Multitasking - is it really a vital feature for mobile phones?

Windows Phone 7 Series, the brand new mobile operating system from Microsoft, has been generating a considerable amount of interest since it was first unveiled at the 2010 Mobile World Congress, and one of the key questions many users have been asking is whether the new OS would support multitasking. At the recent MIX developer conference, Microsoft answered that question, confirming that it would not have true multitasking, instead using a system of push notifications similar to that used in the iPhone.

While this has left many commentators crying foul, it does raise a deeper issue surrounding mobile phones, as some have asked a fundamental question, as highlighted by columnist Michael Gartenberg: is multitasking really needed in mobile phones?

The first point to note, as the success of the iPhone proves, is that for the mass market, multitasking is probably not that essential as a feature. The lack of traditional multitasking found in the iPhone has not hurt its sales at all, as the iTunes music player does have the ability to run in the background when other apps are running (with the usual caveat of not playing music during a voice call, which makes sense). Having a music player that runs in the background is one example of multitasking which is used by many people, and could therefore be considered as necessary.

Gartenberg also highlights a second case where multitasking would be a considerable benefit, and it is the case of GPS and satellite navigation, where the ability to let other apps that use GPS content (such as geo-tagging systems within the phone's camerra) access the receiver at the same time as a navigation app would seem to be desirable.

Many people have suggested that tings such as a Twitter app would also benefit from true multitasking, but that suggestion actually tends to lend credence to the idea that Microsoft and Apple have got the right idea. With a Twitter app, true multitasking is actually unnecessary, when the phone uses push notifications. With push notifications, which can alert you to specific events such as new Tweets, multitasking becomes much less of an issue, because the app, even in its paused state, will still notify the user when something significant happens. In effect, it becomes like a text message alert, where the user receives the alert, but the messaging app is not active unless the user goes into it. As such, that would help prolong a mobile phone's battery life.

However, as a counterpoint to that, the Palm Pre offers a multitasking experience which is second to none, thanks to its WebOS operating system. Its system of visual 'cards' allows easy switching between tasks, and easy closing of apps, but somehow, it manages to do that without putting a great deal of pressure on the Pre's central processor. As such, even with multiple apps running in the background, the Palm Pre hardly ever experiences slow-down or lag.

Many commentators have said that it is better to have something and not need it, then to need it and find that you don't have it. With that in mind, while push notifications do form a viable alternative to true multitasking, multitasking done correctly (as in the Palm Pre) is an inherently more attractive proposition. It would still need to form a coherent and pleasurable user experience, but when done right, that should automatically happen, anyway. In a sense, the issue of multitasking is about users having the choice to use their mobile phones as they wish. The decision by Microsoft not to include true multitasking makes sense when viewed in terms of producing a simple system which the mass market can understand. But power users demand more than that, and including true multitasking at a later date, through a software update, would win back many of the people Microsoft seem to have alienated with their decisions regarding Windows Phone 7 Series.