Apple Announces Multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0

[gmcalpin]

I love my apple products, but the hubris of Steve Jobs on something like this is hilarious. "We have a ton of low priced and free ads, which has forced developers to put ads into their apps that we think, frankly, suck." So what does Apple do?

iAds

Now, not only will you still get ads in your app, Apple is going to take 60% of the profit. Does this mean that app developers will be allowed to use their own ads as well, or if they have ads it has to go iAds? If it's the latter, I would be giving Apple a big F-You.

Clearly, you do not run a website.

1) It's 40%, as others have pointed out.

2) Almost every other ad network has the same 40% rate. (Some have 35% or 30%, but not very many, and I've generally only seen it tied to exclusive contracts. Others won't even tell you how much they're taking.)

3) They can use other ads, too. This is simply a different way to serve a different kind of ad. More engaging (hopefully) and less obtrustive — which will equal MORE people clicking through them.

Plus, since companies who want to advertise will be doing it through Apple, you know you'll be getting higher-quality ads than with some networks, not ****ing diet ads or teeth bleaching ****.

I hate advertising as much as the next guy, but this is GOOD for developers.

 

[theBigD23]

Pausing apps in the background isn't multitasking. Why can't my Twitter app be getting tweets in the background? Why can't Mail be downloading mail from my various accounts in the background?

Why can't I run two applications on the screen at once? I'd love to have Mail on the top two-thirds, and my Twitter feed on the bottom third.

This is completely unimaginative. Apple should be ashamed to develop such an underwhelming OS update.

FAIL.

It's called battery life. Guaranteed you would complain about battery life when the phone turns off while you're tweeting and emailing at the same time.

 

[Chad H]

Hey guys,
Does anybody know if its just the SDK being released or are they releasing OS 4 beta for developers to run live on their phones?

 

[Obama1988]

Skype Demo

From the Skype demo screen shots I saw, it seemed that the new multitasking version would operate over AT&T 3G for Skype calls and messages??

Can somebody confirm this??

Thanks.

 

[calderone]

I'm a little confused. Steve says task managers are bad, but thats essentially when their little running-app dock is. Typical Steve though, bashing something then having Apple do it and its the 2nd coming of christ.

You are switching tasks, not managing. Meaning the user never has to explicitly tell an application close, OS 4.0 handles all of that for the user.

 

[stellaclose]

Is it just me or does anyone else think iPad 2G will come out in the fall with OS 4.

 

[DougB541]

Except that it won't kill your battery and won't make the system dog-slow with only a few things open. It's multitasking done cleanly and efficiently. No "revolution" needed, just some thought and sensibility.

Just curious...how do you think Palm Pre does it?

It multi-tasks the exact same way except instead of card view like WebOS they are using an App Tray like a blackberry.

If I minimize a 3D game on my Palm Pre it pauses the game...(obviously putting it in a save state). Much like the iPhone does with this update.

I mean, its a great feature...but lets not pretend its something new.

 

[ruinfx]

well i guess now we know why apple sued htc. i was really expecting 4.0 to be a major overhaul to the iphone UI but it seems to just be another "catch-up" update. sure apple is adding their own style to these basic smartphone features but its not a major leap ahead like it should have been.

 

[theBigD23]

I like this release, but one of the feature requests I'd like to see if push notification management. Right now, it's pretty messy.

 

[diamond.g]

Except that it won't kill your battery and won't make the system dog-slow with only a few things open. It's multitasking done cleanly and efficiently. No "revolution" needed, just some thought and sensibility.

What I find odd is I seem to recall MS doing the same thing for WP7. That is how the tiles get data from the applications.

 

[alectheking]

So are they posting the iPad 4.0 beta today also? If so then I won't be so bugged by the late fall release.. I'll just download the beta's and that will keep me content

 

[kresh]

Not surprising, considering the 3GS is significantly faster than the 3G and multitasking is probably very processor intensive. The 3G probably wouldn't be able to handle it or it would be unbearably slow

I don't believe it. Backgrounder allows Pandora and a twitter app to run in the background while browsing Safari on my 1st Gen 32 GB iPod touch and there is no lag at all.

They plainly took the most requested new feature away from older hardware to force upgrades!

 

[theneweyes]

I have been a die hard apple fan all of my life. But there's no loyalty from Apple to the consumer. I agree that Google should not be the only ones with their hands in the advertising pie. And with the same reasoning I think some other company out there (Dell, Acer, HP) should take one of the Linux builds and create an operating system to compete with Apple. Like I said earlier in another post, most people use their computers for basic tasks like word processing and web surfing. There's no reason why some healthy competition can't rise in the market place.

 

[DakotaGuy]

As a 2nd generation iPod Touch owner I'm wondering if this update will be even worth if it we have to pay for it.

 

[evarian]

yay finally multi-tasking... although nothing unexpected the entire day

 

[frankjl]

How frustrating.

Apple come on. Whatever happened to cloud computing?
I have a mobileme account why dont you link my devices to obtain information directly from it?

Let me stream my music collection, let me stream my photo's.

Why cant apple just get on the ball already. Features that my windows mobile phone have had since 1999.
I know your whole idea of re-inventing the industry consist of re-releasing material and claiming it as your own but come on already.

How about you bring up to 2010 and introiduc a new way to connect physical hardware to cloud?

Argh

 

[NebulaClash]

Is it just me or does anyone else think iPad 2G will come out in the fall with OS 4.

That was always likely, a 2G version of iPad in time for holiday sales. But 1G versions will be running OS 4 as well. All iPads will run OS 4.

 

[Popeye206]

Pausing apps in the background isn't multitasking. Why can't my Twitter app be getting tweets in the background? Why can't Mail be downloading mail from my various accounts in the background?

Why can't I run two applications on the screen at once? I'd love to have Mail on the top two-thirds, and my Twitter feed on the bottom third.

This is completely unimaginative. Apple should be ashamed to develop such an underwhelming OS update.

FAIL.

Obviously you forgot about push applications.... that along with this gives you the same affect. I'm sure they do it to keep the battery from wearing out in an hour. From a user perspective, you will see no difference.

PASS with flying colors! Again, Apple waited and did it right instead of rushing it.

 

[itickings]

Hopefully "fully-compatible with iPhone OS 4.0" means fully usable as well, and not limited by the current hardware.

 

[macsimcon]

Wrong again

Two applications on the screen at once? Theres like no screen real estate to do that, you wouldn't be able to see anything and even touch anything. This is a smartphone not a desktop.

Other mobile platforms already do this. Why not make it an option for those who want more information displayed at once?

Remember, Apple does no market research. How do we know whether or not such an interface change might appeal to users unless they're asked?

 

[Compile 'em all]

How about this? Apple could have allowed the user to choose any four apps that would have background access at any one time. They could have even included a simple multitasking slider control, to allow the user to choose between greater battery life at one side to greater performance on the other. Nice and simple, and a great compromise so the user doesn't end up having to quit applications like they do on Android.

You see? I thought of that in five minutes, and I'm not as smart as Apple's engineers. What I saw today was a half-measure. My proposal gives the user true multitasking, without a confusing interface.
.

You still ADDED an interface. You think that is nice and simple but wait till your mum uses it. It is a lot of mental burden you put on your customer. To start thinking about "performance" and "battery life". The iPhone must be fast and responsive. No one wants and or should expect a sluggish iPhone.

You will never understand why Apple works the way they do unless you start creating a product that is used by millions. Only then you will get it. Only then you will understand how something that in "your eyes" is simple and easy can render the whole device confusing and complicated in the eyes of an avg user.

 

[Screwtape]

Looks like a solid update! Now we get to wait for the 4th Gen iPhone...

Now that backgrounding and multitasking have been taken care of, what will people complain about?

On a side note, what happens to iPod Controls (when you currently double-click home)?

 

[justinfreid]

dont forget true backgrounding instead of this garbage.

Right!

I have to post in agreement since I sense a huge divergence in thought towards what a consumer should expect from an electronic device.

The iPhone with its Apple approved software is a fine device, but when the potential of the hardware is so vastly underused (as demonstrated by a vibrant jailbreaking community that gets by even with the impediments Apple puts in place) I can't help but get frustrated by Apple's pokey development cycle.

As for our troll, people who are content to make of the device only what Apple wants shouldn't begrudge those are inclined to think different.

 

[nagromme]

Plainly, comprehension is not your strong point. I quoted Apple, directly, in the initial post. A user, using the Apple device for a half hour, will on average see 10 ads. This is from the boss, today.

Are you comprehending? Do you get it? You will be forcefed tons of ads when you use the device as intended. Reading is fundamental.


By the way, your answer is, cripple your device and "don't use 3rd party apps?" You call that an answer? LAWLZ. Good luck with that one, fanboy.

Your information is wrong.

He was giving an example, not a rule, and his example was 10 ads per day, not per 30 minutes. That’s a fair example of how things already are, simply because free apps already use ads to pay for themselves. I probably see that many ads in a day from Words With Friends alone. I ignore them. Ads are nothing new. And this is optional, just for those specific third-party apps that choose to use them. And they’d use some other ad service if not Apple’s—in fact, they already do. No change.

 

[orion123]

Sort of amazing that 4.0 won't be available AT ALL for the 1g Touch and first gen iPhone. Granted, it's probably time to upgrade the hardware for most of us, but I find it hard to believe that things like unified mailbox, folders, multi-Exchange and the like just wont be available period