iPhone OS 4.0 announced, iPhone 1G being phased out

The next generation of Apple’s iPhone OS has been announced, and while it contains many of the features people have been asking for, it has a trade off:  Apple is discontinuing new features for the first generation iPhone and iPod Touch owners.  The original iPod touch and the original iPhone are very blatantly missing from the list of supported devices.  In fact, sources at Apple say that there will be limited compatability for the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G.  The update is coming to iPod and iPhone in “the Summer” and to the iPad in “the Fall.”

As expected, the ability to multitask has been added in limited capacity-  that is to say, only certain APIs are available for things like Pandora- there is no true Spaces or Expose effect like had been previously rumored.

Folders have been added to the springboard, along with custom backgrounds for your springboard (Home Screen.) You can now organize apps into folders with drag-and-drop simplicity. Get faster access to your favorites and browse and manage up to 2160 apps at once — many more than the current limit of 180 apps.

Also included is an improved mail application.See messages from all your email accounts displayed together in a unified inbox, switch between inboxes more quickly, organize messages by threads, and even open attachments in third-party apps.

The best way to browse, buy, and read books on a mobile device. Easily flip through the pages of a book you’ve downloaded from the iBookstore while listening to your music collection. Browse tens of thousands of books — many of them free — by title, author, or genre. You can even check out reviews and read sample pages before you buy.

• iAd is a breakthrough mobile advertising platform from Apple. With it, apps can feature rich media ads that combine the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web. For developers, it means a new, easy-to-implement source of revenue. For advertisers, it creates a new media outlet that offers consumers highly targeted information.

Some corporate features were also announced on Thursday:

Data Protection

Security enhancements in iPhone OS 4 protect email messages and attachments stored on iPhone 3GS by using the device passcode as an encryption key. New data protection APIs can be used for custom and commercial apps so that business-critical information is protected even if a device is compromised.

Wireless App Distribution

iPhone OS 4 enables enterprises to securely host and wirelessly distribute in-house apps to employees over Wi-Fi and 3G. Apps can be updated without requiring users to connect to their computers.

Improved Mail

iPhone OS 4 allows users to set up multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts and now works with Exchange Server 2010. With the new unified inbox feature, users can see messages from all their email accounts conveniently displayed in a single inbox, or they can quickly switch between inboxes to see messages from any single account. If users receive an attachment that they want to save or edit, Mail now lets you open attachments with compatible apps from the App Store.

Mobile Device Management

Deploying and managing large iPhone fleets will be even easier with iPhone OS 4. New Mobile Device Management APIs can be integrated with third-party solutions to wirelessly configure and update settings, monitor compliance with corporate policies, and even wipe or lock managed iPhone devices.

SSL VPN Support

SSL VPN support in iPhone OS 4 gives users another way to securely access enterprise resources. These new protocols can even be leveraged to connect seamlessly to a corporate network via VPN on Demand. Forthcoming apps from Juniper and Cisco will support SSL VPN on iPhone.