Apple will host an event at its Cupertino, Calif.
headquarters on April 8 to demonstrate what it calls “the future of the iPhone
OS.” The announcement could be an unveiling of iPhone OS 4.0, the next
generation of the company’s smartphone operating system.
According
to Reuters, Apple is casting the announcement as a “sneak peek” of upcoming
smartphone software.
The announcement comes a few days after the April 3 release of the iPad,
Apple’s tablet PC, which reportedly sold 300,000 units by midnight on that date. In an April 5 statement, the
company suggested that more than 1 million apps for the iPad had already been
downloaded, along with 250,000 ebooks. Developers can build applications for
the iPad with the iPhone OS 3.2 SDK (software development kit), which includes
an iPhone Reference Library, Sample Code, iPad Programming Guide and Human
Interface Guidelines.
Apple’s upcoming iPhone OS update also comes on the heels of updates to its
“Snow Leopard” operating system. Termed Mac OS X 10.6.3, the newest tweaking to
that platform includes boosted reliability of third-party USB
devices and QuickTime X and printers, OpenGL-based application compatibility,
and security updates.
Rumors have abounded about what an iPhone OS 4.0 could contain. On March 31,
the blog AppleInsider
suggested that Apple might include multitasking for third-party applications in
the platform, citing unnamed sources supposedly close to the development.
Competing smartphone platforms such as Google Android have been touting their
multitasking ability as an advantage over the iPhone, something to which Apple
may eventually feel compelled to respond.
“The technology, detailed by people familiar with Apple’s plans for the new
firmware, will finally allow users to launch multiple apps in the background
and quickly switch between them,” Apple Insider bloggers Kasper Jade and Prince
McLean wrote. “Apple initially avoided an app model supporting multiple apps
running at once to help preserve the battery life and simplify the user
experience.”
Those
sources also suggested that the iPhone OS 4.0 could take its design and
functionality cues from the Mac Expose feature. “A key combination—reportedly
hitting the Home button twice—will trigger an Expose-like interface that brings
up a series of icons representing the currently running apps, allowing users to
quickly select the one they want to switch to directly.” Once a selection is
made, the phone then switches to that particular app.
However, Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about its upcoming products, as much
evidenced by the ramp-up to the unveiling and release of the iPad, and so
potential features for a new iPhone OS could change at any time. Apple has also
previously followed a pattern of releasing a new iPhone iteration every
summer—the original in June 2007, the 3G in July 2008 and the 3GS in July 2009.
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