Over the weekend multiple sources have chimed in on rumours originally started back in February that Apple will allow a limited number of user selected applications to run in the background on the iPhone.
The first report came from Silicon Alley Insider who stated that Apple may allow "users to select two apps that can run in the background." Additionally Apple could approve certain applications to run in the background based on certain criteria.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball then chimed in saying that a "second-hand source" had described a new Dock Apple was working on that had "one special icon position where you could put a third-party app to enable it to run in the background."
Finally MG Siegler reports on TechCrunch that although it is by no means a "done deal yet, Apple is definitely trying to come up with a way to offer background support for third-party apps. They went on to note that while Apple may have something to say about it at WWDC, it’s very unlikely that any solution would be ready at that time, and could be a situation similar to how Apple announced Push Notification at WWDC last year but said it was coming in a few months (which it later was delayed until iPhone 3.0)."