Apple iPhone OS 4.0 features detailed! Also, Apple calling tablet the iTablet?
That's right, y'all. We're back at it, and this time we've received some exclusive iPhone OS 4.0 details from one of our trusty Apple connects. — Here are some iPhone OS 4.0 features, according to our guy:
Context & Ripple Effects
Boy Genius Report has been running this play since it leaked Apple's original iPhone details back in June 2007, and after Gizmodo's comprehensive March 2009 iPhone 3.0 OS guide set the template for full-cycle OS previews, an OS 4.0 source dump was the obvious next installment. What makes this one land differently is the calendar: it drops days before Steve Jobs' tablet event, which MediaMemo's syndicated report frames as a who-joins-Jobs-onstage story, with AppleInsider separately floating a possible slip to June at a $999 price point.
The iTablet claim needs a caveat: it is an unconfirmed source rumor, and MacRumors' same-week pickup notes new trademark filings actively raising the question of whether the device will carry a different name entirely — meaning the rumor mill and Apple's own legal paperwork are telling two stories about the same unrevealed product.
First-order effects
- An unverified source list is now defining the public expectation for iPhone OS 4.0 before Apple says a word, forcing Apple either to match the leaked feature set or spend keynote time correcting the record.
- The rumored Bing-as-default-search deal — explicitly unconfirmed — would hand Microsoft the iPhone's default query placement at Google's expense; until Apple speaks, Google's most valuable mobile distribution slot is being priced by rumor.
Second-order effects
- Naming ambiguity splits the ecosystem's preparation: accessory makers, case vendors, and app developers must hedge branding and UI work between an 'iTablet' they cannot verify and whatever Apple's filed trademarks actually point to before next week's event.
- Apple and AT&T remain under confirmed criticism for blocking VoIP over 3G, so every leaked OS 4.0 feature list gets scored against whether it relaxes carrier restrictions — pressure that lands squarely on AT&T's exclusivity terms.
Third-order effects
- If the Bing rumor reflects real negotiation, handset default-search placement is becoming a purchasable commodity rather than an incumbent entitlement, turning each OS revision into a rebidding moment between Microsoft and Google.
- The leak-first cadence — source reports weeks ahead of keynotes, echoed across MediaMemo, AppleInsider, and MacRumors within a day — is institutionalizing a news cycle where Apple's unannounced products are substantially covered before Apple controls the message.
The trend: Mobile platform economics are shifting toward contested defaults — search placement, carrier restrictions, naming rights — with rumor networks increasingly setting the agenda ahead of Apple's own announcements.