'Pandora Radio' Ready for iOS 4 With Multitasking Support

With the launch of Apple's iOS 4 expected possibly within the hour if past releases are any indication, Pandora has just snuck in under the wire with an update to the company's Pandora Radio [App Store] application. The popular service offering free, personalized music streams was one of the App Store's earliest success stories, and has been a favorite of Apple executives for their presentations.

The new update brings the much-anticipated backgrounding feature first demoed at Apple's iOS 4 media event in April, taking advantage of the new multitasking APIs in iOS 4 to allow users to continue streaming music from the application even after switching away to other apps.

Pandora keeps playing after you press press the home button. You can go surf the web or use Facebook and the music won't stop. (Available only on multitasking capable devices with iOS 4.)

Not all iOS devices will be able to take advantage of the multitasking features of iOS 4 due to the hardware requirements. Consequently, multitasking will be limited to the iPhone 3GS, third-generation iPod touch, and of course iPhone 4 due for launch later this week.