Otaku Gadgets

According to AppleInsider, Apple is going to enable proper multi-tasking on the iPhone OS 4.0. They have this from sources that have a proven track record for Apple Intelligence. Hence, they are putting a lot of emphasis on this rumor. It’s not that multi-tasking does not exist on the iPhone, it does. But the 4.0 update will finally allow third apps to simultaneously — something that has been sorely missing from the iPhone all this time.

The iPhone OS currently only allows certain apps developed by Apple to run in the background while the user is running another app. However, these a few essential apps and it’s not like all Apple apps are able to run in the background.

According to the said sources, Apple has finally developed a “full-on” solution that will allow multi-tasking on the iPhone without affecting the performance and the battery life — two of the main reasons why true multi-tasking hasn’t been allowed on the iPhone so far. In fact, without a proper solution like the one being touted here, mobile OS’ should not multi-task. The sources say that they have tried it out and deem that it still has some way to go before it goes public. But then will Apple be able to make it to their usual summer release for all things new in the iPhone world? We don’t know yet.

Apple made fun of the cumbersome task manager on the Windows Mobile OS when they were releasing the iPhone OS 2.o. And even though Android ‘boasts’ of true multi-tasking, there are several reports of the phones freezing and crashing due to the poor management of resources when too many apps overwhelmed the system.

In fact, it was earlier this year when Leo Laporte of Twit.tv mentioned live during one of his netcast that his Nexus One Once froze for over 3o minutes, during the course of which he was unable to do anything with it. That means it could not receive calls either. Even though Leo said he loves Android more than the iPhone now and has switched full time, he lamented the fact that users have to pay the cost of being able to multi-task by running out of resources from time to time.

The current restriction on multi-tasking on the iPhone is artificial and there’s nothing preventing Apple from flipping a switch one through an update Nothing except a proper solution like the one being talked about here of course. So technically, the iPhone OS as of 3.0 is capable of multitasking and anyone claiming anything different is wrong.

This capability in the iPhone can also be taken as a sign that Apple has been working since the very beginning on providing hassle free multitasking. Multi-tasking on the mobile phones has to be rethought according to the platform and not done in the way Widows Mobile did. So Windows Phone 7 series has actually done the right thing by walking the iPhone way. The main issue here is to let the user know what is running and all the while manage apps intelligently so that important functions like receiving a call still work under heavy load.

After all, what good is a phone that occasionally freezes up so bad that it can’t receive a call. Not to state the obvious but it’s kinda ironical that I can’t take calls on my ‘Phone’ because I was running too many apps on it.

Another reason why Apple doesn’t allow third-party apps to run in the background is because of security. If an app hides in the background without the user knowing about it, it could potentially be working to malicious ends. It could be a trojan or a rootkit or a worm or similar such malware that is up to no good. This is why jail-broken iPhones are the only ones till date to have gotten infected with malware.

If there’s one thing Apple doesn’t need, it’s a malware slipping into the App store and installing something malicious that runs in the background.

There’s also a huge challenge at the UI level. Apple, or any other mobile OS developer for that matter, has to design a solution for switching between running apps and also knowing what apps are running. Currently, the few things that are running on the iPhone OS have a visual cue to clue the user in about what is going on. But there isn’t enough real-estate on the screen to display multiple small apps running together.  This calls for an innovative solution that no one has thought of yet.

Also, efficiently switching between apps while maintaing an intelligent resource allocation is pretty hard. Resource allocation is what really matters when it comes to maintaing a stable OS environment. But making the phone figure that out without the user having to intervene or thinking about it is a real challenge.

In the mean time, there has always been the problem of providing that much horse power for apps. The mobile chips have not been all that powerful and hence running complex things like games have always been a problem on every other mobile platform except the iPhone. Now that Apple has the A4 and more RAM is being pushed in to the mobile devices, the iPhone might finally be ready to handle this kind of load. After all, Apple would never take the risk of the phone getting overloaded from  a few apps running together because the processor and the RAM couldn’t handle it.

So to underline the fundamental things required by Apple to maintain their great user experience after adding multi-tasking — they need to make it easy for the user to switch between apps without a noticeable lag, they have to ensure that the phone knows how to handle resource allocation automatically, they have to make sure that no app can hide in the background and above all — phone calls should always get through.

Apple has the brains in its UI and programming departments to pull something like this off. And with Apple’s obsession over controlling user experience, I will trust Apple to finally solve this problem and show others how it should be done. Now that Android has (almost) finished catching up with iPhone, it is time for Apple to step up the game.

Apple has never been one to jump in to something just because everyone else is doing it and the market craves it. They usually try to get things right before launching into something and this is what has probably kept them from flipping that multi-tasking switch. So if they are doing it now, I can hope that that they have a really innovative solution on their hands. If they don’t, they’ll losing market share that could’ve been theirs but went to Google instead.

There are a lot speculations around the iPhone 4.0. There’s the front-facing camera demand/expectation/rumor and the accompanying video conferencing rumor. Then there’s the navigation question along with mobile ads. But if this one feature is implemented and nothing else is, Apple will still gain a lot of new customers and sell still more iPhones.

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