Many people were pissed off about the iPad missing the – so called – multitasking feature.
Well!… First… What kind of multitasking you want? iPhone OS is a multitasking operating system. You realize is capable of doing that, isn’t it?
So, let’s take iPhone. What’s iPhone? A Phone, yes? And well… Don’t forget. An iPod.
What’s the GOD of the multitasking on iPhone? The PHONE CALL.
You play a game, you get a call, you take the call, back to game. Is that simple!
Is there any other multitasking stuff there?!
You are notified by your calendar alarms, SMS, etc.
Now… It’s also an iPod, yes?!
You can play music while browsing the web.
This kind of multitasking is not obtrusive. It is allowed. It is there. I like it!
You would say: “Dude, that’s not enough!”
So, what you want?! Tens of windows collecting in the background, eating your resources as on Windows Mobile? Do you want windows on a mobile device? Do you want annoying popups? You want to get lost in tens of menus? Is this what you really want on a mobile device?
I don’t! So, iPhone was the first phone/pda/reader/music/video/player I liked.
So what you want, then?
You say: “Applications running in background, you say”
I remember reading about the iPhone App Design guidelines a few years ago. I found the same in the iPad UX guidelines.
It says:
Start Instantly
iPad applications should start as quickly as possible so that people can begin using them without delay.
Always Be Prepared to Stop
Like iPhone applications, iPad applications stop when people press the Home button to open another application.
Then there was a guideline for the iPhone app developers. Was like that:
When the user (your master), press the Home button, save the app state!
Why?! Well… When he comes back, he has the meaning that he didn’t even close that application.
How it feels? I’ll tell you…
It feels like that damn windows multitasking everybody wants.
Almost every serious application on iPhone does that. If they don’t do that, is their fault. The fact that there are some pointless iFart applications out there, that don’t keep the UX design guidelines doesn’t make the iPhone or iPad less multitasking.
I’m pretty sure that the iPad will have the perfect amount of multitasking required for such mobile device.
So, let’s take iPad. What’s the fuss with the iPad?
“Apps. Apps and Apps!”
Take the iPhone number of apps and multiply them with 10. You will get a lot of apps.
If they will get multitasking, the badly developed ones, will just mess the entire user experience.
Will be like on XP. Two months later you wait 10 seconds to open the damn email app and another 10 to close it.
You watch a movie, you get that iFart application, that you installed by mistake, asking you if you want to update. You say: “NO!…” It will popup ten minutes later.
You, say: “Silence! I kill you!”
Surprise… You can’t!
Imagine further…
You search for an anti spyware app on AppStore. Can you imagine that?
Well… Let’s say it is there. You got it. It’s only few bucks.
It removes the iFart app.
“Cooooool!” You say.
You start the movie, you watch the movie… and then… a popup:
“The anti spyware application want to update.”
iPad is not the tablet that Microsoft can’t make it.
You will see!