This article cites some rumors that iPhone OS 4.0 will allow multitasking. Now keep in mind that multitasking rumors were present before just about every major release of the iPhone OS, so take these with a grain of salt. But I think they have a little more credence this time around. The next major release of iPhone OS is due come summer, and I can't really think of any other major improvements that are needed.
But whether these rumors are true or not, I personally have mixed feelings about third-party multitasking. First off, as a developer, multitasking would mean a lot more work trying to figure out how to get our apps to be apart of multitasking, if it doesn't just happen automatically. Second, there's a whole slew of problems that can arise with multitasking on a mobile device. Most of these problems are mentioned in the above article, but my biggest concern is security. The reason I love the iPhone soooo much is because of how safe it is. I don't have to worry about any malware getting on my iPhone and ruining it.
Problems aside, third-party multitasking would present some wonderful opportunities and areas of growth for the iPhone and would effectively eliminate any complaints about the platform from "non-believers"
and would reduce the iPhone's vulnerability to attacks from competitors.
Anyways, just my opinion. Take a look at that article and decide for yourself!
PS I know it's been a long time since I've posted. My lame excuse is two-fold. First off, I've been working non-stop on this huge Webcrawler project for one of my classes for the past three weeks. Second, I haven't really been able to find any good Apple articles that have sparked my interest lately. I know, I know... excuses only satisfy the giver... but still...
