Developer: iPhone OS 4.0 “Imminent”
Posted 01/15/2010 at 12:08pm
| by J.R. Bookwalter
Image courtesy of CultOfMac.comApple rumors seem to keep picking up steam as the January 27 media event in San Francisco draws ever closer. The latest one is perhaps the most obvious yet: That iPhone OS 4.0 is coming. The wrinkle? An alleged “high-profile developer” claims its release is “imminent.”
The news that iPhone OS 4.0 is coming should be a surprise to no one -- Apple has historically released a new OS along with each new generation of the device itself. The eyebrow-raising part of today’s news is that it may appear sooner than anyone thinks. The last two major iPhone OS updates have been announced in March in order for developers to work with the software developer kit and prepare for the actual release with the hardware in June/July.
In recent weeks, with Apple tablet fever ramping up, rumors have been flying fast & furious that iPhone OS 4.0 may actually arrive earlier, as well as include a simulator to make it easier for developers to move their small-screen iPhone OS apps to what is presumed to be the larger screen resolution of a tablet computer.
According to AppleInsider, Rick Boida of CNet’s iPhone Atlas
received an e-mail from a “prominent app developer” with the news that he was actually using iPhone OS 4.0. “Just wanted to give you a heads up that we’ve submitted an updated app for the new iPhone OS 4.0 software,” the e-mail allegedly disclosed. The developer then goes on to claim the release of iPhone OS 4.0 is “imminent,” but refused to give further details.
It’s widely assumed at this point that Apple will unveil its fabled tablet on January 27, and with an absence of any new iPhone OS updates lately, rumors are spreading that Apple may be holding them back because they include too many references to the tablet hardware.
AppleInsider was also contacted this week by a developer whose Pinch Media statistics showed a single handset using iPhone OS 4.2. They are quick to point out that such identifiers could be faked, and it doesn’t seem logical that Apple would skip over a 4.0 release and go straight to 4.2.
