Apple held a media event today to unveil iPhone OS 4.0. (You can read a nice summary of the new features at a page Apple set up for it). I won’t repeat everything from the announcements or explain every new feature, but Jobs emphasized 7 “tentpole” features of OS 4.0 they wanted to highlight. They were:
- Multitasking / Fast App Switching – exposed system APIs that apps can use to keep running in the background. Apps can freeze state to be resumed later
- Folders – Users can gather apps into folders and have as many as 2160 apps on a given device.
- Enhanced Mail – Unified inbox, threaded view, and more.
- iBooks – (now for iPhone and iPod Touch) A shrunken version of Apple’s ebook reader/store. Syncs across iPhone OS devices.
- GameCenter – sort of like an Xbox Live for iPhone OS devices. Leaderboards, matchmaking, etc.
- Enterprise – Apple stressed improved security, over-the-air app installations, and more.
- iAds – unified advertising platform built into the OS. Apple takes an “industry standard” 40% of the revenue; rest goes to app developer.
According to Apple, iPhone OS 4.0 will have over 100 new user features
iPhone OS 4.0 is set to release this summer, which is when Apple will almost certainly launch their as-of-yet unannounced 4th generation iPhone. Not all iPhone OS devices will get all the features. The original iPhone is completely left out. The iPhone 3G won’t get multitasking. The latest iPod Touch and the iPhone 3GS going forward will enjoy the full feature list. The iPad won’t get the update until the fall.
Thoughts and Reactions
For iPhone users, this seems like a really great update. Android users will rightly laugh a bit as they have enjoyed multitasking for awhile now. However, Apple’s implementation might be a nice compromise between functionality and performance/battery life. The real-world impact of their approach remains to be seen.
Multitasking / Fast App Switching 
Not a whole lot to say about these features. This is one of the biggest complaints users have had about iPhone OS in the past. What remains to be seen is how beneficial Apple’s approach is. If they are able to ensure great performance, stability, and battery life in a multitasking environment, then their patience will have paid off. Jobs compared this to the outcry for copy & paste. Jobs: “Like with cut & paste, we aren’t the first ones to get there, but we’ll be the best.”
To demonstrate the multitasking, Jobs had demos from Pandora and Skype to show the apps working in the background. Pandora music continued to stream and even if Skype isn’t running you can receive calls (even if your screen is locked). It seems like they’re making the functionality we’ve been asking for possible, but in due time we will see if the APIs have any serious restrictions or shortcomings.
Apple specifically mentioned support for streaming audio, VoIP, GPS, push & local notifications, and task finishing (e.g. Flickr uploading photos in the background).
In a Q&A session following the event, someone asked how to quit apps while multitasking. Jobs quipped: “In multitasking, if you see a task manager… they blew it. Users shouldn’t ever have to think about it.”
In other words, there is no quit button! I could see that rattling users who like finely detailed control over how their device is running. At the same time, I can see the reasoning behind it of simplicity. Many people just want to use their device, they don’t want to manage it. The device is there to help them accomplish things – rather than the user being there to maintain and service the device. I appreciate this design philosophy, even if it can lead to compromises in flexibility. Let’s just say it’s not for everyone.
Folders
I wonder why this wasn’t called “Stacks” – that makes more sense to me. Basically you can combine app icons into a folder. The OS is smart and generates a name based on the category (e.g. Games), which you can rename to your liking. The icon for the folder is made up of mini-squares that show the apps contained inside of it.
It’ll be nice to have more organization options. It was getting old having to swipe 10 times to find the app you wanted. I never use Spotlight on my iPhone now (however, if I somehow had 2160 apps on my phone, then I guess I’d have to start using it!).
Enhanced Mail
I wonder what took them so long! But at least it’s here at last! Unified inbox, multiple exchange accounts, threaded message view. The iPhone has always been “just ok” when it comes to the built-in mail program. It wasn’t bad and it got the job done, but we’ve been waiting awhile for some improvements.
One of the biggest annoyances in Mail previously was backing out of one account’s inbox to switch to another account. Sounds like Apple have nailed that not only by allowing the unified inbox (which I am glad exists, but probably won’t use), but also by enabling a method to switch quickly between accounts.
These days I often use Gmail’s mobile web app instead of the built-in inbox. Google has done a good job on that. (If you haven’t seen the iPad version of gmail, it’s pretty awesome!).
iBooks
Engadget’s liveblog reported that not even Jobs seemed all that excited about this. I am intrigued at the prospect of reading books on the iPad with the Kindle app or iBooks (though I am wary of DRMed content in both cases). However, ebook reading on a device the size of the iPhone or iPod Touch is a non-starter for me. I’m glad to have the option, but I doubt I’ll ever use it. It’s just not that comfortable to do serious, sustained reading on a 3.5″ device.
iPhone OS already has several excellent ebook reading programs, such as Stanza and Eucalyptus (which has had the eye-candy page-turning effect that iBooks uses for awhile now).
Game Center
With Game Center, Apple is attempting to create an “Xbox Live” for iPhone OS in Game Center. Developers can take advantage of APIs to implement matchmaking, achievements, leader boards, and more. Apple didn’t show much about this so I’m looking forward to see where they take this.
A few other things coming in 4.0
I just noticed on Apple’s developer preview page some more features that weren’t highlighted in the media event.
- In-app SMS texting – At long last, I don’t have to stop what I’m doing to respond to a friend who texted me.
- Calendar/Photo access for all apps – any app can create and edit calendar events.
- Video playback and capture – 3rd party apps have access to more APIs for video. Previously, this was confined to Apple’s video editing abilities in the 3GS.
- There were a few more, so go ahead and check it out.
Conclusions
There are a lot of exciting new features. On paper it will sound like a lot of “well, it’s about time!” but more than the raw list, I’m excited about Apple’s implementation of these features.
We’ll see how well implemented all of this is later this summer, but I’m definitely excited to at least catch up to some of the competition in terms of features. Apple usually differentiates itself from competitors not in raw features placed into comparison charts, but in user experience and UI design.
If you made it through all of this writing to this point, then tell me: What do you think?
While I know hardware enhancements would not have been revealed today, I was looking for subtle proof that a new camera eye would appear on the home front of the new iPhone to make video Skype, iChat, etc., possible. Multi-tasking is enough to get a new model, but iChat capabilities would make it worthy of two new editions for our household.
It’s worth noting that some of the new APIs Apple is including for developers include video capture and playback. However, I did not expect Apple to spill the beans on the 4th gen iPhone’s hardware/features. They don’t want to give competitors the next 2 months to try to steal their thunder.
Yes, there is no ‘quit button.’ However, judging from the videos of the developer preview in action, it seems you press and hold on an App that is running in the multitasking bar, and it will shake and display a little minus symbol, which you can tap to quit the program. Seems intuitive & speedy enough.