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iPhone OS 3.0 can stream internet radio in the background!

By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 2:07 PM

iphone-30-http-internet-stream-audioApple’s push background notification system, which has already gone live for early iPhone 3.0 OS adopters, is something of a compromise between true multi-tasking and power consumption. Or, at least that’s what Apple will have you believe. Thankfully, Apple hasn’t completely dismissed the idea of allowing proceses to run in the background. The iPhone OS 3.0 will apparently allow streaming internet audio will continue in the background – much like the iPhone iPod application (some native iPhone apps have always been allowed to persist in the background).

Apple’s soon-to-be-released iPhone OS 3.0 (which is widely available already) does HTTP streaming video and audio, that much we knew. What we didn’t know was that iPhone 3.0 OS allow streaming HTTP audio to run in the background, essentially allowing you to multi-task the Safari browser.

As Matt Raskin points out, it’s as simple as starting an internet audio stream (try Tune.mobi) and hitting the home button (on an iPhone OS 3.0-equipped iPhone). You’ll be taken to the iPhone homescreen with the audio running in the background. Unfortunately, you’ll have to go back to the Safari browser to stop the audio.

Here’s a video demonstrating background streaming on iPhone OS 3.0:

True multi-tasking would be nice, but we’ll take whatever we can get!

[Via: MattRaskin]

Props to Matt for the find!

About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Chingon

    Nothing new here. This is possible since firmware 2.0!

  • adambetz

    doesnt work with pocket tunes!

  • Mundo

    Huh? This was possible in firmware 2.0. What I don’t understand is why they won’t let you open another window in Safari while it is streaming. That’s the dumb part of this.