iPhone OS 4.0 Download on April 8 - Yes or No

Could Apple be kind enough to roll out iPhone OS 4.0 tomorrow, following the event it plans to host for whatever reasons it has? For developers, maybe. For the average Joe, not very likely. Although the company has some polishing up to do, in both the original iPhone software and the new iPad’s 3.2 iPhone OS, the 4.0 announcement will most likely target developers only, for starters.

It was the case with the iPhone OS 3.0 Software preview, when Apple announced more than 100 new features, including Cut, Copy and Paste, MMS, Spotlight Search, landscape keyboard for Mail, Messages, Notes and Safari, expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store, and the ability to capture and send audio recordings on the go with the new Voice Memo app. All these features, and many more, had been confirmed at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 2009 when Apple only offered a sneak peek into the new iPhone OS, promising to release it whenever it was ready. It took a while before users could actually download the new OS, install it, and enjoy the new features. But why was it necessary to wait?

Well, in part for additional polishing up and, in part, for the developer community. Besides the aforementioned enhancements, iPhone OS 3.0 also opened up some previously locked APIs to third-party developers who now had the chance to rethink their apps, write new code, and offer more features. New developers also hopped aboard, propelling the iTunes App Store into what it is today. The same thing is likely to happen with iPhone OS 4.0.

Apple, if the rumors are true, is likely to:

- show developers the best ways to include code that makes their apps work in the background as other apps are being launched - multitasking;

- offer a glimpse at new features altogether that could enhance existing software even more, or enable the development of new and powerful applications that take advantage of these features;

- provide a first look at an enhanced widget and notifications system;

- change policies regarding the monetization of apps, thanks to a rumored "iAd" advertising platform; - set other rules in place for developers;

- hint at the existence of a next-generation iPhone launching sometime soon;

- more…