Apple's New iPhone

With all the hubbub I've had to say about BlackBerry and the Androids recently, it is time to, once again, take a look at the iPhone- only it may appear a bit different than before. Apple announced the shipment of iPhone OS 4 this summer at its media day today  and  with it the iPhone will change significantly.

While details were sketchy, what we know thus far is that the new iPhone will bring thousands of new applications as well as a new framework called "accelerate."  But, perhaps the biggest news for users is the new form of multitasking that this phone promises.   Apple has lagged behind Droid and others in the area and today it moved to fix the problem by adding the capability to the iPhone. Switch back and forth between apps effortlessly, without having to lose what you were doing before you switched.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that they have created a system that allows for smooth transition from one application to another without slowing performance or killing the battery.  The running applications will be shown along the bottom bar, where one now sees the phone, mail, Safari browser, and iPod applications.

This is all great news for business professionals who needs to access documents, stay internationally accessible, check their email, and, perhaps even spend a spare moment with the top news feeds.

Among those applications that will "run in the background" are Pandora's Music Box, push notifications, and VoIP (yes, that's right, VoIP- Wait, Skype talking iPhone- eh hem, Verizon, perhaps?).  In fact, the head of the Skype Mobile division, David Ponsford was invited to the party to explain that now when iPhone users leave the Skype App, they will still be able to receive calls and will be made aware of those via a visual alert on the screen. Perhaps those figures regarding iPhone being outsold by 2012 are not so precise after all.