Introduction
iOS by Apple is the brain child of Steve Jobs who created this grate operating system and introduce it to the world on January 9th 2007 through Apple iPhone. Since then iPhone, iPad and iPod touch have changed the mobile operating systems. Since than it is constantly improved and updated for better changes. Currently used in Apple iPhone is iOS 7 which is easy to understand the smartphone operating system by any user. It is a very effective platform for app developers and wonderful thing about it is its consistency since 2007 and now it is extensively feature rich and cross device compatibility.
The Initial Stage
It is started with the name “OSX” than iPhone was originally announced Apple declared that it would run on unix code as Mac OSX. However they also declared that their would be some features will be shared from OSX and the newly developed OS by Apple with the iPhone first launched it was known as iPhone OS and after 4 years renamed it as iOS. When Apple introduced this operating system known as iPhone OS the other operating system Windows Mobile, Palm Operating system, Symbian, and even BlackBerry were all established systems in 2007 and had many lacking in feature to feature comparison. Relatively the iPhone did not support 3G and multitasking, the 3rd party apps support also lack and users could not copy or paste text and unable to attach arbitrary files to emails. There is no MMS support and even it did not support Exchange push email and users are unable to customize the home screen and it does not have tethering view. Apple did not compete on specs, but focused on getting the core experience right. Speed, consistency between apps, and a making a few features radically better than anything else at that time in 2007. Although there were lot of innovations in iOS 1.0, but there three of them were revolutionary for the mobile industry.
The Core iOS user interface
Apple changed its capacity touch screen but carefully installed hardware capability and made it simpler than already existing devices at that time. It removed all physical buttons and converted them the touch primary interaction mode and perfected pinch-to-zoom and inertial scrolling to make apps feel more natural and immediate. Amazing feature of iOS 1.0 was speed and the directness which is still unsurpassed.
Mobile Safari Web Browser
The 2nd feature which revolutionized was mobile safari web browser making it as powerful and efficient desktop browser whereas other operating systems did not have this capability. It presented the web fully and offered simple zoom and scrolling features that were absent in others.
Wide screen iPod
It was the 3rd revolution in the other existing operating systems a wide screen feature. It presented already-massive iTunes and iPod ecosystem to provide an "anchor" for the OS and the beginnings of a new and huge ecosystem of music, movies, television, books, and apps. iOS 1.0 brought quite a few other apps better and important and in fact at much advanced time. Google maps proved to be amazingly impressive on iPhone than any other platform. Apple’s technique to pinch and zoom functions extremely well and created results like desktop screen. Amongst the other features visual voice mail, iTunes Sync and software keyboard are included.
iOS 1.0 had many good points but was not free from short comings. It did not support for native, 3rd party apps. Apple tried to fill that gap by promoting web apps. In 2007 HTML apps were not ready to carry that load for the platform. Some even disputed that it may not even be technically correct to call the iPhone a smartphone, since it did not offer a platform to develop against beyond the web browser. iOS 1.0 also only offered one form of multitasking to the user: playing iPod music in the background. Multitasking on other smartphone platforms was not a great experience, but it did work for many and the lack of it on iOS 1.0 was notable. However, iOS 1.0 introduced Apple's "Springboard" homescreen. Hitting the home button always brought you to it, no matter where you were in the OS.
iOS 1 Updates
3 months later the iPhone iOS 1 was updated by iOS 1.1.1 first introduce pattern of releasing new versions of iOS concurrently with new devices. This update include iTunes Wi-Fi music store and it allow purchasing music directly on your phone. iOS 1.1.1 also added TV and double tapping for the home screen. It was released on September 2007 and included features like iPhone 2G,iPod Touch 1st Gen iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store iPod Touch compatibility. Shortly after iOS update 1.1.3 was released in January 2008 carrying features iPod Touch 1st Gen Better location Web clips on home screen Re-arrange icons, Multitouch keyboard with iOS 1.1.3you can re-arrange home screen icon in a better way and add shortcuts to web pages called by Apple as web clips. This was a major advancement in iOS by Apple that updates could be issued from regular basis and this feature for lacking in other operating systems.
iOS 2
In July 2008 iOS 2 apps was released that included App Store to iOS. 3rd party apps with apps stores Google demonstrated that apps could be easily downloaded and installed. Previously it was through the computer and than installed to the device. Apple store used Apple's already established base of iTunes music customers. iOS 2.0 included the features like iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G, iPod Touch 1st Gen, Native 3rd-party apps, App Store, Microsoft Exchange support , MobileMe and Contact Search. Soon after that iOS update 2.1 was released in September 2008 carrying features better than before and included iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G, iPod Touch 2nd Gen, iPod Touch 1st Gen Battery life and speed fixes, iTunes Genius playlists Dropped call fixes. Just 2 months later in November 2008 iOS 2.2 update was issued carrying additional features of Google street view, Podcast downloads and Microsoft Exchange. Support iOS 2.0 was released alongside the iPhone 3G and naturally included support for the new hardware features introduced in that model, including A-GPS and 3G data.
IOS 2 UPDATES
This is a fact that iOS 2.0 was not the most stable of releases. Many users complain against the short battery life, app crashes, and dropped calls and all happening in the midst of a 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 release that had come in fairly short time. The 2.1 release in September of 2008 helped to fixe those issues. It fixed bugs across the board on the OS and also added faster sync with iTunes.
iOS 3
iOS 3.0 was released with the iPhone 3GS in June of 2009 and like the 3GS. Apple filled in all sorts of gaps in iOS with a massive list of functionality and app updates touching every corner of the operating system. iOS 3 now included additional features of Cut, copy, and paste. It also has combination of a text-magnifying glass and selection sliders as intuitive and, turned out to be well ahead of the competition in terms of usability and got the UI up to its own high standards. Spotlight search allowed users to go one screen to the left of the main homescreen to get a text box that could search across contacts, emails. Apple had "finally" matched a feature that was commonplace on BlackBerry, PalmOS, webOS, and Windows Mobile: quickly entering text from the home screen to search across the phone. Other features in iOS 3.0 was found video recording, a landscape keyboard, a voice memo app, remote wipe, stereo Bluetooth, and internet tethering over Bluetooth or USB were added in. It also included Parental controls that were well ahead of anything else on the market.
iOS 3 Updates
After some time Apple released updates known as iOS 3.1, which added more features, including remote lock, ringtone downloads, Genius mixes for music, and voice control over Bluetooth. iOS 3.1.3, which came in February 2010, brought the final OS release for the original iPhone 2G and the original iPod Touch: neither would see another OS update. iOS 3.1 updates was released in September 2009 carrying features iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, iPhone 2G, iPod Touch 3rd Gen, iPod Touch 2nd Gen. iPod Touch 1st Gen, Genius features, Ringtone downloads, Remote lock, and Voice Control over Bluetooth. The new update iOS 3.2 was released to match the iPad new screen resolution, including a landscape Home screen, new pop-up dialogs, and more. Apple added pop-over dialogs throughout the OS where previously the iPhone would require users to switch screens and now iOS 3.2 was released in April 2010 and carried the features like iPad Support for iPad resolution, New app views for iPad, Location based on Apple data, Bluetooth keyboard support, iBooks.
iOS 4
Later iOS 4 including multitasking 900 was mainly about one thing: adding features for power users. Multitasking, app folders, Wi-Fi tethering, spell-check, customized Spotlight searching (including web and Wikipedia), unified inbox, and support for multiple Exchange accounts all added up to an update that helped keep iOS competitive with Android, which was beginning to finally make inroads. However, iOS 4 did not technically support "true" multitasking in that it did not allow any app to simply run in the background as a background data. iOS 4 have another important feature and that was task manager that included the set of music control widgets.
The most highlighting feature of iOS 4 was face time that enabled the users to have video chat. Although Apple was not the first one to introduce video chat but Apple's implementation both worked better and had a simple interface than other solutions. FaceTime worked only between iPhones though Apple had promised to make the video chat solution an open standard, it has yet to deliver on that promise.
iOS 4.0 Updates
iOS 4.0 was released in June 2010 and summarily included the features like iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G,iPod Touch 3rd Gen, iPod Touch 2nd Gen, Multitasking, Home screen folders, FaceTime video chat, Unified email inbox, Threaded email messages, Retina Display support, iPad support. From iOS 4.02, iOS 4.2.5 there came many updates but iOS 4.2.5 came along solely to support the Verizon version of the iPhone specifically for USA. That purpose actually brought with it an added benefit: full support for Wi-Fi-based mobile hotspots. Apple followed up with iOS 4.3 in March, adding AirPlay support for 3rd party apps, iTunes Home Sharing support for playing music off your local Wi-Fi network, and support for Personal Hotspot on GSM devices.
iOS 5 Siri and much more
iOS 5 came along with an "S" iPhone, the iPhone 4S. iOS 5 introduced many new features that it's difficult to keep them all straight. So many, in fact, you might say that in the current smartphone battle, Apple's hardware is the anvil and iOS 5 is the hammer the company is using to forge a permanent and sizeable market share. Notification Center. With iOS 5, Apple did something to make sense of the stream of notifications coming in to the typical iPhone with Notification Center. Although iOS 5 has done a lot for the notification center but the critics are still apprehensive about its high standard performance. This update has Apple ID or a phone number and in both cases it can automatically detect whether your recipient is capable of receiving iMessages. When they are, iOS automatically converts your text message into an iMessage, which is sent to all iOS devices that user has registered and active. Apple removed the requirement that iOS devices be physically tethered to a computer via USB in order to be activated. Technically speaking an iPad or iPhone has become complete computing device. That is a notable change and while it is capable of bigger task for the iOS platform in the time to come.
iOS 5.0 Updates
the update was released in October 2011 with the improved features of iPhone 4S. iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad, iPad 2 iPod Touch 4th Gen, iPod Touch 3rd Gen Siri Notification Center, PC-free iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, iMessage and iCloud.
iOS 6
iOS 6 was announced at Apple's WDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) on June 11th 2012. That was the time for annual update rhythm that the company has held to since 2008. iOS 6 redesigned Maps app that features mile-by-mile navigation for the first time, a 3D "Flyover" mode, and Siri integration. This new version also refined the notification centre. It also included facebook integration added to iOS 6 joining twitter which has already been done a year before. In the facebook features you can post scores to your Wall from Game Center, upload photos, and pull Facebook events directly into the iOS calendar. The other features of iOS 6 are Passbook, shared photo streaming and iCloud Tabs and Reading List enhancements.
iOS 7
iOS 7 was released in the 2nd half of 2013 for iPhone 5s,iPhone 5c, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPad mini, iPad 4th Gen, iPad 3rd Gen, iPad 2, iPod Touch 5th Gen. it carried the feature like Visual overhaul Control Center, AirDrop, Refreshed, core apps, iTunes Radios, FaceTime Audio, Ios7_layers_300, Ios7sms, Ios7safari.
iOS 8
iOS 8 is a refinement of the design iOS 7 established. The most impressive new feature in iOS 8 is what Apple is calling "Continuity. iOS 8 works with Apple’s new Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite to provide a completely new level of interactivity between an iPhone or iPad and a Mac computer. Apple is adding third-party widget support to iOS 8. Apple has also given the opening to touch ID fingerprint recognition system to third-party developers in iOS 8.
iOS 8.0 was released in 2nfd half of 2014 for the following devices iPhone 5s, iPhone 5c,iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, , iPad 4th Gen, iPad 3rd Gen, iPad 2, iPod Touch 5th Gen. it carried Continuity, Widgets, Extensibility, QuickType, iCloud Drive , HealthKit, HomeKit, Family Sharing, iOS 8 homescreen, Voicerecord_300, iCloud Drive and Photo Library. It has finally supported 3rd party keyboard.
This is the latest version of iOS by Apple. Since its inception in 2007 it has been progressively improving taking big leaps and given the true concept of smartphone combining the features of computer and smartphone. We are made to think whether a smartphone is going to replace computer. It is not only a assumption but depends on Apple if it reinvents an operating system to a accomplished this feat of technology.