CNET reports that it has received an e-mail from a "prominent" iPhone application developer noting that the developer's application has been updated for iPhone OS 4.0, implying that Apple has already delivered an early version of the updated operating system and development tools into the hands of select developers.
iPhone OS 4.0 is imminent. At least, that's the only conclusion I can draw from an e-mail I just received from a prominent app developer.
The message includes the following snippet: "Just wanted to give you a heads up that we've submitted an updated app for the new iPhone OS 4.0 software."
In the past two years, Apple has held March media events introducing iPhone OS updates and providing tools to allow developers to implement the new features included in the revisions ahead of the public launches of the new operating systems in June or July. Apple has, however, offered demos of applications running on the new operating systems at these March events, indicating that select developers had been provided even earlier access to development tools for the new iPhone OS versions.
One wildcard in the development of iPhone OS 4.0 may be Apple's tablet device, which has been rumored to be at least based on iPhone OS and is expected to be introduced later this month. A report from earlier this month indicated that Apple may be preparing to launch a beta version of iPhone OS 4.0 at this month's rumored media event. A separate report earlier this week claimed that the tablet does in fact run on the iPhone OS kernel and that the inclusion of tablet-related code in the latest iPhone OS versions has precluded Apple from offering any new software updates for the iPhone recently.
Sketchy evidence of iPhone OS 4.0 appeared in Boy Genius Report's browser logs in mid-December, although such data is easily faked. Soon after, an entry for iPhone OS 4.0 appeared in a developer's analytics data.
Update: MacRumors has identified and communicated with the developer of the application in question, and it appears that the mention of "iPhone OS 4.0" was in fact an error in the press release issued by the company. As was postulated by The iPhone Blog, the application had actually been updated to version 4.0 rather than for iPhone OS 4.0, which was likely the source of the error.
