Apple schedules iPhone OS 4.0 preview for April 8th, speculation emerges

On Monday, Apple announced that it would hold a special invite-oly press event in San Francisco on April 8th to offer a preview of its upcoming iPhone OS 4.0 operating system.

“Get a sneak peek into the future of iPhone OS,” the event invitation reads per Macworld UK.

With nothing specific on the table, speculation as to what can be expected has run across the following lines:

Multitasking:
Per recent rumors and reports, Apple has been looking to include full multitasking and may be doing this via an Expose-like approach which will show open programs revealed when the user double-clicks the iPhone’s Home button. Multitasking always seems to have a place on iPhone OS wish lists and it makes sense to match Android OS-based smartphones on their own ground.

Global Mailbox and Home Screen Contacts:
Recent iPhone OS 4.0 rumors have centered around a global inbox that merges multiple e-mail accounts into a unified view, plus the ability to add specific contact names as icons on the iPhone’s home screen. These changes could be useful on a lot of levels but might also be stepping stones to larger feature inclusions.

GPS Navigation:
With Google adding free, turn-by-turn, voice-guided GPS navigation to its Android phones, and Nokia doing the same for several of its handsets, the pressure’s on Apple to offer something similar. Apple acquired mapping company Placebase last summer, and also posted a job ad last November seeking an engineer to help overhaul the iPhone’s Maps app. A major GPS application seems likely and Apple has taken several important steps towards this.

Verizon iPhone, 4G iPhone:
It’s worth pointing out that Apple’s event is aimed at the iPhone’s operating system, not hardware. Don’t expect to hear anything about Verizon iPhones or next-generation iPhones. Just as Apple announced the 3.0 OS in March 2009, and the iPhone 3GS in June, any news on the hardware front is probably a few months away.

Email Attachments, Contact and SMS Groups, Rotation Lock:
Though this is pure speculation, a lot of iPhone OS users have griped about it. To this day, users can’t attach files within the e-mail app (you can only send them from outside apps), and the inability to create groups for contacts or text messages is a pain. With the iPad getting its own handy rotation lock switch, it may be time to build this into the larger iPhone OS.

Stay tuned for additional details and full event coverage come April 8th.

And if you have any changes you’d like to see made to the iPhone OS in version 4.0, please let us know in the comments.