Steve Jobs explains in an email why iPhone 3G didn’t get Backgrounds

It’s not unusual anymore for the best CEO in the world, Steve Jobs, to personally reply to customer’s emails. An annoyed of reader of Gizmodo, Erica, wrote to Steve Jobs asking her about why iPhone 3G doesn’t do multitasking and background wallpapers. As expected, Steve Jobs replied in a very concise manner.

Screen shot 2010-06-22 at 5.11.54 AM.png

Erica’s email:

Hey Steve! I just upgraded my iPhone 3G to iOS 4 and was really looking forward to setting a background on my home screen. Guess that’s not happening, but I’d like to know why.

See, I get why you don’t include multitasking. My iPhone gets pretty hot when certain apps run, couldn’t imagine how multitasking would fry my phone.

But the background thing, I don’t see how that would be memory intensive and/or battery draining. It doesn’t seem like that feature needs to be exclusive to the 3GS and 4G.

I hope this email finds you in good health.

Erica

Steve Jobs’ reply:

The icon animation with backgrounds didn’t perform well enough.

See, that didn’t need a lengthy explanation. Or, in other words, Steve is saying, get a better iPhone. Or, we say, jailbreak your iPhone 3G and multitask and what not! Here’s a list of features that work and that don’t work in iPhone 3G.

About the Author

Technology enthusiast, Internet addict, photography fan, movie buff, music aficionado.