Hot on the heels of launching its new iPad tablet device, Apple has announced it will be holding a special invitation-only event on April 8. The stated purpose? A “peek into the future of iPhone OS.” And that means iPhone OS 4.0.
Apple has not disclosed any other details of what the event will cover; however, the company hosted similar invite-only events to unveil details of iPhone OS 2.0 and iPhone OS 3.0 when they were in development, with an eye towards showing developers and partners what new capabilities would be coming down the pike.
Topping the list of rumored capabilities in iPhone OS 4.0 is support for some form of multitasking, enabling users to run more than one application at the same time. Apple has previously held off on enabling multitasking on iPhones because of their impact on battery life—all it would take to run an iPhone battery into the ground would be one background app keeping a 3G data connection open. Done badly, iPhone users might have a tough time managing multiple applications, or even knowing what was going on in the background.
Reports and rumors also have iPhone OS 4.0 bringing new interface elements, more pervasive multitouch gesture support, and improved synchronization capabilities for applications. Some reports also have the first-generation iPhones being left out of the iPhone OS 4.0 upgrade path, meaning it might only run on iPhone 3G and 3GS models…and whatever new hardware Apple has up its sleeve.
The event will be held at the Town Hall auditorium on Apple’s main corporate campus in Cupertino.
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