iTunes 9.2, currently in beta on the Mac, will be required to install iOS 4 for iPhone and iPod touch when it becomes available on June 21, and here’s likely one of the reasons why — it can edit Folders.

We’ve go a complete walkthrough of iOS 4 features up, but if you’re curious as to how it works in iTunes, the good news is — pretty much as you’d expect. Click on a folder icon and the virtual screen opens up to show the contents, same as in iOS proper. Drag an app out to remove it, or in normal view, drag it over another app to create a folder or an existing folder to add it in. You can even rename the folder if the “intelligent naming” isn’t quite intelligent enough.

An obvious addition to iTunes 9′s app management repertoire but the obvious stuff doesn’t always get done. Nice to see, in this case, it did.

A release version of iTunes 9.2 should proceed iOS 4′s availability.

Looks like Apple snuck a little something extra into iTunes 9.0.2 for iPhone and iPod touch users — 180+ app management.

Instead of just mirroring the 11 visible iPhone 3.x Home Screens (with their maximum 180 app slots), iTunes will now let you add even more apps. These additional apps are displayed on grayed-out Home Screens (because they’re not visible on the iPhone — you have to use Spotlight Search to launch them), but in iTunes are otherwise easy to organize and remove.

[via TUAW]

Daynah from PHP-Princess.net just couldn’t abide the meager 11 pages and paltry 180 apps provided by iPhone 3.0, so she went about forcing Apple’s SpringBoard home screen manager to give her more. How did she do it?

Check the link above for the details, but the but gist is filling up more than the default 11 pages (additional apps will still be hidden), then moving built-in apps to the last spot, then moving in an additional icon to force a built-in app off the 11th screen, the downloading an app to fill in the empty spot, and… presto — 12th page.

Ninja level work-around to be sure, but if you can’t live with 180 visible apps, and decide to experiment, let us know your results!

For some, even the newly expanded 11 Home Screen, 180 (including 4 fixed dock) app slots under iPhone 3.0 isn’t enough. It’s not about need — it’s about want. Luckily, iPhone 3.0 offers another handy, theoretically unlimited way to access apps: Spotlight. According to David Pogue:

You can install UNLIMITED APPS! Only 180 show up as icons—but Spotlight can find and open all of them! (And yes, we tried. Stopped at 250!)

So, check off every single one of your 56,000 (maybe?!) apps and sync them over. Then, instead of swiping right through 11 pages only to find the excess unaccessible, swipe LEFT to go to the Spotlight Search screen (or just press the home button again to get there super quick).

Next, start typing the name of the app, hidden or otherwise, you want to access, and as soon as it appears in the results, tap it to launch.

Boom. App pack rat bliss.

Note: Spotlight also shows WebClip icons you’ve bookmarked from MobileSafari to your Home Screen, so you can go crazy with quick access to your favorite websites as well.

And for those who prefer not to fill up their iPhone with apps, remember you can delete an app when not using it and download it again via the on-board App Store app, without any duplicate charges, any time. Cloud management is a reality, and a second option.

Interesting concept video for using iTunes, rather than the iPhone itself, to manage home screen icons and layout. Single icon, multi-icon selection, icon and space lock and unlock, whole screen moving, sort by name, sort by last usage, etc. are all visualized and it makes a rather compelling case.

Would you rather (or additionally) handle icon/app management via iTunes? As we move to more wireless/over-the-air syncing and operations, do we want to have more reasons to stick with the tether, or could a MobileMe-like service include it?

Also, while it looks solid on 2 screen, what if you’re rocking 9 screens, will it scale?

(Via MobileCrunch. Thanks to Phil from WMExperts for passing it along!)