Battery life is going to be affected by multitasking on the iPhone. But not as much as you would expect. The reason is going to gather a lot of criticism because people will begin to realize what the apps can’t do. It isn’t multitasking as one would see it on a Mac or PC. Instead of minimizing the app and having it update a frame buffer the approach is to have only the required background services running. This obviously has limits.

Also, this implementation of multitasking is going to have a bad effect on the perception of the platform’s ease of use as people use it. Apple’s going to be facing the task of making it easier for users to understand the effect of the double home-button tap. Apple’s internal implementation maybe good but how they have painted the interface on the exterior is confusing. What looks like a task manager really isn’t one. It doesn’t just show apps that are running, it also displays the apps that you used recently.

Maybe Apple shouldn’t call it multitasking. The reason they have done so is clear. To make the ranting stop. But you know how these haters roll. They’re smart people. They will find new things to complain about. They always have a some stuff to throw out in the air. Thankfully, as always, they wont have any effect on the platform’s sustenance or proliferation.