> **6) Game Center**
>
> A sixth major new feature is called Games Center. With over 50,000 gaming titles on the App Store, Apple said it will be forming a social gaming network with features to invite friends, set up matchmaking for multiplayer games, support for leaderboards, and for tracking in game achievements.
>
> **7) iAd**
>
> A seventh major feature is iAd. Described as “a new form of mobile advertising designed by Apple to deliver the interaction and emotion currently lacking in the mobile space,” Apple noted that when you click on a existing iPhone mobile ads, it yanks you out of the application you’re running to launch a web ad. This prevents people from clicking more often, and as Jobs said, “Most of this kind of advertising sucks.”
>
> In response, Apple has designed a means for providing interactive and video advertising content without ever leaving the app. Apple will sell and host the ads under a 40/60 split, with app developers getting the larger slice of the ad revenue.
>
> On the desktop, ads are tied to search. On mobile devices, people are using apps. Jobs said he wants ads to have more interactivity, but also have emotion. Clicking ads doesn’t drop users in the browser, allowing the developer to retain the user’s interest even when they click ads.
>
> Apple demonstrated an ad for Toy Story 3, created in HTML5. The ad allows user to view characters, videos, posters and downloads, play sound clips, and then leave the interactive ad and return to the app they were using.
>
> A second ad example for Air Jordan shoes allows users to build custom shoes, view the history of the product, find a nearby store, and even build a custom dorm room, all within the interactive ad experience.
via [appleinsider.com](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/08/apple_adds_seven_major_features_100_minor_features_in_iphone_4_0.html)
These two are the really big ones, because they point to changes in Apple’s overall business model. Apple hasn’t dabbled in the Ad game since Sherlock back in OS 9 for the Mac. And they have played around but never committed to any sort of social networking strategy, especially not in the gaming arena. They are finally taking the fight to Google directly, as well as Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft’s Gaming division. This is full on offense. Apple is actively pursuing new sources of income here, income that can stand alone from hardware sales.
From a user perspective, multitasking is going to get all the attention (though it’s not really multitasking, but rather 3rd-Party Background Services that Apple is delivering in 4.0. We HAD multitasking in iPhone OS 1.0). But Game Center and iAd are the most newsworthy. It will take a few days or weeks for the implications of those two to sink in with the press, I think.
Also of note: this is the first OS upgrade that will leave the original iPhone behind. That was inevitable, of course, but it is worth noting that Apple has supported free upgrades to that device for quite a while longer (3 full years) than most companies in the mobile space. (Ask anyone who has an Android Hero phone how he likes version 2.1 of his OS.)
Nevertheless, I predict the bellyaching has already begun about it as I write this.
Which one of the 7 tentpoles is my personal favorite? 3, of course. I’m not sure I’ll use the Unified inbox (I like to keep my work and personal life separate whenever possible), but “fast Inbox Switching” sure sounds like a winner. Folders sound cool. Background images on the home screen cool, but obvious.
And I’m dying to know what “iPod Out” is.
