Apple Renames iPhone OS to iOS

At his WWDC Keynote speech today, one of the things that Steve Jobs revealed is that version 4 of iPhone OS will be bringing with it an entirely new name: iOS. This seems to be a completely logical change considering how little sense it makes to continue to run the “iPhone” OS on an iPad. At the same time, I think this hints at bigger things to come. I think Jobs may well envision iOS as a full operating system that may one day stand shoulder to shoulder with OS X, at least for casual computer users.

Many of the features that Apple has brought to iPhone OS so far really make me wonder just how much power it will have in time. Applications can register themselves as being able to open files of certain types, the iWork suite has found its way over, and Bluetooth keyboard support are a few significant ones. Now, in version 4, Apple is bringing even more features common to full fledged operating systems to the table such as multi-tasking and the ability to grow items in folders.

Sure, iOS 4 will be a far cry from a complete solution, and some of the “new” features are things that other smart phones on the market already support. For better or for worse, this is how Apple has always done things - at its own pace. It’s not iPhone OS’s current feature set, especially compared with other devices already out there, that intrigues me. It is the direction in which those features, and the technology on which they are built, are moving that makes me wonder just where the OS will wind up in the future (or at least where Steve Jobs wants it to wind up).