This news came via a note that Kaufman Bros. released to investors earlier today. Shaw Wu, the analyst with Kaufman Bros., wrote in a note that his “checks with sources” point at full multitasking support in third-party applications. App Store apps, he claims, will be finally allowed to run concurrently in the background alongside system processes, thanks to iPhone OS 4.0 due for announcement this coming Thursday.
If true, this could change everything because multitasking is Android’s biggest differentiator over Apple’s platform. Without multitasking, iPhone OS is just a toy compared to Android. The analyst wrote that multitasking will be especially important on the iPad:
We believe this will be particularly important for the iPad, due to its much faster processor and much larger screen where users will more likely want the capability to run multiple applications much like most do with their PCs and Macs. We believe this will allow AAPL to deliver a fuller and more differentiated experience on the iPad helping drive greater adoption.
Critics didn’t spare words bashing the iPhone over lack of multitasking. It should be noted that iPhone OS is a preemptive multitasking operating system by design, even though Apple has limited background tasks to system processes only.A number of system processes are constantly running on your iPhone at any given time, including phone, messaging, push notifications, and mail. However, the system doesn’t allow end-users to run more than one third-party app at a time due to, as Apple explains, security concerns and a possible battery drain.
In order to help overcome this limitation, iPhone OS 3.0 added new APIs that allow text, sound, and badge alerts to be sent to the device even if an app isn’t running. Most users, however, saw push notifications as a poor substitute for the ability to run more than one app at a time.
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