“The iPhone OS is already capable of multitasking–technically speaking,” Bradley writes. “Certain apps and functions already multitask. You can switch to email or calendar while a voice call is still connected in the background. You can listen to music from the iPod function while continuing to use other apps on the iPhone. The multitasking is there, Apple has just restricted which apps actually have access to it.”
“To be honest, the iPhone screen only has enough real estate to display one app at a time, so multitasking is irrelevant in most cases. What is more important than literally leaving other apps open in the background, is building apps that are capable of retaining their state even when they’re not in the foreground,” Bradley writes. “In other words, I don’t need the app to run simultaneously, but as I switch from app to app I would like for the app to remember where I was so I don’t have to start over each time. Since I can only see one app at a time anyway, this sort of app memory basically achieves the same goal as true multitasking. This solution is the responsibility of the app developers rather than Apple itself, and many apps already take this approach.”
Multitasking introduces some additional issues with which Apple or iPhone users will have to contend:
1. Battery Life
2. Performance
3. Management
4. Security
Bradley writes, “While the value of multitasking on the iPhone itself may still be questionable, it would be a serious handicap to the iPad…”
Full article – recommended – here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “qka” for the heads up.]