Apple Unveils Multitasking For iPhone OS 4

Just as expected, Apple has unveiled that iPhone OS 4, which will be launching this Summer, will include third-party app multitasking! According to Steve Jobs, the feature took so long to be implemented because they wanted to do it right:

"Now we weren't the first to this party, but we're gonna be the best. Just like cut and paste," said Jobs. "We figured out how to implement multitasking for third party apps and avoid those things. So that's what took so long. I'd like to demo it. We have a great UI."

Switching between running apps works something like this. No matter where you are on your iPhone, you can double-click the home button and a dock above the standard dock will pop-up revealing all of your running apps. Tapping on an app will bring it up, and you can double click at any time to bring up another app. It's that simple. Developers will be able to implement multitasking in different ways, which is still being detailed. We will bring you more news on multitasking as it becomes available. Apple has now detailed the seven services developers can use to implement multitasking. They are:

Background audio (streaming radio apps)
VoIP (VoIP app users can receive calls while in another app)
Background location (icon will display in title bar if an app asks for location)
Push notifications
Local notifications (no need for app-side server)
Task completion
Fast app switching (state of app is stored and preserved)

Update: Of course with all of this good news there is some bad news. Multitasking will not be available for all iDevices. It will only be available for iPhone 3GS, the third-generation iPod touch, and iPad.

[Images via Engadget]

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