iPhone OS 4 is the next generation of the world’s most innovative mobile operating system. Its unique capabilities and new technologies will change what you thought was possible on a mobile platform. With a rich set of over 1500 new APIs, iPhone SDK for iPhone OS 4 provides you with an amazing range of technologies to enhance the functionality of your iPhone and iPod touch apps. iPhone Developer Program members can visit the iPhone Dev Center to download the iPhone SDK 4 beta now.

Multitasking

iPhone OS 4 delivers seven new multitasking services that allow your apps to perform tasks in the background while preserving battery life and performance. These multitasking services include:

  • Background audio – Allows your app to play audio continuously. So customers can listen to your app while they surf the web, play games, and more.
  • Voice over IP – Your VoIP apps can now be even better. Users can now receive VoIP calls and have conversations while using another app. Your users can even receive calls when their phones are locked in their pocket.
  • Background location – Navigation apps can now continue to guide users who are listening to their iPods, or using other apps. iPhone OS 4 also provides a new and battery efficient way to monitor location when users move between cell towers. This is a great way for your social networking apps to keep track of users and their friends’ locations.
  • Push notifications – Receive alerts from your remote servers even when your app isn’t running.
  • Local notifications – Your app can now alert users of scheduled events and alarms in the background, no servers required.
  • Task finishing – If your app is in mid-task when your customer leaves it, the app can now keep running to finish the task.
  • Fast app switching – All developers should take advantage of this. This will allow users to leave your app and come right back to where they were when they left – no more having to reload the app.

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