April 9, 2010 – On Thursday April 8th Apple scheduled a press event to preview the new iPhone OS version 4. As with all of Apple’s events, it generated a lot of buzz on the internet and was heavily covered by the tech sites. I have to admit I was sucked in and covered it blow by blow on twitter, but hey I’m a big Apple fan so it was fun for me.
iPhone OS 4 has over 100 new features and over 1,500 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that were added to the Software Development Kit (SDK) which developers can use to build some amazing new apps. Some of the new features include:
- Multitasking for third party applications
- Folders to better organize and access apps
- Improved Mail with a unified inbox, fast inbox switching and threaded messages
- Apple’s new iAd mobile advertising platform
- Enhanced Enterprise support with even better data protection, mobile device management, wireless app distribution and more
- iBooks, the new ebook reader and online bookstore recently debuted on the iPad
Multitasking is probably the most exciting and desired addition to iPhone OS 4. Developers now have access to seven multitasking services to enhance their applications, including:
- Background audio, so apps like Pandora can play music in the background while you are working in other apps.
- VoIP apps can receive a VoIP call even when the iPhone is asleep or the user is running other apps.
- Background location, apps like TomTom can continue to give you voice directions while you’re listening to music or using other apps. There are some nice built in privacy settings to control which apps can access you location data.
- Push notifications, are server based and used to send updates to apps providing sports scores, stock tickers, etc. running in the background.
- Local notifications, are similar to push notifications except you don’t need a server. The notifications are delivered completely within the phone’s OS. For example, a TV guide app. could notify you when your favorite show was on, even while running in the background.
- Task completion, apps like Flickr can take a while to upload your images to their site. In the past if you switched out of the app the upload would stop, now it can run in the background while you do other things and you’ll receive a notification when the upload is complete.
- Fast app switching, allows you to switch between applications without losing the state the app was in. For example, if you were playing a game and wanted to switch to another app, you would lose the game. Now the game can save it’s status and resume where you left off.
Multitasking had been left out in previous versions because of battery drain and the amount of processing power required to run background applications. The creative team at Apple somehow came up with a way to add the multitasking capability to version 4 without a negative impact on the device’s performance.
Folders help users get better organized by allowing them to group like applications together. The folder is automatically given a name based on it’s category in the App Store (ex. Games) or the user can create their own name. Now you can organize and manage over 2,000 apps where previously only 180 apps were allowed.
The new Unified Inbox allows users to see messages from all of their email accounts displayed together in a single inbox. With just a few taps users can switch between inboxes to see messages from any single account. In addition, users can now thread their messages by conversation, making it easier to stay on top of discussions, as well as open email attachments with compatible apps from the App Store.
iAd is Apple’s new mobile advertising platform that combines the emotion of TV ads with the interactivity of web ads. Todays method of in-app mobile advertising is clunky and takes the user out of their app experience leading them to the advertisers website. It’s often very difficult or impossible to return to exactly where they left. Because of this, users mostly ignore the ads unless it’s something they are really interested in. iAd solves this problem by displaying full-screen video and interactive ad content over the current app without leaving, and letting users return to their app anytime they choose. Apple will sell and serve the ads dynamically and wirelessly to the device and developers will receive an industry-standard 60 percent of iAd revenue.
Apple is taking a stab at the social gaming market with Game Center, a set of APIs that allows developers to create apps with the ability to invite friends to play a game, start a multiplayer game through matchmaking and track achievements and compare high scores on a leader board. Apple’s new social gaming network will be available to iPhone and iPod touch users later this year.
New enterprise features include improvements in security, scalability and compatibility. The new Mobile Device Management service can be integrated with third party servers to wirelessly configure, query and even wipe or lock managed iPhones, and iPhone OS 4 enables enterprises to securely host and wirelessly distribute their own in-house developed apps to employees. The Data Protection feature uses the user’s passcode as an encryption key to protect mail messages and attachments stored on the device. You can now set a longer, more complex passcode, making iPhone and its data even more secure. IT managers can set up multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts and is compatible with Exchange Server 2010 and includes support for forthcoming SSL VPN applications from Juniper Networks and Cisco.
iPhone Developers can download the iPhone OS 4 beta software and SDK now at developer.apple.com. iPhone OS 4 will be available as a software update to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer and a version will be available in the fall for the iPad. Multitasking does require a 3Gs iPhone or third generation iPod touch, but the OS will run on older versions with limitations.
Here’s a link to view Steve Job’s one hour presentation in QuickTime format.
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Founder of Current Photographer, co-host of The Digital Photography Cafe Show, Designer, Photographer, and overall tech geek.