theAppleBlog: The iPhone has a number of advantages over its smartphone competitors, but one thing it hasn’t had that users have been clamoring for is true multitasking. Push notifications were intended as a workaround designed to give users the ability to stay up-to-date with multiple apps without having to actually run them at the same time.

TechCrunch: Apple has set the standard that once every year they will release a new version of the iPhone. It stands to reason that this year will be no different, with a new model likely coming sometime this summer. But arguably just as important as Apple’s hardware refresh is the accompanying software refresh that comes with it as well. And that’s why it shouldn’t be surprising at all that whispers of iPhone OS 4.0 are starting to grow.

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Here’s Apple’s description of the camera: “iPhone 3G S features a new 3 megapixel autofocus camera that takes amazing pictures and video, making it easier than ever to capture, edit and share those moments instantly with family and friends. The new autofocus camera adjusts focus, exposure, color and contrast for the best possible image and includes an automatic macro focus for extra close up shots. With the new “tap to focus” feature, you simply touch the display to select an object or area of interest and the camera automatically re-adjusts focus and exposure. You can record incredible high-quality video clips and edit them right on your iPhone 3G S by simply trimming the start and stop points. With iPhone 3G S you can send photos and video by email or MMS and post them to MobileMe or YouTube with just one tap.”

During the announcements, Apple said that the iPhone responsible for 3.5 times more picture uploads to flickr.com. Not much of a surprise to some people, the added camera functionality will really make me happy – as I’ve been using the iPhone as my only camera for a photo-a-day project on flickr this year.

I’m betting that the iPhone’s video camera functionality will mean a dark day for the low-cost cameras by Flip (and other brands). iPhone videos will probably lack the quality available with, say, the Flip HD. But, why carry around my Flip Ultra any more once I get the new iPhone? What do you think?

(Photo: I took this photo Feb. 21 of a tree in my backyard using the Toy Camera app on my iPhone.)

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From Apple: ”The voice control feature in iPhone 3G S offers hands free operation for both iPhone and iPod functions. Simply speak the appropriate commands into the built-in microphone or headset microphone to dial by name or number. With voice control you can play your favorite music by artist, album or playlist and activate the Genius feature by saying “play more songs like this.” You can also tell iPhone to pause the music, play the next track, turn on shuffle or ask, “What’s playing right now?”"

An interesting move. Rather than going the route of tactile input (typing on a real keyboard), or handwriting recognition: Apple is using touch and voice.

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New iPhones, if unveiled, COULD:  be “ultra-thin,” include a front-facing camera as TechCrunch suggests, a matte black finish, go on sale at WWDC – which would make tons of people happy, be available in 16GB and 32GB models, include a low-cost 4GB iPhone, the new phones would be a stand against the Palm Pre — which people say was modeled after the iPhone, AT&T is increasing its high-speed wireless data network that could help out new iPhones, the iPhones could be called iPhone Video and go on sale right after the WWDC keynote, or the iPhones could not be available Monday — and only announced Monday, they could include a glowing Apple logo — sure another battery life waster!, the camera may be beefed up to 3.2 megapixels (if this happens, I’ll sing out in joy!), oh yeah, and Walt Mossberg may ALREADY have the new iPhone!

Mr. Jobs could return with a rock-star like performance to lead Apple, because some senior managers are hinting that Jobs will return in time to unveil a new product. Also, he’s been sounding energetic lately, surely a good sign.

The App Store will likely steal much of the show — as pointed to by WWDC banners and Apple’s stocks since the app store went live.

iPhone OS 3.0 is a crowd and rumor favorite: iPhone OS 3.0 may surprise users and let them share or suggest apps, 3.0 could also include radio tagging – something needed for Nike Sport Kit, these blurry photos taken in China could show camera auto-focus and a compass to be added with 3.0, users may be able to download movies straight to iPhones — wirelessly that is, TUAW has several last-minute suggestions for 3.0 – including organizing apps for each screen on your desktop computer – something that would save me much frustration and time, votes in a poll at TUAW show most people guess 3.0 will become available right after the WWDC keynote, Safari with 3.0 could include location awareness (accessing the phone’s GPS functionality and something that could mean a soon launch of Google Latitude for the iPhone), and parental controls within the app store.

Oh yeah, and that Snow Leopard thing will be discussed. iPhones sure do steal the pre-WWDC show.

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Sync & back-up: Make sure to sync your iPhone before updating the software. This way, if there are any problems during the update your computer will have a recent back-up of your iPhone (photos, recent calls and voicemails, text messages, game scores, settings, etc.). Remember that to back-up your photos, you’ll need to open iPhoto while syncing your iPhone and then choose (once it opens) for the program to copy all of your iPhone photos. Here’s Apple’s guide for backing up, restoring and updating your iPhone. (Note, yes iTunes does a an update of your iPhone while installing the new OS — but one time that update did not save properly and I was forced to reinstall from a much earlier backup — not fun at all. Better to be safe than sorry, IMHO.)

Update apps: Make sure before updating to install any updates for your apps. Apple announced a few weeks ago that all apps must be compatible with the new operating system. Be sure to update so all your apps will work with the new system.

Update iTunes: iTunes version 8.2 (that includes OS 3.0 support) came out a week ago. Make sure to update to the latest version of iTunes so you can take full advantage of OS 3.0 straight away. There will likely be high demand for downloading from Apple when OS 3.0 is available, so updating iTunes before that day will mean you can get right down to updating your iPhone.

Save space: This is more of a just-in-case, rather than a have-to. Still, I’d suggest that, if possible, iPhone owners free up about 1.5 gigs of space on the phone just to make sure there is free space for updating the operating system. This will also help as there will likely be new cool apps you’ll want to download that take advantage of OS 3.0.

Save money: The new operating system is sure to be followed by plenty of cool new apps. Sure some will be free, but those apps truly taking advantage of OS 3.0 will mean more development time and, therefore, paid apps. Keep those iTunes gift cards at-the-ready for OS 3.0 day.

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The post gives the update information displayed by Software Update:  “iTunes 8.2 now supports iPhone or iPod touch with the iPhone 3.0 Software Update. iTunes 8.2 also includes many accessibility improvements and bug fixes. For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222 .”

This comes as signs are pointing to an iPhone OS 3.0 launch soon. When do you think it will launch?

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App updates and online rumors are pointing to the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 quite soon.

When Apple announced all the 3.0 features the company only promised a launch of the updated OS in summer. Officially, that starts June 21.

BUT, the missing puzzle piece is the Palm Pre. That product launches June 6 and most people online suspect Apple’s 3.0 to launch near the Pre’s launch so iPhones includes some of Pre’s features (universal search anyone?) and so Apple can try to mute the Pre buzz.

The New York Times wrote on May 8 that 3.0 should be near, as new apps or updates to apps are now required to be OS 3.0 compliant.

And, here are two screenshots of recent app updates from my phone. Yup, both Yelp and Freeballin’ are promoting 3.0 compliance.

A quick  search for “iPhone OS 3.0″ in the app store has at least two dozen search results. Those include apps saying they’ll soon be 3.0 compliant, as well as others saying they are already compliant. That does not include all compliant apps, as some may write it differently or may not include that information at all.

AND, not to forget, The Sims 3 is released for the iPhone June 2. @TommyDino suspects on Twitter that OS 3.0 will launch prior to Sims 3 because that app will use purchasing within the app — something only available with OS 3.0. @alchemistmuffin suspected the same thing — and sent a tweet to @eamobile asking just that: “@EAmobile will the Sims for iPhone available before release of iPhone OS 3.0? (since in-app purchase require 3.0)” @eamobile replied with: “@alchemistmuffin The Sims 3 should be available on the 2nd.”

That EA response on Twitter means either one of two things: 1: Sims 3 will launch without the in-app purchasing and will add that later when OS 3.0 launches OR, my favorite option, 2: EA is dropping a subtle hint that 3.0 will launch June 1 or 2.

Related news from around the web:
Gallery and Initial Impressions: iPhone OS 3.0, Palm Pre vs iPhone OS 3.0 – My Pre, Next Gen iPhone Icon in iPhone OS 3.0 SDK, iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5 now available.

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Seth at Computerworld says: “It looks pretty much like the old App, except now you can choose to receive breaking news just like you’d receive an SMS message.”

MacLife has screenshots of the push notifications.

And, MG Siegler says on TechCrunch, that Apple is not just thinking ahead to push but to also allowing some background processing.

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• The new add-ons are available to developers today. The system upgrade is coming to consumers this summer.
• The upgrade is free to iPhone users, but stereo bluetooth and MMS won’t work on the first iPhone, only the 3G. The software upgrade will be a $9.95 update for iPod Touch users.

Better YouTube app

Live streaming available.

YouTube ratings, subscriptions, accounts and encrypted profiles.

Calendar subscriptions

Users can now subscribe to Google or Yahoo calendars in your iPhone app.

Universal search

In the new home screen, flick to the left from your standard home to access Spotlight.

Spotlight searches across most major Apple apps, including: calendar, contacts (previous feature), iPod, mail.

Voice memos

Record voice memos using the built in microphone or an external microphone.

Trim it using the phone, then send it via e-mail or MMS.

Notes

Landscape mode of the keyboard now available.

Ability to sync notes with your computer.

Connect accesories and use them in connection with apps

Connect accesories (via USB or Bluetooth) that communicate with your iPhone.

Examples provided by Apple: blood pressure monitor, FM transmitter or an equalizer app that controls the equalizer on a speaker.

Better messaging: MMS, forwarding, mail

Send and receive photos via text message. Also can send contacts (VCard), audio files or your location.

Forward and delete messages – individual or multiple messages.

Landscape keyboard available.

Send more than one photo at a time tapping the action button, selecting a bunch of photos, copying, and then pasting it into the Mail app.

Improved Stocks app

Support for news stories in the bottom, details such as highs and lows and PEs, landscape view.

Cut, copy & paste

Put your thumb and drag to where you want to select text, double tap on the bit of text and a “CUT, COPY, PASTE” bubble appears. Double tap to bring up a paste bubble later to paste the text.

Copy/paste works between apps.

Works so you can copy and paste web content.

If you don’t mean to paste something, shake your phone in order to Undo the paste.

Push notifications & other in-app options

Get text or audio notifications from an app while the app is not running. Also available, badge notifications (like that number on your Mail icon that shows how many unread e-mails you have).

In-game voice chat.

iPod library access while in an app (play your iTunes music while playing, say, Oregon Trail).

Streaming audio and video.

Battery API access (check battery life while in an app).

Proximity sensor now an available feature for developers.

Data detectors, text selection, sake API, GPS lingo and UI alert view all now available in apps.

Turn-by-turn directions (that should make you all happy)

Developers can use Google Maps inside their applications.

GPS is enhanced allowing for turn-by-turn directions. Developers can build their own using their own apps, but they cannot use Google’s maps for this purpose.

Many developers have asked Apple to use Google Maps inside of their application. And it’s here. The Maps app can now be used as a public API and be embedded directly into any app.

Connect with nearby iPhones

Using Bluetooth and Bonjour, find and interact with nearby friends’ iPhones.

Developers can sell apps within apps

This is only for paid apps, free apps are not effected.

Developer can sell apps within apps, and set the price for each.

Developers can also set monthly fees for apps.

New apps demoed during the presentation:

• TouchPet: By ngmoco. A virtual pet that you can play with, buy stuff for and you can get push notifications to play with a friend’s virtual dog.
• Live Fire: a multiplayer, first-person shooter game. You can send notifications to invite friends to the game, play with your friends and buy new weapons (like a rocket launcher) with real money.
• ESPN: includes text alerts via the push notification service that play the ESPN tone, video scaled based on your level of internet connection,
• LifeScan: a management system for people with diabetes built by Johnson & Johnson.
• Oracle: a business application for managing information between the app and the company’s server.
• Leaf Trombone (World Stage): By smule, the makers of Ocarina. Lets you play a trombone, sliding it, changing the range and playing by blowing into the microphone.
• Sims 3: By EA. Has in-app commerce, letting you buy items for $0.99 for your Sims through the App store while in the game.

Flash?

Nope, well, not today, Apple says.

Any news on hardware (a new iPhone)? Any news on netbooks?

Nope to the first, “nothing to announce today” on the second, Apple says.

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Now we’ll all just have to wait and see what the Cupertino folk have in their golden jar at the end of the rainbow.

Here’s more from around the web:

Watch Gizmodo’s live coverage.

In a live episode of Diggnation recorded at Austin’s South by Southwest festival, Digg founder and show co-host Kevin Rose claimed to have “confirmation” that the feature would be a centerpiece of the new iPhone OS to be unveiled on Tuesday, reports AppleInsider.

Read Macworld’s top wanted features and then read the blog team’s live coverage.

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