iPhone OS 4.0
Good set of announcements yesterday from Apple. Nothing earth shattering, but overall it’s good progress for the iPhone OS. I was a bit disappointed that the iPad isn’t getting 4.0 at the same time as the iPhone, but given the circumstances, it’s not really surprising.
As for my predictions, I really only got the multitasking right - though some of the implementation details are off as well. I will be very interested in seeing how the new OS alongside any new hardware that comes out this year will perform with multitasking. On paper, it looks really good. But just like all new technologies that Apple has introduced into the iPhone OS, I expect there to be a couple of iterations before they get the right balance of battery life and performance.
As for printing, since that is more of an iPad feature, I would bet on seeing that when Apple puts 4.0 on the iPad in the fall - perhaps a 4.1 release.
Overall, there is a lot of stuff in the 4.0 SDK that can’t be talked about at this time that is going to make a positive impact on the platform for years to come. This version is very much like Snow Leopard in that it lays a lot of groundwork that won’t be immediately obvious to the end user. Expect to see some really cool things on the various iPhone devices over the next few years.
