Background Location: What Can We Expect?

The arrival of multitasking finally got its much overdue announcement this morning in Cupertino with iPhone 4.0. Although it took a few iterations of the iPhone operating system and hardware that could support the function, it's finally coming to our devices later this summer and will open up many new opportunities with how we use our iPhones. One of the many touted sub features of multitasking, Background Location, will open up brand new ways developers can deliver location based applications. As the name implies background location will allow users to run location based apps in the background. While the idea may seem overly simple, it opens many new ways we will use our apps. GPS apps for instance, will see immediate benefit of the new feature. For now, using a GPS app means having to keep the app constantly open to take advantage of the app's navigation services. While some do offer limited multitasking capabilities like being able to listen to your iPod music library while getting your turn by turn directions, you're still restricted to the confines of the app in order to get to your destination. Background location will easily solve that dilemma by allowing the app's navigation features to run in the background and providing your voice guided directions while you tend to other matters on the device.

While, this will promise to eat up your battery even faster, the added ability is going to be a welcomed addition for road warriors hoping to increase productivity. And although it wasn't explicitly mentioned during the event, will this allow for phone calls to take place without interrupting our navigation? Either way, just be sure to stay safe while handling that device in the car!

The other category of apps to see great benefits from background location will be social networking. Services such as Loopt and Google Latitude are fun to help us meet up with friends when we're out and about or just to simply broadcast where we are and what we're doing. The only problem is in order to update your current location, you have to remember to take out your device and open up the app to track your position. It doesn't always happen and locations tend to become inaccurate. Not anymore with background location.

Although the idea of always on location services can be cool for keeping our close friends up to speed with what we're up to, Apple is fully aware of the stalker opportunities and has implemented notifications and indicators to alert us when you're being asked for your location. Settings within the location based apps will also provide data on whether locations have been tracked for the past 24 hours.

While the Foursquare and Gowalla crowd are eager to take out their devices to check in the moment they step foot in a new establishment, imagine being able to run these social networking apps in the background and having a push notification remind you to check in when you arrive. Or how about the possibility of being notified when a friend is within the vicinity of a recent check in? Background location should certainly make it easier to stay connected and take better advantage of GPS functionality in our devices.

One last possibility for background location centers around Apple's launch into the advertising space. The 7th and final tent pole to iPhone 4.0 was the introduction of in app advertising using the newly branded iAd from Apple.

Now, how does background location fit into advertising? Apps that can track our location in the background with the ability to advertise nearby promotions is the holy grail for advertisers. It's like that scene in "Minority Report" when Tom Cruise's character is receiving custom sales pitches based on where he was and what he had purchased in his shopping history. Can we be too far off in getting notifications of sales using our current GPS? With background location, it's entirely possible.

Whatever way the developers plan to use their new tools, iPhone 4.0 represents another great evolution in our favorite mobile platform. It's only a few short months until the summer when we can start enjoying these features but until then, we can countdown to the day we can retire the phrase, "Where you at?" Our iPhone's will soon be able to always know.

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