According to sources close to Apple, the company will be introducing multitasking support to the iPhone in its 4.0 firmware release.
Whether Apple will allow for similar functionality on the iPad is unknown. The lack of multitasking in the device has been a major point of complaint among users of the iPhone, and of potential purchasers of the future iPad. Both gadgets only allow for one application to be used at a time, something that Microsoft has been poking fun at recently.
The only complaint that we have heard more times than the lack of multitasking, is the exclusion of Flash from Apple mobile devices. Apple will not move from that point, but on this front it will give that market what it has long been asking for.
Anyone and everyone who has jailbroken their iPhone has had multitasking for some time, as the iPhone can support it quite simply. Apple has merely been blocking a simple software fix. Why?
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Explanations tend to center around battery life and phone performance. More applications running will lead to lower battery life, and already taxed mobile processors might not be able to handle the load. However, with the newer, more powerful iPhone 3GS only one of the issues remains problematic.
It is very late, but as they say, better late than never.
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