BSD 4.4 was released 1994 it has multitasking which the Darwin kernel in OS X and also ios are based upon. Talking about 1994, NT also has had preemptive multi tasking since 1993. Multics the father of UNIX had multi tasking in 1965.
I know the headline is talking about something different, but I always think something along the same lines when someone talks about iOS multitasking. Does the kernel have a Process Control Block? Is there interrupt-driven preemption? Well, then it's a multitasking OS in the technical sense.
But using the term "multitasking" to mean two applications on screen at the same time goes back to the Amiga days, maybe even earlier. I've just accepted it at this point.
