With the Palm Pre said to be making its debut next month as a true competitor to the iPhone, there is one thing that will keep the Pre one step ahead of the iPhone, background processes. But Apple may actually be reconsidering its previous no-background-apps policy on the iPhone.
According to Silicon Valley Insider, Apple seems to be working on implementing limited background processes in a future version of the iPhone OS. Word from MacRumors is that this limited background app process may allow the user to pick up to two apps to run in the background, or according to SVI, for specifically approved apps.
Here's two potential scenarios we've heard. Treat these as anecdotal rumors for now, as we don't know how realistic they are.
- Apple might allow users to select two apps that can run in the background.
- Apple might selectively allow some apps to run in the background. We
assume that developers could apply for permission to run in the
background, and that Apple might approve or deny them based on the
resources they need and how well they behave with the operating
system's stability.
Unknown is whether this limited background app process will be making it to the iPhone 3.0 release this summer, or if it is scheduled for a later release of the iPhone operating system. Maybe it will be announced at the WWDC keynote scheduled for June 8th, but it is definitely not known.
John Gruber has also stated that he has heard about something similar for background apps:
Ordinarily I wouldn't link to something as sketchily sourced as this, but, I heard something very similar from a decent (but second-hand) source back in January during Macworld Expo. What I heard then was that Apple was working on a vastly improved dock for your most-frequently used apps, and that there would be one special icon position where you could put a third-party app to enable it to run in the background.
If Apple is reconsidering the background apps ordeal, then what was that claim that they were making of background apps sucking away your battery life? Was it a fib to try and distract the public while they work on this? If you've ever broken your iPhone and used an app called Backgrounder, you may see that background apps don't really kill the battery like they claim.
So while we await further word about the limited background processes for the iPhone OS, we'll just have to deal with push notifications in 3.0 [next month] for the time being.
