Apple Releases iPhone OS 4.0

Did you hear that? That was the sound of millions of iPhone owners shouting, "It's about time!"

Apple Wednesday rolled out over 100 new features and over 1,500 new developer tools in the latest version of the iPhone software, version 4.0 set to ship this summer. It includes the highly anticipated multitasking feature, something users have been clamoring for since the first iPhone launched in 2007. With multitasking users can run applications

in the background while grinding out other tasks, like listening to Pandora Internet radio while typing out an e-mail.

What took so long? Well it was all about the battery life, apparently. I've used multitasking on my Google Nexus One phone with tragic results. The battery drains right before my eyes. Apple claims to have solved this problem; it appears the company is allowing key functions of an application to continue running while closing non-essential functions. For example, running Pandora doesn't mean I have to see the album art in the background. All I care about is the music blaring through my headphones, right?

This means (you guessed it) it's time to upgrade your iPhone. If you have a first generation model, however, Apple basically just made your device obsolete today. Many of the newly announced features like multitasking wont run on older devices.

"The hardware just can't do it," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

All of the features in OS 4.0 will run on the iPhone 3GS, but the second generation iPod Touch and iPhone 3G will be handicapped. But rest assured we can expect a new fourth generation iPhone this summer to go along with the 4.0 software.

Another big feature of the new OS is folders for organizing your applications. Often I find myself paging through six or seven pages of apps just to find the one I want. With folders you'll be able to organize apps into smaller sections. It works simply by dragging and dropping one application on top of another. Viola! A folder is born.

Also, get ready for a new 'unified' e-mail in-box. I don't know about you but I have four e-mail accounts active on my iPhone, and trying to navigate between them is a royal pain. The single, unified in-box will solve that problem. It even has conversation threading to keep track of certain conversations, just like in Gmail.

Not to be outdone, games get a boost too with the all new Game Center. Think of it as a community center where friends can share high scores, track achievements and invite others to jump in and play a game together over the network.

One glaring omission from the new OS is native turn-by-turn directions. With every other major platform including an application that offers directions, from Microsoft's Windows 7 Phone to Google's Android, it's surprising Apple wouldn't offer up it up for the iPhone. Instead we're left shelling out nearly a 100 dollars for third-party applications.

It's not shocking, but Apple also announced that it is bringing iBooks to the iPhone. The app looks just like the iPad version and puts the company in direct competition with Amazon -- not that there was any doubt about that occurring. Basically, if you own an iPad and an iPhone you'll have access to the same book across both devices.

This is not a revolutionary but rather an evolutionary upgrade to the iPhone's software. But iBooks, Game Center, multitasking, and a unified in-box will nonetheless make for a nice summer treat for iPhone owners.

Apple iPad hits shops in America

Apple's latest product, the iPad tablet computer, has gone on sale in America.

The first generation model has wi-fi but not 3G connectivity, and unlike other tablet devices, it is not yet available outside the US.

The New York Apple store in Manhattan opened its doors to a 500-strong crowd at 0900 EST (1400 BST).

Queues for the new iPad were considerably smaller than the crowds which gathered for the launch of the iPhone in 2007, according to reports.

However people had travelled to the US from around the world to purchase a device.

'Huge hit for some'


Apple took pre-orders online but some early adopters began queuing outside stores the day before its release.

The company's co-founder Steve Wozniak joined a queue outside an Apple store in California on Friday evening.

He said he had pre-ordered the device, which is retailing in the US at $499 - $829 (£328 - £545). European prices have not yet been announced.

"It's going to be a huge hit among a very small section of the public - Mac lovers and early adopters," said the BBC's technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.

"The bigger question is whether there is that big a market between the smartphone and the laptop for it to fill," he said.

"Newspapers and magazines are certainly hoping so but the jury's still out."

In Palo Alto, California, tech expert and former Microsoft "technology evangelist" Robert Scoble, who spent the night outside a store with Chatroulette creator Andrey Ternovskiy, said there were only around 30 in the queue.

Greg Packer and Cheline Lundin are reported to have been the first in line in New York and Chicago respectively. Mr Packer began his wait outside Manhattan's Fifth Avenue Apple store on 30 March.

The device appealed to him because it is "like a mini laptop," he said in a YouTube clip.
AFP reported 15 people waiting outside the Apple store in New York on Friday afternoon, including a mother, daughter and grandmother.

Mother Jeanney Mullen said she was planning to buy one for herself and her 11 -year-old daughter Giovanna.
Her own mother had come along to buy a third for Ms Mullen's boss, as store customers were limited to two devices each.

Mixed reviews

However not everybody shares their enthusiasm.

Journalist and sci-fi author Cory Doctorow has attacked the iPad for being too locked-down.

"Buying an iPad for your kids isn't a means of jump-starting the realisation that the world is yours to take apart and reassemble; it's a way of telling your offspring that even changing the batteries is something you have to leave to the professionals," he wrote on website Boing Boing.

While Apple has pitched the iPad as a "third" device between a phone and a PC, the tablet does not synchronise easily with the two according to Ian Fogg, an expert analyst at Forrester.

"Apple has left too much in the hands of consumers to transfer and manage manually," he wrote in a blog post.

"Tethered sync is a 20th Century product feature."

Whats with the iPad???

The Apple iPad tablet is finally here, but it hasn’t drawn quite the same cheer from Apple enthusiasts and gadget fans that some observers expected.
About 60 percent of the 1,114 readers that took Wired.com’s iPad poll said they would not buy the iPad. Some 41 percent of the 892 readers who took a separate poll said the tablet did not live up to its hype, though they expect it to find a home among high-end consumers.
The iPad name was the focus of many jokes with, predictably, the comments hitting the “pad” aspect of it.
“I think they should have gone with iSlate for the name,” commenter Navi101 wrote in response to our live coverage of the event. “iPad makes me think of feminine products.”
There’s more. The Jezebel blog, written for women, published an entire article summing up the “best period-related iPad jokes.”
“Not gonna lie, the name iPad makes me shudder a bit,” tweeted Lisa Gumerman. “Kind of even makes me less interested in buying it.”
The iPad name is also symptomatic of the lack of women engineers in IT, said Eve Tahmincioglu on the Huffington Post blog.
“I suspect a room full of female computer engineers would not have named Apple’s new cybertablet the iPad,” she wrote. “This naming faux pas is a perfect example of why we need more women IT professionals in this world. Apple wants women to buy these gizmos, but is anyone really thinking about us gals?”
Still some Apple fans says that customers are likely to warm up to the name after the initial reaction. “It’s a poorly chosen name. But so was Wii, and everyone got over those jokes after the first week,” tweeted Rob Sheridan, creative director for Nine Inch Nails.
Other users focused on the real shortcomings of the device. “What? iPad has no [Adobe] Flash player. That’s what it needs for so many websites. That’s not good,” tweeted Andrea Bakes.
Others pointed to the lack of USB port and multitasking in the device as features that will be missed.
“I don’t understand no multitasking, I mean how can you expect anyone to use this for work?” commented ’spitfiredd’ on Wired.com.
Though Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the iPad as a device that would occupy the world between smartphones and laptops, potential customers aren’t convinced. A full 71 percent of 934 readers polled said they won’t buy an iPad, because they are happy with their smartphone and notebook.
Some Apple fans are not ready to give up on the device.
“I am not a fanboy at all, and I find it absolutely awe inspiring,” commented NickSA. “This is the future. Hats off to Apple, they have done it again — though personally I would wait till the second generation [of the device] for all the bugs to get ironed out.”
Ultimately, the question is, who really needs an iPad and is the data plan worth it. “Why would you take a iPad with you if you have a iPhone? Do you need to have both?,” commented jescott418. “Why spend an amount on two service plans with AT&T to basically do the same thing? I am scratching my head at who really needs this except for the base model for a coffee table piece.”
And as for the publishing industry, where some had pinned their hopes on the tablet, the iPad is unlikely to prove to be the digital savior that was wished for. About 59 percent of 824 readers who took the poll say the iPad won’t save the publishing industry.
That’s a few hundred readers that publishers won’t be able to count on.