Apple: Multitasking coming to the iPhone this summer, iPad in the fall
One of the biggest criticisms leveled at the iPhone and the
iPad
— that it can't run third-party apps in the background — will be fixed
at last (partially, anyway), with a little help from iPhone software
4.0,
Steve Jobs
announced Thursday. The major OS revision will arrive this summer for
the iPhone, while iPad users will have to wait until the fall.
The new iPhone software will pack in more than 100 new features, Jobs
promised, including (besides multitasking) a unified email inbox,
support for Apple's new iBookstore, a
social gaming network,
a series of interface enhancements (such as app folders and wallpapers
for the home screen) and — yep, it was bound to happen — a new,
Apple-controlled mobile ad framework, with Apple set to keep a generous
40 percent of future ad revenue for itself.
Without further ado, then, let's get down to the nitty-gritty:
Multitasking
Here's
how it'll work: If you're running an app on the iPhone — anything from
the core Mail app to, say, a game like Tap Tap Revenge — you just
double-click the Home key to pull up a small window shade at the bottom
of the screen, which can show four apps at a time (just swipe to scroll
through more running apps). Tap an app in the new multitasking "dock"
and you'll switch to the app, with the first app's state saved in the
background.
So, will all these apps actually be running in the
background? Well, no (if they did, they'd slow iPhone performance to a
crawl and eat up battery life, Jobs said). That said, Apple will be
allowing a few selected processes to run in the background, including
music, VOIP, and location-based apps.
For example, Pandora
will still play music while you're browsing on Safari (you can even
pause Pandora or skip tracks using the iPhone's "lock" control bar),
you'll be able to answer and maintain VOIP calls (think Skype and the
like) while you're working in other apps, and location-aware apps like
Loopt will be able to track your location in the background via
cell-tower triangulation. (An icon will appear in the iPhone's top
status bar
to warn you if a background app is tracking your location; you'll also
get to tweak a series of new location-based privacy settings).
Universal e-mail inbox
Here's a feature
that's been a long time in coming. Currently, iPhone users checking
multiple email accounts have had to switch back and forth between those
accounts to see their respective in boxes (a process that takes several
more clicks than it should). With iPhone OS 4.0, however, users will at
last get a single, unified in box, just like BlackBerry users have
enjoyed since ... well, forever. You'll also be able to "fast switch"
between accounts, sort messages by thread, and open attachments with a
third-part app (nice). Also, good news for Exchange users: No longer
will you be restricted to a single Exchange account.
Home screen enhancements
You
know how the iPhone won't allow you to select wallpaper for the home
screen? (That's the home screen with all your app icons, not the lock
screen with the
digital clock
and the "slide to unlock" thingy). That's all set to change once iPhone
OS 4.0 comes out. You'll also be able to create "folder" icons that
contain a series of apps — say, for all your games — effectively
boosting the number of apps that can be displayed on the iPhone's home
screen from 180 to more than 2,100.
Social gaming network
The
Xbox 360 has
Xbox Live, the
PS3 has the
PlayStation Network, and now the iPhone will have
Game Center, a new social gaming system that'll let you earn achievements, invite pals to your
personal gaming network, compare top scores on leaderboards, and square off with other players via matchmaking.
Third-party developers who've already set up their own
social gaming networks for the iPhone (such as Gameloft and OpenFeint) aren't gonna like this one bit.
A word from our sponsors
Plenty of iPhone apps already feature in-app advertisements, but
Steve Jobs
(unsurprisingly) thinks Apple can do it better — thus, iAd, a framework
for dynamic new in-app, HTML5-powered ads that "deliver interaction and
emotion" (I know, I know). Jobs showed off a series of demos, including
a full-motion app for Pixar's "
Toy Story 3"
(shocker!), a Nike ad that lets you design your own shoe, and a Target
ad that lets you set up your dorm room. Ads won't pull users out of a
running app, Jobs promised, and you'll also be able to play videos,
games, download wallpaper, and view maps from within the ad itself.
Last but not least: Apple says it'll split ad revenue with advertisers
60-40, with Apple keeping the 40-percent cut. Look who just got into
the advertising business.
Other enhancements
Expect
the iBookstore to come to the iPhone with OS 4.0, along with a series
of enterprise enhancements (in-app encryption, wireless app deployment
for an entire workforce, etc.) and support for
Bluetooth keyboards.
Which iPhones/the iPad will be compatible with OS 4.0?
The
iPhone 3GS and the third-generation
iPod Touch will be fully compatible with the new OS, multitasking and all, Jobs said. If you have the
iPhone 3G
or the second-gen iPod Touch, they will run "many things" in OS 4.0,
but multitasking won't be one of them. Finally, the iPad will also be
getting all the new OS 4.0 features — including multitasking — but not
until this fall. Jobs didn't mention the original iPhone or iPod Touch,
nor did he mention a fee for iPod Touch users wishing to upgrade (as
we've seen in the past).
What we didn't get
No
Flash support (just "no," Jobs reportedly said). No status-bar
notifications for new email or SMS messages (which already exist on
WebOS and
Android phones). And no mention at all of an iPhone for Verizon.
So,
what do you think: Happy with the new features? Has Apple fixed the
iPhone's/iPad's multitasking problem at last, or think there's still
work to be done?
— Ben Patterson is a technology writer for Yahoo! News.
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