Apple sets the date to unveil new Iphone features

FRUIT THEMED TOYMAKER Apple has announced the day it is likely to bring forth basic functionality to both Iphone and Ipad devices with the latest version of the Iphone OS.

While children everywhere were taking part in Easter egg hunts, the Iphone Dev Team was taking part in another hunt of sorts, managing to jailbreak the latest Iphone OS that comes pre-installed with the Ipad. That version, 3.2, took all of a day to jailbreak, showing either Apple's technological prowess in locking down its platform or just its incompetence in grasping the notion of security. As of this weekend, and for at least the next two, the Ipad lacks the world's most expensive 3G radio, so there's no need to 'unlock' the device.

Given the consummate ease in which Iphone OS 3.2 was cracked and the fact that both the Iphone and the Ipod Touch still run on version 3.1.3 of the crippled operating system, it was perhaps not a great surprise that Steve Jobs moved up the "sneak peak" at what's to come. The cappuccino firm is set to show off "the future" of the Iphone OS on April 8.

That version is not only likely to plug the gaping hole in Safari that remained untouched and allowed the Iphone Dev Team to jailbreak the Ipad, but it is widely expected, and hoped, that Apple will give its handheld devices the most basic of functionality, the ability to multi-task.

It shouldn't be particularly hard for Apple to do so, as Iphone OS does support multi-tasking, but the fruity toymaker decided to intentionally cripple that functionality by not allowing third party applications. These are the applications that the toymaker advertises, the very ones that the firm takes a cut on every sale for, and the ones that ultimately have papered over the mediocrity of the Iphone.

Rabid fanbois eager to get their hands on the latest Iphone OS will have to wait as this event is not a release of the software. Usually major Iphone OS versions are announced alongside an updated Iphone, however it is highly unlikely that Steve Jobs would release two headline devices in such a short space of time. The best fanbois can hope for is a glimpse of Iphone OS 4 running on an updated Iphone, but more realistically, it'll be demonstrated on the Ipad.

Once fanbois are given a sneak peak, their attention will turn to when they can get their hands on the latest Iphone. Given that Iphones are generally launched in the second week of June, it's not all that unlikely we'll see the release then. Those who have already handed over a princely sum for their Ipad, will be hoping that Jobs, who jumped the queue of fanbois at his local church, will bestow some overdue functionality upon them.

Maybe it's a lack of multi-tasking ability at the cappuccino firm that stopped it from releasing both the Ipad and an updated bit of software at the same time. Nonetheless, unlike Mac OS X, users shouldn't need to pay through the nose to get a clutch of security and basic functionality updates. µ