iGame Radio

Apple announced today that they will be shipping the iPhone OS 4.0 this summer, and preview developer SDKs are available today. Steve Jobs stated that the next generation of the iPhone OS will feature long awaited features such as application multitasking and folders. Users will also be able to create their own playlists, change the home screen wallpaper (a feature already available in the iPad), and use spell-checking tools.

Multitasking is one of the biggest features that iPhone aficionados have been waiting for. The ability to check out a link from Mail in Safari without having Mail shut down; the ability to listen to music in the iPod app, then browse an eBook app; the ability to play a game while other apps are waiting in the background. A big concern of the multitasking feature is battery drain, but Jobs stated that Apple has taken this into account, and is working to create a process that makes as little impact on battery and performance as possible.

Another useful feature is background location. There are games that use the GPS feature, and more on their way, for geolocation style games. But having GPS constantly pinging your location will drain the battery big time. So iPhone OS 4 will use cell towers to signal location changes. When you’ve changed to a new cell tower, the phone will wake up the app and give the new location.

Apple has also added in folders, another oft requested feature. Users will be able to organize their folders on the home screen and drag and drop apps into them. A folder will be auto-named based on the genre of app that is placed into it in the beginning.

iPhone OS 4 will also include the iBook app, just as in the iPad. Any books you purchase in one will automatically be available to read in the other after syncing.

But the big one for gamers was the announcement of a social gaming network API, called the Game Center, available “for everyone later this year”. It will include challenge notifications, automatic matchmaking based on player ability, global leaderboards, and achievements. Is Apple providing a social network API alternative for developers that don’t use OpenFeint, Plus+, etc? Or is there a hint of game development coming from Apple? Sadly, there were no demos of the API forthcoming (just a few screens), so we will have to wait for more information as it comes.

Apple’s last announcement regarded recently acquired mobile advertising company iAds. Apple intends to deliver ads not based on searches, but on app use, and wants to make them of a higher quality, more “emotional” and interactive. The ads will go right over the app itself, so no click-thru will be required. Apple will sell the ads and host the data, and developers will reap 60% of whatever revenues come through. Ads will include video and animation that is HTML5 based.

The iPhone OS 4.0 will be available for all iPhone, iPod Touch users this summer, and iPad users this fall, but only iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3rd Gen will have access to features such as Multitasking. The iPhone OS 4.0 developer SDK is available today.

(via MacObserver and Mac|Life)