FifthTech

It’s a shame when even a company like Apple can’t seem to keep a lid on everyone who works there. Then again, given the fact we’re barely two weeks away from the unveiling of whatever it is Apple will be unveiling, perhaps this isn’t that out of the ordinary. Spice up the market one last time, just before the official announcement? Seems like a good plan to us.

Whatever the reason, Boy Genius has gone ahead and posted the details provided to the site by one of their Ninja. While the list isn’t big, it does showcase a lot of features that people all over the world have been clamoring for since the release of the first iPhone. And, as it happened with the many software improvements made possible by iPhone OS 3.0, it’s better late than never. Here’s what we have for “leaked” features.

• Multi-touch gestures throughout the entirety of the Operating System. (With the word-of-mouth being that the iPhone OS 4.0 is the same, if not remarkably similar to the OS that will be running the still unannounced Apple Tablet, this is not surprising.)
• “A few new ways” to run applications in the background. (Everyone has this tagged as multitasking, and while we’re prone to agree, we are also wondering if Apple doesn’t have some “ingenious” way to revolutionize multitasking, or something along those lines. Are we going to see multitasking as we expect to see it? That should be the question of the day.)
• iPhone OS 4.0 will apparently be only available for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. (This makes sense from a power-management standpoint. Much like Google’s stance with upgrading Android, Apple must believe that if a device can not properly run the update, then providing that update is futile. We’d have to agree with that sentiment.)
• There will be a substantial change to the User Interface –UI– and graphics therein, apparently meant to make it easier to navigate within the OS. (This has us both interested, and perplexed. The ingenuity of the iPhone OS is the fact that it is so simple, and it’s one of the reasons the iPhone itself has been a smash hit around the globe. Is the Tablet’s OS complicated enough, that if put on the iPhone (or even used on the Tablet), the UI has to be customized yet again to make it easier to navigate? That makes us think that, by default, the OS may be complicated. This wouldn’t be like Apple at all, though.)
• There will be a new way to sync contacts and calendar options, according to the leak. (Who knows what this means.)

Many companies, both software- and hardware-based, have tried to keep their Operating Systems fresh along the years. Operations like Windows Mobile have seen fresh life with additions to the UI, with the likes of HTC’s TouchFLO, and even Android has seen the same enhancements with Sense UI. Apple has stayed strong in their presence within the market, keeping the very simple home screen set up for the last three years. From what we can tell with this list, that may all be changing.

If Apple is primed to revolutionize their iPhone, with the help of an Operating System supposedly designed for a Tablet, should we be more focused on the Tablet than the next iteration in the iPhone line-up? Or, is Apple banking on the idea that everyone is going to hustle to buy both products, if one is actually true, and they both come on the market around the same time? We’d be willing to bet it’s the latter of those options. Keep your browsers pointed here, as we detail “the Apple event” on the 27th.

From: Boy Genius Report