The iPhone and iPod touch multitask just fine. I can send and receive email in the background, or download new and updated programs from the App Store, while doing other things in the foreground, for example. But presumably to minimize the potential for adverse performance and battery life impacts, Apple doesn't extend similar robustness to downloadable applications (including, curiously, its own...which will affect, for example, the iBooks electronic publishing viewer program). This limitation will be more of an issue with a large-screen device (the iPad) positioned as a general-purpose computing and communications platform, versus the more narrowly focused iPhone (cellphone) and iPod touch (PDA). Speaking of operating systems and applications, some analysts have grumbled about the perceived 'limitation' of only being able to obtain software (and updates for it) from the Apple-controlled App Store. I'm more sanguine about the situation. Granted, some folks coming from a full-featured

June 27, 2006 Apple introduced the Macintosh family in 1984 and today makes consumer, professional, and educational computers.

IMac: The iMac is a consumer desktop computer that was first introduced by Apple in 1998, and its popularity helped save the company. Now iMac is similar in concept to the original Macintosh in that the monitor and computer are housed in a single unit.

Power Mac G5: The Power Mac G5, Apple’s desktop computer for the professional and creative market, is a member of the Power Macintosh series.

X Serve: X serve is the name of Apple Computer’s Macintosh 1U rack mount line of server computers. It was introduced in 2002; Apple’s first designated server hardware. It initially featured one or two PowerPC G4 processors, but was later switched over to the new PowerPC G5. The Xserve can be used for a variety of applications, including file server, web server or even high performance computing applications. If additional hard disk space is needed, its companion external RAID array Xserve RAID can be connected to it via Fiber Channel.

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