Multitasking points on Android and iPhone platforms

Jeff Lamarche has some interesting and valid points on the debate about the pros of Android phones multitasking ability vs. the iPhones current exclusion of this feature in this blog entry.

Mr. Lamarche is clearly a iPhone focused developer but does a very balanced look at this important topic.

'What people mean when they misuse this term is the ability to run more than one GUI application at a time, the way we do on our regular computers.' ..... 'but the user experience issues around presenting multiple GUI applications on a small screen have not yet been adequately resolved.'

The implementation of low power consuming background tasks on mobile devices is something that will make these devices so much more useful. Location based and proximity based [as sensors on mobile devices evolve] are the biggest opportunity. But I am sure there are many more to be discovered.

Mobile devices are going to be a big part of our lives as 'memory/brain augmentation devices' going forward. The massive amount of inputs and data that we need to process will dictate us carrying one of these devices. This will be a huge opportunity for the boomer/aging in place population as we age and want to continue to have productive lives. I am interesting in products in this area at my other blog.

So I concur with Mr. Lamarche that the current debate about 'multitasking' on smart phones is a red herring, however the evolution of apps that usefully alert us as we go about our daily lives are the real opportunity.