iOS 4 is in the wild! What’s new with the new iPhone/iPad/iPod OS?

Yesterday, the newest OS for iDevices was released to the world over. Steve Jobs recently reported at WWDC that there are over 100,000,000 iDevices in the marketplace at this point. Now granted, a lot of those are devices that don’t run the iDevice OS or use Apps. But either way, even the big chunk of that 100Million that are iOS devices is a HUGE potential market for any App.

Here’s a quick rundown from Mashable and you can check out the FULL list of upgrades – as listed in the iTunes confirmation window – after the jump:

 

 

Apple has just released the iOS 4 update for iPhone and iPod touch owners. The iPhone 4might not be in stores until Thursday, but existing owners can take advantage of the new software features coming to the new device starting now.

iOS 4 is a free update and is compatible with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS models, as well as second- and third-generation iPod touches. Multitasking will only work with the iPhone 3GS and third-generation iPod touch, however.

On the backend, iOS 4 has more than 1,500 changes or additions to the API, which will enable developers to build even better apps on these devices. We’ll be posting a more complete video overview of what is new in iOS 4 later this afternoon, but check out some of the highlights first:

• Multitasking — A combination of persistent-state applications and backgrounding functions for certain services. The end result means better battery performance when doing things like listening to Pandorawhile browsing the web.
• Folders — Organizing your iPhone Home Screen is easier now that you can use folders to store groups of apps in one icon. This is a huge time-saver and makes finding and keeping more apps on your device much easier.
• iBooks — First appearing on the iPad, iBooks is now available for iPhone users. Just like the Kindle app, your purchases and page marks are synchronized across devices.
• Tap to Focus Video — iPhone 3GS owners can now tap to focus their videos just like you can when taking still shots. The new software also includes a 5x digital zoom for the built-in camera.
• Bluetooth Keyboard Support – You can now pair your iPhone with a Bluetoothkeyboard, which will make typing long documents much easier.
• Better Spell Check – The spell check utility now works across Mail, Notes, Safari and other apps.

There are tons of other new features in iOS 4 and we’ll be showing them off over the next few days, as well as highlighting some apps that take advantage of the new features.

 

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Full Listing of Feature Upgrades from the iTunes Confirmation Window:

iOS 4 Software Update

This update contains over 100 new features, including the following:

• Multitasking support for third-party apps*

- Multitasking user interface to quickly move between apps

- Support for audio apps to play in the background

- VoIP apps can receive and maintain calls in the background or when device is asleep

- Apps can monitor location and take action while running in the background

- Alerts and messages can be pushed to apps using push and local notifications

- Apps can complete tasks in the background

• Folders to better organize and access apps

• Home screen Wallpaper*

• Mail improvements

- Unified inbox to view emails from all accounts in one place

- Fast inbox switching to quickly switch between different email accounts

- Threaded messages to view multiple emails from the same conversation

- Attachments can be opened with compatible third- party apps

- Search results can now be filed or deleted

- Option to select size of photo attachments

- Messages in the Outbox can be edited or deleted

• Support for iBooks and iBookstore (available from the App Store)

• Photo and Camera improvements

- 5x digital zoom when taking a photo**

- Tap to focus during video recording**

- Ability to sync Faces from iPhoto

- Geo-tagged photos appear on a map in Photos

• Ability to create and edit playlists on device

• Calendar invitations can be sent and accepted wirelessly with supported CalDAV servers

• Support for MobileMe calendar sharing

• Suggestions and recent searches appear during a web search

• Searchable SMS/MMS messages**

• Spotlight search can be continued on web and Wikipedia

• Enhanced location privacy

- New Location Services icon in the status bar

- Indication of which apps have requested your location in the last 24 hours

- Location Services can be toggled on or off for individual apps

• Automatic spellcheck

• Support for Bluetooth keyboards*

• iPod out to navigate music, podcasts and audiobooks through an iPod interface with compatible cars

• Support for iTunes gifting of apps

• Wireless notes syncing with IMAP-based mail accounts

• Persistent WiFi connection to receive push notifications*

• New setting for turning on/off cellular data only**

• Option to display the character count while composing new SMS/MMS**

• Visual Voicemail messages can be kept locally even if they have been deleted from the server**

• Control to lock portrait orientation*

• Audio playback controls for iPod and third-party audio apps*

• New languages, dictionaries and keyboards

• Accessibility enhancements*

• Bluetooth improvements

• Better data protection using the device passcode as an encryption key* (Requires full restore.)

• Support for third-party Mobile Device Management solutions

• Enables wireless distribution of enterprise applications

• Exchange Server 2010 compatibility

• Support for multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts

• Support for Juniper Junos Pulse and Cisco AnyConnect SSL VPN apps (available from the App Store)

• More than 1,500 new developer APIs

• Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPhone 3G

• iPhone 3GS

• iPhone 4

• iPod touch 2nd generation

• iPod touch 3rd generation (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB)

* Requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPod touch 3rd generation.

** Requires iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4. SMS/MMS messaging and Visual Voicemail require support from your wireless carrier.

For feature descriptions and complete instructions, see the user guides for iPhone and iPod touch at:

<http://support.apple.com/manuals/iphone>

<http://support.apple.com/manuals/ipodtouch>For more information about iPhone and iPod touch, go to:

<http://www.apple.com/iphone>

<http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch>To troubleshoot your iPhone or iPod touch, or to view additional support information go to:

<http://www.apple.com/support/iphone>
<http://www.apple.com/support/ipodtouch>For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:

<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222>