Today, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, CEO Steve Jobs revealed the new iPhone 4, which Jobs said was the "biggest leap" in iPhone models since the initial 2007 version. The new design, available in black and white versions, does match the lost-at-a-pub prototype shown at Gizmodo several weeks ago, with a glass front and rear and stainless steel on the sides, with a 24 percent thinner body than the current iPhone. Jobs says it is "the thinnest smartphone on the planet." It uses the same A4 chip as the iPad. A larger battery increases 3G talk time to 7 hours, 3G browsing to 6 hours, and Wi-Fi browsing to 10 hours, he said. On-device storage remains at a maximum 32GB.
Pricing is the same as the current 3G S models: $199 for the 16GB edition and $299 for the 32GB edition, as part of a cellular contract, starting June 24 in the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan, with 18 other countries to follow in July; 88 countries will have the iPhone 4 by October. The 3G S models will continue to be available, but the 3G has been discontinued.
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Apple has also renamed the iPhone OS to iOS, given its use on the iPad and iPod Touch. Apple has previously announced details on the more business-oriented and multitasking-capable iOS 4.0 upgrade due June 21. A golden master candidate is available today for registered developers. Jobs said the iOS 4.0 upgrade will be available for users on June 21 at no cost for iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 2G, and iPod Touch 3G; iPad availability is planned for fall. The iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G won't support multitasking.
)Jobs demoed iOS 4.0's multitasking capabilities to the WWDC audience, as well as new business-like email capabilities such as a unified inbox and message threading, similar to what Apple Mail and other desktop email clients offer. As InfoWorld reported previously, iOS 4.0 beefs up enterprise security and management support, and it allows businesses to distribute internal apps without needing to use the App Store. Apple has added Microsoft Bing as a search option in iOS 4.0, though Google remains the default.
Back to the iPhone 4: An added three-axis internal gyroscope should help 3-D visualization and game developers create Wii-like apps, especially when combined with the internal compass and accelerometer. Jobs said this fourth sensor made the iPhone more intelligent about the world around it. (The iPhone also has an ambient light sensor.)
