Steve Jobs unveiled OS4 for the iPhone and the iPod Touch today, and the big news is multitasking. Hell to the yes. Finally, you can stream Pandora in the background while using other apps. Hotcha! The updated OS will be available this summer for 3GS phones and third-gen iPod Touches, but older models won’t be able to run the full system — and it won’t be available on the iPad until fall.
The other “tentpole” features of OS4 are folders, which will allow you to organize apps; “enhanced mail” improvements to the native mail app; iBooks for the iPhone, which is major, considering how many e-books iPad users have bought already; better development options for business apps; social gaming; and iAds — in-app interactive mobile advertising.
It’s a major improvement for the OS, but I can’t help but think that the real news here is iAd. Most online advertising is search-based, but people don’t use search as much on their phones, so there hasn’t been a dominant form of ads yet on mobile devices. Apple’s planting one hell of a flag in that department right now.
What features were you hoping for, PopWatchers?
Multi-tasking for the 3G would have been nice. I guess those of us who bought phones earlier in the game just aren’t as important.
You guys are also coming up on the ends of your contracts, which means upgrade to iPhone 4 is an easier and cheaper option than those of us with the 3GS, who have another year to go. Apple releasing this for the 3GS is essentially a courtesy for those of us in that year of limbo.
I only have to wait three months to upgrade to the new I phone. I can upgrade every year. It depends on your contact with AT&T and how long you have been with them for your upgrade time.
Blah! Will I finally be able to make calls on the darn thing with that new os? The iphone is such a pain to use I just put it away some time ago and resorted to using a much simpler Sony Ericsson model.
what are you like 90 yrs old?
Now, THAT was hilarious!
I am so over Apple. The wait for 4.0 on iPad is just wrong on so many levels; it should have done multi-tasking out of the dang box.
I’ll also be jumping to Sprint for there lovely 4G phone.
WHERE IS THE iPHONE FOR VERIZON????????????????????
I was hoping for Verizon too. AT&T sucks.
Except it’s, like, not. AT&T recently overtook Verizon in terms of area covered for 3G service, plus their unlimited data package isn’t a glorified scam like Verizon’s. Simple facts.
AT&T may have passed Verizon in terms of area, but Verizon is destroying AT&T on reliability.
Thank you, Luke Wilson. AT&T’s service and rate of dropped calls is so horrible they had to add a “Report This” app to the iPhone. You can quote data packages all you want, but the real fact is that AT&T drops my calls all day long.
DROID does… ;o)
Yes, and now so does Apple. Late to the party, but they got there.
Yeah, but Droids can actually make phone calls too.
I fail to see the joke there. I have an iPhone, make many phone calls, and almost never lose my signal.
I saw a commercial for Droid last night, and in fine print it said “Droid is a registered trademark of Lucasfilm.” Wow, who knew?
I just bought a Droid, and I laughed out loud when I saw that on the box. Maybe because he invented the word (did he? I’m just guessing).
Anyway, my Verizon Droid Eris is absolutely amazing. The only thing I don’t like is that you can’t have songs on it from iTunes like the iPhone, but I just bought a new iPod anyway, so no biggie.
Haha, I saw that over the weekend too. I was like that totally makes sense. I wonder how much dough Lucas is making off his little phone name trademark deal.
@Matty there are apps you can download to converty your iphone songs to work on your droid and save them to your SD card. That way they don’t take up so much space! Double twist is one you can try.
oh and converty = convert
Better put a case on your iPhone so it does not get iAids.
Thats soooo tacky.
Well, actually, it’s not really multitasking in the truest sense. Still a lot of control from Apple. Grr.
It’s actually very similar to the system that Droid and Windows Phone 7 use. So technically neither of those are true “multitaskers” either.
N900 multitasks perfectly.
Hello, my name is iBunk. I “multitask” years after my competitors. The new, upcoming version of myself will have only seven background wallpapers; never you worry about customization.
Apple-Please give us FLASH so I can watch Idolatry on my iphone
YES! This is all I want. It’s SO annoying to not have Flash …
I really wanted a way to organize pictures, into different folders instead of just a long camera roll so pics are easier to find.
Ability to watch ABC episodes and Netflix streaming like iPad
Netflix will be available in a month or two for the iPhone. Free app that allows to edit your queue and stream your videos. I cannot wait personally.
…just jailbreak your iPhone. The multitasking option has been around for months and it’s great. I listen to Pandora while checking my e-mail.
If you ever want to get the most out of your iPhone, jailbreak it.
I am not jailbreaking my phone…. I think that is absurd and childish but then again I’m 58 (and a techie). There is nothing I need that bad. I want FLASH!!!!
There a multitaking for jail-breaks? Awesome!
If Apple would give full functionality on their products, jailbreaking wouldn’t be necessary. But they don’t, so I do. There’s no reason why the 2.0 Touch can’t do multi-tasking. NONE. Apple just wants you to buy a new one.
I would also love to have Flash on the iPhone because there is too many websites that don’t function on iPhone.