Late yesterday Google released an update to its Gmail Android application for smartphones. The update brings with it several bug fixes, improvements, and feature additions.

The biggest improvements/changes include enhanced priority inbox support, an improved compose email feature, and in-line rely responses. With priority inbox support, users can now see importance markers in the main message list and rank messages right from their device. That is if you actually use priority inbox.

The new compose feature will allows users to switch between reply, reply all, and forward while in the compose screen as well as set the outgoing account on the fly if they have more than one Gmail account on their devices. In-line message replies work similarly to how they work in the traditional Gmail interface.

The new Gmail application, which carries the designation of version 2.3.2, is available in the Android Market now. So far the update seems to be working fine on our test HTC Incredible. We’ll let you know if something breaks.

Today in a special event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed brand new details on the next version of Apple’s iPhone OS. The new version, which will be called OS 4.0, brings many features users had been hoping for as well as some new ones they never thought of. The new software will be released to developers today but you’ll have to wait until Summer to enjoy it on your iPhones once it officially is released.

Here’s some of what you can expect when the OS 4.0 Update hits the street:

Multitasking

People have been asking for it and now Apple is going to deliver. You’ll be able to work on one application while using another in the background. Switching between the two will be quick. Plus, Apple says having several applications running in the background won’t effect performance of the iPhone. I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one.

Email

iPhone OS 4.0 brings the iPhone’s email capabilities in line with its desktop Mail application. Global inboxes are now part of the iPhone as well as the ability to sort emails by threads and open attachments in specific apps.

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People said it would never happen and it hadn’t for several years. In fact, before today, we would have bet money that this change would never come. Google seemed perfectly content to keep its Gmail and Google Apps services with the “Beta” tag forever. That is, until today.

According to Google’s “official’ blog, they have removed the “Beta” status from Gmail and Google Apps (which consists of Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk) as of today. Both consumer and enterprise Google Apps categories are now out of beta in fact, and its pretty likely the enterprise version of Google Apps was the driving force behind the change. With 1.75 million companies currently utilizing Google Apps (including The Flickcast), the “Beta” moniker seemed a bit ridiculous, not to mention odd, at this point. Plus, if I’m a business guy trying to sell my boss on a “Beta” service, even a really useful and cool one like Google Apps, I’m probably not going to get very far.

Google obviously agreed. . . finally. Unfortunately, even with this momentous news, Google didn’t actually change or enhance the services at all to make the move out of beta. They probably feel that removing the beta tag is enough for one day and will no doubt add features down the road. They certainly were not shy about improving GMail and Google Apps while they were in beta, so there’s no reason to think they won’t continue the trend now that the “Beta” is no more.