I don’t even want to link to the analysts on this subject…about how the iPhone’s features compare to other smartphone OS’s such as android,  Palms (Pam Pre) and the blackberry’s…Multitasking seems to be the biggest lacking feature on their charts.   This is completely worng….and misses the point.

This is a Phone platform for phones first and foremost, not a general purpose platform.  It could be though, but it isn’t.  This is very similar to what we experienced in the 90’s with personal communicators…we got confused because an OS like Penpoint was so powerful,  we forgot what the "point" really was for the consumer problems to be solved.

Nothing should take away from the user experience at a cost consumers expect from a phone. That is, a spinning beachball, or hourglass is one of most annoying user experiences we can have on a computer, but its totally unacceptable on a phone. What is amazing about the iPhone is it can maintain the phone metaphor while also being a platform for so many general purposes. That’s why we are confused.

Eventually this technology will solve most of the problems that laptops solve (it is OS X after all), and I expect more platforms (e.g. webpads) with different metaphors based on this technology (multi touch) …but a smartphone thats more like a laptop? Microsoft wishes…