Yesterday was quite the day for Apple, since the company from Cupertino held an important event, presenting the latest developments regarding its iPhone ecosystem. And no, we're not talking about a new iPhone iteration (not yet, anyway), but about an update of the operating system powering the aforementioned handheld.

The preview of iPhone OS version 4 brought about some extremely exciting surprises, probably the most interesting being the multitasking capability, which offers users a new way to quickly move between apps, and provides developers seven new multitasking services to easily add multitasking features to their apps. These services include background audio, so apps like Pandora can play music in the background, and VoIP, so VoIP apps can receive a VoIP call even when the iPhone is asleep or the user is running other apps.

Additionally, iPhone OS 4 provides multitasking to third-party apps while preserving battery life and foreground app performance, which has until now proved elusive on mobile devices. However, there's also a very serious downside, namely the fact that just iPhone 3GS models will support this functionality (in other words, all 3G owners will be left hanging and probably forced to upgrade to newer models).

Another interesting addition to the new future OS is the Folders option, which helps users better organize and quickly access their apps. For this, they'll simply have to drag one app icon onto another, and a fresh folder will automatically be created. The folder will automatically be given a name based on the App Store category of that app, such as “Games,” which the user can easily rename.

And since we're on the issue of games, we'll also have to point out that the iPhone OS 4 beta release includes a developer preview of Game Center that contains a set of APIs allowing 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. Apps created with GameKit APIs will work with Game Center, Apple’s new social gaming network available to iPhone and iPod touch users later this year.

Last, but certainly not least, we'll also have to mention that the iPhone OS 4 offers a Unified Inbox, permitting users to see messages from all their email accounts displayed together in a single inbox. With just a few taps, users can quickly switch between inboxes to see messages from any single account. In addition, they can now thread their messages by conversation, making it easier to stay on top of email discussions, as well as open email attachments with compatible apps from the App Store.

The iPhone OS 4 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iPhone Developers Program, while end-users will have to wait until summer in order to enjoy its features. Which, by the way, are more extensive than the ones presented above, so stay put for another article detailing them to their full extent.


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