of thousands of apps in the app store, and we’ve distilled the services those apps need to run in the background. So we implemented those services, and we’re providing those services as APIs to developers so they can add multitasking while preserving battery life.”
The ability to keep the phones operating system, hardware and additional software running without performance issues was also echoed by Steve Jobs during the conference.
To show off the systems abilities Skype for iPhone, was shown being used while OpenTable was accessed during a Skype call, the system didn’t skip a beat. GPS can also continue to run while using other appls, however GPS is a power hungry beast which even Apple hasn’t been able to tame.
Aside from multi-Tasking Apple also announced a complete overhaul of iPhone Mail services, this includes a unified inbox and the ability to support multiple Exchange accounts. Mail can also be organized by thread, making it more simple than ever to carry on mail based conversations and presentations via our iPhone. Users will also be happy to know that attachments can now be opened using their mail program and launched in various iPhone and iPad programs.
Folders have also been added to the fray. According to Mashable:
Stacks from Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6. You can drag and drop apps onto one another to create application folders. This will take the number of maximum apps that you can visually see on your phone from 180 to 2160!
Another new feature is the operating systems ability to support iBooks which have previously been released only for iPad devices. Users will be able to purchase and view eBooks directly on their iPhone and iPod devices.
Apple also announced plans to release a social gaming network for the iPhone, although details about this venture have yet to be fully released.
Enterprise services have been a big hurdle for business users looking to take advantage of the iPhone, now Apple is hoping to pull in more of those users with several new features and future improvements. Among those abilities wireless app distribution for internal apps (Blackberry BES) and support for SSL VPN. Apple is also planning better email encryption, while providing developers with better API tools so they can more strongly encrypt data within their own applications.
Finally, Steve Jobs announced iAd, a new ad platform for iPhone devices. Jobs made the following jab at Google:
“On a mobile device, search is not where it’s at, not like on the desktop. They’re spending all their time on these apps, they’re using apps to get to data on the internet, not generalized search.”
“The average user spends over 30 minutes using apps on their phone. If we said we wanted to put an ad up every 3 minutes, that’d be 10 ads per device per day ‚ about the same as a TV show. We’re going to soon have 100 million devices. That’s a billion ad opportunities per day!”
Since iAd is built into the iPhone 4.0 user interface it should be noted that interactive video content can be included in an ad while an application continues to run, giving Apple a huge boost to user engagement which should lead to high CPM rates for both Apple and their developers. Developers it should be noted will get 60% of the revenues, with the remaining 40% going to Apple.
Those are the biggest announcements about iPhone 4.0 and the best part is, there is still more to come as Apple developers continue to build upon the new iPhone 4.0 structure to ensure a stronger, faster and better overall equipped service.
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