Yup, here we are, after Steve Jobs already told us that the iPad will get OS 4.0 and that OS 4.0 has an implementation of multitasking.  I’m sure a lot of people are buying it knowing that multi-tasking is promised.  Of all my personal reasons for not wanting an iPad, it’s current lack of multitasking isn’t one of them.  Part of the iPad’s attraction isn’t what it does now, it’s what it will do.

I know a few people with iPads and they all say the same thing, lack of multitasking on a tablet is a lot more jarring than lack on the iPhone.  You have more screen real estate, you have a 10 hour battery and you have a 1Ghz processor.  It’s inarguably time for multitasking at this point.  And they all know it’s coming with OS 4.0 so it’s not a barrier to buying.  I think if Steve Jobs hadn’t have announced multitasking it would have been an issue for sales.  Of course, this is a totally unprovable statement and just my view.

Just because you’ve gotten used to working without something, doesn’t mean it’s not a problem.  I’ve gotten used to not having decent copy and paste in Android’s Gmail, it’s not a fatal flaw. Doesn’t mean that now I have work arounds I shall declare copy and paste in Gmail overrated and not a problem.

The fact remains, like copy and paste, you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.  Saying it’s overrated because Steve does won’t cut it.  Steve says a lot of things and then backtracks.  I’m not criticising, it’s what he is paid to do, talk up the good points of the products and convince potential buyers that it’s faults aren’t that important.  There are good reasons that features are left out of products, the battery drain and performance hit were an issue before the increased processor in the 3GS.  But multitasking means increased productivity and more efficient interaction with a device, this is not overrated.  If it were then we’d see a lot more laptops and desktops that eschew it.

A lot of people made the switch to Android for multitasking.  A lot of people jailbroke their iPhones when they reaslised Spotify wouldn’t run in the background.  When you have a use case that someone cares about, that’s when you realise the value of multi-tasking.

A multitasking iPhone is another good reason for me to consider an iPhone.  Now if they would just get rid of the need for iTunes….