When Apple announced iPhone OS 4 earlier this month, there was a lot of talk about what it means for Apple as a company. That’s nice, but I’d like to talk about what it means for me. Here are the four major aspects that affect me:
iAd
John Gruber linked to a super-paranoid rant on Bnet about how iAd is essentially Apple’s move towards non-stop advertisements that will take over the content. Ironically, I was distracted by the giant advertisement blocking some of the content on the article. This is complete bunk.
Developers need to make money in order for them to continue to make applications. There is a limit for how much people are willing to spend on mobile applications. Instead of twisting in the wind at the $20 price point, maybe a great app can drop down to $4.99 with the implementation of iAd. If I get to see a surge of cheap, free, and high quality apps, I’m more than willing to look at advertisements.
When developers make money for their applications, that means good things for consumers.
Multitasking
I am excited to see Apple’s implementation in action. Fast app switching alone will make the experience much better. When background audio streaming and background VOIP support are worked into the mix, I become very interested.
I love the trend of Apple listening to the criticisms of their products, taking them into consideration, and then coming up with creative ways to solve the problem. Instead of just giving into the demand for full multitasking, they created a fat-free method of getting the same feature set. I approve of the concept. I’m just waiting to see it in person.
Folders
This is incredibly important. Icon management has been lacking ever since pagination was implemented way back even before the App Store. Apple capitulated, and gave use in-iTunes management of them, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. Now that I can streamline my home screen, I’m more likely to leave ancillary applications on my device. As of now, I pretty much delete anything that I’m not using frequently.
iBooks
Having an iBook client on both the iPad and the iPhone makes a ton of sense. It seems like that if you have one, you probably have the other. The two devices have different uses, and that means you’ll have them at hand during different times. If I can do the bulk of my reading on my iPad in bed, and then do some casual reading on my iPhone in a waiting room, I’ll be in heaven. If bookmarks sync between the clients, we’ll be in for a great user experience.
All in all, there are some great things in store for us. Best of all, we haven’t even seen everything yet. What are you excited about? Let us know in the comment section, or you can hit me up on Twitter.
Photo Credit: romainguy
