Tag Archives | iPhone OS

Pointing out that 80% of Fortune 500 companies use iPhones, Jobs demoed some new enterprise level functionality for the iPhone. iPhone OS 4.0 would build on this success by offering APIs for encryption, wireless distribution of applications, and mobile device management for large iPhone deployments.

However, Jobs quickly came back to the consumer with the Game Center, which would be a Xbox Live or PSN of the iPhone community. The functionality would allow developers to tap into a centralized network where gamers could play against each other. Apple says the functionality would be available later this year.

Another not-so-surprising feature is iAd, Apple’s foray into mobile advertising. Acknowledging that many apps in the App Store are free, and that current available ad programs “suck,” Jobs debuted Apple’s own advertising network. He said that the average user spends 30 minutes a day in apps, and that soon the iPhone would have the capability to serve a billion ad impressions a day soon, “an incredible demographic.”

The centerpiece of iAds would be their interactivity, and would ensure that clicking on an ad would keep the user in the app since it is done through the OS itself. Developers would get 60% percent of all revenue from ads within their applications.

Got too many applications on your iPhone? You will now be able to organize them into folders. These folders will also be able to be placed on the dock, making organization on the iPhone a lot easier.

Apple has also updated the Mail application allowing for multiple exchange accounts and a “unified inbox,” meaning all your accounts would appear in a single mailbox rather than separate ones. Although they might be not on the best terms with Google, they certainly are borrowing ideas: the new Mail app would allow threading of E-mails (a la Gmail, and to an extent the Desktop application as well), and attachments in e-mails could be opened by the corresponding application just like a desktop computer.

Not surprisingly Apple is bringing iBooks to the iPhone. The application looks quite similar to the iPad version, and truly puts the company in direct competition with Amazon. Better yet, if you own an iPad and iPhone, you can have the same book on either device. If you finish part of the book on the iPad, you can sync a bookmark to the iPhone and finish it from there, and vice versa.

Apple will ship the next major update to its iPhone operating system this summer, claiming over 100 new features. CEO Steve Jobs decided to focus on what he called seven “tentpole” features that will make the latest version the best yet. And yes folks, this list of features does include multitasking.

Saying “we weren’t the first to this party, but we’re going to be the best,” Jobs lamented that most multitasking functionality on smart devices both kills the battery as well as reduce the performance of the foreground app. By double clicking the home button within an application, a list of applications come up, similar to what currently happens with Apple-Tab now.

This is great for non-iPod music apps. Now for instance you will continue to be able to listen to Pandora or Rhapsody without having to stay in those apps. For VoIP, you will now be able to receive calls from services like Skype even when it is not currently running. Geolocation would also work through multitasking as well.

Push applications going through Apple’s servers also become unnecessary: this means they can be served locally right from the iPhone. In addition, functions such as uploading would even continue after you leave an application.