Now, presumably, in these early days, app developers will be eager to shout from the rooftops if their app supports multitasking. And so a Google Search such as the one above would be a good way to find said apps. But even if you figure Google hasn't indexed all of the relevant iTunes results yet (and it's Google or bust, since iTunes doesn't offer any way of separating out iOS 4-tested apps, let alone isolate iOS 4 apps that support multitasking), the idea that there are still so few multitasking-enabled apps is disheartening.

The minimal number of apps at launch calls into sharp focus the problem with forcing developers to retool apps to take advantage of the software-based multitasking abilities of iOS 4. Will these apps all get an update, eventually? Or will some developers not even bother, for whatever the reason? Did developers not include multitasking support on iOS 4-tested apps because they didn't have enough time to code it in, or did they not perceive a value in their apps?

These are the questions that are left to linger, and even confuse, consumers.

Given that not all apps that say "iOS 4-tested" or are "iOS-optimized" indeed support multitasking--and that Apple hasn't come up with a clear delineation for this--it will be a challenge for consumers, who understand the basic premise of multitasking from computer use, to grasp exactly how the iPhone multitasking experience works compared with its Android-based competition.

The situation kind of reminds me of the USB 2.0 debacle when that spec first launched. Loose wording in the spec allowed companies to say a product supported USB 2.0, without achieving the promised higher speed of USB 2.0. The problem here is, how will consumers know an iOS 4 app supports multitasking unless the developer specifies this separately? And, when using an app, will consumers attribute its behavior to how Apple approached iOS 4 multitasking, or to the app's implementation of it (or lack of support thereof)? Time will tell.