White iPhone Shown with 'Test' Version of Apple's iOS

A Vietnamese site known for reporting prerelease versions of Apple devices has posted videos showing a white iPhone with a "test" version of iOS. The "test" iOS uses a multitasking menu instead of icons, similar to Expose on Mac OS X. At the same time, comScore has a new survey that puts Apple's iOS ahead of Google's Android in the U.S.

A white iPhone with a "test" version of Apple's iOS. This legendary beast, the stuff of rumor, has been sighted on the web.

A Vietnamese site, tinhte.vn, posted two videos of what purports to be a development version of a white iPhone running a test version of iOS. The site's reputation has been boosted by its previous reports of prerelease versions of the iPhone 4 and the 13-inch MacBook.

A Discarded iOS?

The iOS shown has a multitasking menu instead of icons for apps, and the video Relevant Products/Services shows a window being finger-tapped to fill a screen. Some observers have compared the way apps open in this video to Expose on Mac OS X, raising the possibility that the interface shown was originally planned for iOS 4 but later discarded.

There's also a new Search iPhone dialog box at the top of the screen, which leads to Spotlight search. The Settings menu shown in one of the videos indicates 64GB of storage Relevant Products/Services. Some observers have speculated that the new iOS is version 5, while others suggest it might be an update to 4. An upgraded version of iOS is expected to be shown at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

This peek at a test iOS comes on the heels of a new survey indicating that Apple's iOS platform, contrary to recent reports, is actually leading Google's Android in the U.S.

The report, from tracking firm comScore, shows iOS has a combined reach of 37.9 million users among all mobile phones, tablets and other connected media devices.

Not Just 'Fanboys'

This beats users of Android devices by 59 percent. Android's total is 23.8 million users, including smartphones and such connected media devices as the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The iOS share Relevant Products/Services of all mobile subscribers in the U.S. was found to be 16.2 percent, compared to 10.2 percent for Android.

Contrary to expectations that multiple Apple devices per user might exaggerate the total number of iOS users, the survey found that only four million people, or 10.5 percent, accessed the platform from more than one device Relevant Products/Services.

Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, said the survey illustrates that "the Apple ecosystem extends far beyond the iPhone." He added that, although there is a widespread assumption that "the Apple user base is composed of dedicated Apple 'fanboys'" who own multiple devices from that company, "there's not a tremendous amount of overlapping mobile-device access Relevant Products/Services among these users."

For example, the survey said that Research In Motion's BlackBerry smartphones are second-highest among iPad Relevant Products/Services owners at 17.5 percent. This compares to 27.3 percent of iPad owners who also own an iPhone, a figure that is only slightly higher than the iPhone percentage among all smartphone Relevant Products/Services owners, which is 25.2 percent.

The survey was conducted over three months ending in February among mobile subscribers in the U.S. over the age of 13.