The world got a look at the upcoming changes to the iPhone OS today and it seems there was just one response: FINALLY. Finally, the iPhone will have the ability to multitask. Finally, you can organize your apps into folders and customize the background. Finally, mail will support attachments for third-party apps, threaded conversations, and easier inbox switching. Finally, finally, finally.

I know, it seems surreal. A lot of these features have been on other platforms for months, years in some cases. The multitasking support is really the best of the update, bringing the iPhone in line with WebOS and Android. It does make me wonder when we’ll see new hardware. The ad copy for the new iPhone’s bigger battery for that great multitasking feature practically writes itself.

For now, you can keep an eye on Apple’s official site for iPhone OS 4. The OS is available in closed beta for developers. Expect more feature leaks soon.

Apple’s tablet is definitely the topic of conversation as we head toward Apple’s January event, but there could be more than just a hardware unveiling. There’s been a lot of speculation, in fact, about whether or not we’ll see iPhone OS 4.0 along with a tablet release.

The tablet isn’t likely to be powerful enough to run a full-fledged version of OS X, which points to another, stripped-down version, much like the iPhone OS. Actually, it probably is the iPhone OS, just with some more robust features like multi-tasking. There have also been reports that OS 4.0 has been kept out of developers hands because it leaks features about the impending tablet.

Whether it’s an updated iPhone OS or something else entirely, you can bet the tablet unveiling, if it even is that, will be about a whole lot more than just the hardware. For my money, I’d bet on an updated OS launching with the new machine.