As reported Apple will give a preview of the iPhone 3.0 firmware tomorrow, Tuesday March 17th, to the media. The rumors of what the new iPhone 3.0 OS will contain have built up over the weekend.

Rumors of the features of the iPhone 3.0 already started a while ago with background process support and multi-core CPU support. A favorite prediction is the Cut and Paste feature that is already the basis for iPhone ridicule from WinMo and BlackBerry users.
Kevin Rose used a live Diggnation at SXSW in Austin this weekend to spread rumors about Cut and Paste support in iPhone 3.0. Kevin Rose had some recent correct prediction for Apple updates. He also said that there will be no background app support in 3.0 and also no MMS and video recording. The way he put it for what the iPhone 3.0 firmware will be all about is to match the features of the upcoming Palm Pre.
This would mean that Apple enhanced the features around connecting with web data around contacts and social networks. It sounds reasonable that Apple would add features to dissolve any advantage the Palm Pre has over the current iPhone to make it a non-starter.
The fact that their is a media briefing of a preview of the next iPhone OS supports that. Apple has concerns that the Palm Pre would hurt iPhone sales.
You can watch the segment of Kevin Rose on Diggnation on the World-of-Apple site (Via Techmeme).

Apple needs to also be careful not to deliver a instable firmware update. The backlash the BlackBerry Storm got about its early firmware versions would be small compared to what would happen to Apple with an instable iPhone.
To introduce multi-tasking if you did not have it from the beginning is just a very good way to make an OS very instable.

We only have to wait one more day to see what Apple has been cooking up in the iPhone 3.0 firmware. The preview of the OS could also give Apple valuable feedback on what the tech community is thinking about the new features. Apple could then still make changes for the official release of the iPhone 3.0 firmware.
Update: iPhone 3.0 Event is Today