Apple Pulls Back The Covers On iPhone 4.0

Many industry watchers were expecting revised multi-tasking for the iPhone OS 4.0, and Apple delivered. According to a company statement, the update now includes multi-tasking for third-party apps and folders to better manage them. This beefed-up functionality also preserves battery life and foreground app performance.

"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," Apple said in the statement.

Michael Oh, president of Boston-based Apple reseller Tech Superpowers, says the multi-tasking changes are designed to make the iPhone more competitive with other smartphones on the market.

"Android and Palm have been heavily touting their multi-tasking capabilities, and while their marketing hasn't been tremendously effective in converting iPhone users, all the talk about multi-tasking makes Apple seem like they are falling behind by staying still," Oh said.

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"Of course, it's obvious that Apple is going to make that advantage for Android and Palm just disappear -- especially with the other developer-friendly features, such as social gaming and ad revenue generation -- iPhone is back on top again."

Next: Apple Also Debuts iAd Apple, which last year lost out to Google in the fight for mobile advertising company AdMob, also debuted its mobile advertising platform, dubbed iAd. It blends the emotion of television ads with the hands-on feel of Internet ads.

iPhone OS 4.0 allows developers to embed iAd in their own apps. Apple says it will sell and serve the ads, and developers will reap 60 percent of the revenue.

Thursday's update also unveiled an integrated e-mail system that lets users access different accounts in a unified inbox. Additional goodies to the update include iBooks, which can also be used on the iPad, and enhanced security and data-protection options.

"The new Data Protection feature uses a user's passcode as an encryption key to protect mail messages and attachments stored on the iPhone," Apple said in a statement. "iPhone OS 4 now provides the option to set a longer, more complex passcode, making iPhone and its data even more secure."

The iPhone 4.0 beta, which includes more than 1,500 new Application Programming Interfaces and 100 features, is currently available at developer.apple.com for iPhone Developed Program members. Actual software update for users will be released this summer.