In early April, Apple announced that its iPhone OS 4, in use for iPhone 3GS, iPad, and iPod Touch will support a limited form of multitasking.  This feature has been readily available on competing products from manufacturers for some time. To date, multitasking on PC and mobile device O/S (operating systems) enables applications to run simultaneously. Apple said they will expose seven background services to iPhone developers, who can combine them to make their programs appear to be running behind the scenes. To some critics, this is not real actual multitasking, but only the appearance of it. Microsoft is using the same strategy in its newer O/S versions.

Here’s an explanation of what Apple announced regarding it’s seven background services soon to be available.

Voice Over IP
The likes of Skype,  iTalk, Talk2, and other VoIP programs will be able to receive and continue calls in the background.

Location Services
Background location services will let GPS navigation applications continue to navigate, all while the end user is utilizing voice services, sending text messages, or listening to music.  Furthermore, background services & GPS applications will wake up social location apps and inform them when a person has moved between cell-phone towers for updated location updates.

Background Audio
Audio services like Pandora and Slacker will be to be streamed via Apple’s background service, enabling the end user to perform another task  while listening to them.

Task Completion
The Task Completion background service lets programs finish tasks and processes items in the background – the likes of uploading photos, updating contacts, etc.   However, some restrictions do exist with this feature as to where the application is started.  It appears as though the active application performing the tasks, needs to be started in the foreground.

Push Notifications

Push Notifications involving such applications such as Facebook messages, CNN, or NYTimes news alerts, are available.  Apple’s cloud-based server is available for content developers to utilize and request an alert to users when fresh content is available.

Local Notifications
Much like Push notifications, only without network involvement, a third party application can set an alarm that notifies the user on the screen and requests to bring it to the forefront of the screen for viewing.

Fast App Switching
This is the key to unlocking the appearance of multitasking. With fast app switching, applications will save their states so they can pop up to the foreground instantly. Essentially, they appear as if they had been running all along. Apple promises there won’t be a long launch delay in switching between apps.

What’s Not in the upgrade:

Much anticipated by the media and industry watchers, but left out of this upgrade and announcement by Apple is the following:

Hardware and Upgrades

With the introduction of multitasking, or at least appearance of it, comes new demands for hardware, memory, and application–O/S management.  This generally equals new hardware.  Apple did not discuss any new hardware upgrades or new phone units, but is expected to do so in early-summer.

More communication carriers for the iPhone

At present, and at the aggravation of many,  the monolithic AT&T has the only agreement in the U.S.  This is expected to change in time but it may be a long time before Apple opens up its very profitable iphone franchise to other carriers. Apple is conservative and moves at a slow and careful pace in many ways with regards to it large business partners.  Rumors of a Verizon network compatible phone have been abundant, but no concrete proof of data exists yet.  Apple’s iphone business is hugely profitable at the moment and its level of customer satisfaction is high, and it wants to keep it that way.  Apple achieves what it does in many ways via control; control over its design, manufacturing, product sales, and companies that it interacts with. Again, that is unlikely to change with Steven Jobs in place.

Flash, Java, and family

Flash, Java, and the like.  Frequently and in a spirited manner, Steven Jobs displays disdain for these applications.   Despite their unprecedented popularity and widespread use, it is unlikely that they will ever appear on an iphone-ipad like device during Mr. job’s reign at Apple.

No Syncing of Wireless devices. 

This was much anticipated and on nearly everyone’s list, but to no avail.  Strategically and product design-wise, wireless syncing is a fit with Apple’s core.  But Apple sometimes take the approach that it will go without until it gets it exactly the way it wants it.  Remember the story of how Steven Job’s lived in a million dollar house for 5 years without any furniture?

Social network integration

Many users belong to multiple social networking sites in which multiple address books, messaging apps. etc. exist.  Apple seems content with that. Industry wide there is some apprehension that you can successfully merge all of the social apps functions into one for efficient purposes anyway. Apple has elected to not play in this area at least for now.