“ OS4’s behavior might be best characterized as latertasking. Rather than putting apps away entirely, they remain close by but inactive, like a dogeared book on the desk rather than a closed book on the shelf.”
Ian Bogost suggests a new term.
Trying to pin language to new devices and usage is like nailing Jello to a wall. Usage may vary, and there’re are a lot of tricks an engineer may grasp that are functionally invisible to the user.
Plus, the term ‘multitasking’ is a bit odd for a mobile device. Given the screen size, true multitasking is guaranteed to not occur 99% of the time for 99% of users, under the best of conditions.
Despite this, people want multitasking. At least they want the word, whether or not they want the function is another matter entirely. In the last 2 years, I’ve surveyed and focus-grouped prospective smartphone buyers in several cities. Multitasking was overwhelmingly desired, but when people were pressed to describe why the wanted multitasking or what they would use it for they couldn’t elaborate.
The only answer I ever received was background audio, a fine feature indeed (one I’m thrilled to have in the updated MLB app) but hardly full-fledged multitasking.
