More Apple iPad features have been discovered in iPhone OS 3.2, features that would be crucial to the computing part of the iPad.
Engadget reports that the Apple iPad is hiding several software features courtesy of the iPhone OS 3.2 software it is powered by. It's not known whether all of these features will be offered to end-users already at the introduction of the tablet, but we assume most of them will be brought to the surface in iPhone OS 4.0 at least.
Productivity features
The Apple iPad already offers a multi-touch enabled iWork productivity suite with Microsoft Office support, but to make it really useful you'd likely need the ability to connect to a central server to get files. The iPad is said to be able to connect to file servers, and it should also be able to download and store files locally from within the Safari browser. It's also supposed to be easy to print documents. These features are critical to make good use of iWork, and we assume they'll be available from day one.
Native handwriting recognition
A key feature in Microsoft's Tablet PC category has always been handwriting recognition. Accessory makers have already announced the upcoming availability of a selection of stylii for the Apple iPad. According to Engadget, the iPhone OS 3.2 is hiding a handwriting keyboard prototype. This could mean that we'll see native handwriting recognition in iPhone OS 4.0. We recommend checking out more hidden features over at Engadget.
Third-party app multi-tasking
A key feature that many are still waiting for is the ability to run third-party apps in seamless integration with the iPhone OS. This would for instance allow users to run multiple third-party apps simultaneously. There have been no leaks about this in the recent days, though there's still hope that we'll see more multi-task opportunities in iPhone OS 4.0 as leaked earlier.
As it looks like third-party apps of the more advanced kind could become what set the Apple iPad apart from the iPhone in that regard, it's not difficult to imagine that Apple would for instance eventually let a certain type of approved apps get access to multi-tasking capabilities. Apple's, or rather developers', challenge here comes down to offering third-party applications that can match the native apps when it comes to code quality.
A large part of the apps submitted to the App Store are known to have obvious bugs that Apple tells developers to fix, revealing that developing iPhone apps are more about revenue potential than anything else. Many developers offering iPhone apps simply seem to deliver poor code in the hunt for a big App Store reward.
In other words, it might simply be third-party developers that are currently blocking the road here, not Apple. If we were running the App Store, we would have suspended third-party developers for a certain amount of time when submitting poor code, and perhaps even blocked developers that would repeatedly submit poor code.
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