iPhone push notification service for devs announced

Apple's just announced a push notification service for the iPhone that it'll provide to all developers. It'll maintain a persistent IP connection to the phone and let a 3rd party server ping Apple's notification service in order to push out notifications your device, which can be in the form of badges, sounds or custom textual alerts. According to Apple, the service will preserve battery life and maintain performance, not to mention work over WiFi or cellular. Look for it to roll out in September, with seeding to developers starting next month.

[Max Savin @ Jun 9th 2008 2:07PM]

first

[DYLAN C @ Jun 9th 2008 2:08PM]

Get a life.

[Flashpoint @ Jun 9th 2008 4:42PM]

"service" makes it sound like its gonna come with a fee.

Blackberry already has Email Push.

[iYoob @ Jul 30th 2008 3:00PM]

A. Apple's push notification service comes at no extra charge to users or developers. (compare that to B.E.S.)

B. The iPhone already has push syncing for email, contacts, calendars and bookmarks thru Exchange and/or MobileMe.

C. This service will allow all authorized servers to push notifications to the iPhone ... not just email servers. That opens up a lot of possibilities. You could for instance receive a notification from your network capable surveillance system when an intruder is detected in your home and then open corresponding software for monitoring your installed video cameras remotely or receive instant updates on twitter members that you're following (w/o wasting text messages or cluttering your inbox) or you could give your kid a GPS monitoring device and receive regular updates on his location then find directions to his coordinates via Google maps with the tap of a finger when you're concerned. That's the power of a push notification service that's open to 3rd party developers.

[DYLAN C @ Jun 9th 2008 2:07PM]

Yay no more drained battery life and wasted cpu cycles!

[john @ Jun 9th 2008 2:08PM]

Geez that must mean that apple is the first every to have push email!! Bring on the turtle neck!

[lee @ Jun 9th 2008 2:11PM]

so far a big yawn

[GhosT @ Jun 9th 2008 2:11PM]

I dont think the 3g ver. coming out today.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 9th 2008 2:12PM]

Right... so it doesn't drain battery because it hasn't an app open but maintains a constant connection to an IP instead?

Am I missing something here or is that going to be about the same power drain?

[aj @ Jun 13th 2008 12:46PM]

no...apple already keeps a solid connection with iphones...hints how u make calls and send/receive email and texts, etc. all they are doing now is just having the third parties go throughapples server which goes to the iphone...just like gmail, yahoo, aol, etc email goes the same way. hope that answers your question.

[matt @ Jun 9th 2008 2:14PM]

How is this not a privacy issue? Spam for all iphones *yay*

[GhosT @ Jun 9th 2008 2:14PM]

Watch people get heat strokes faster than the 3g ver. come out *shakes fist

[Brian! @ Jun 9th 2008 2:14PM]

Someone wake we up.

[Penguin @ Jun 9th 2008 2:48PM]

Ever heard of UDP?

[Vasco @ Jun 9th 2008 3:00PM]

so.... iPhone is pretty much copying blackberry now?
LAME.
/sarcasm.

hey, but it DOES look like the iPhone's trying to cater to businessmen now instead of just being a "cool" phone.

[Doug @ Jun 9th 2008 3:01PM]

So they're saying "no apps running in the background." Doesn't that mean that if you try to switch back and forth between two applications (Mail and a 3rd party app, for example) that each has to be re-launched each time you switch? So applications have to remember and save their state, and any app that takes very long to load is going to be slow to come up every time you activate it?

Sounds like a pretty crummy solution to the background task resource usage issue. And it sure sounds like Palm's way of doing things too.

[brainphreak @ Jul 10th 2008 3:30AM]

Actually what they meant is, this persistent ip will not need anything running in the background. This does not mean its not capable, it has plenty of things and it actually is the same kernel exactly as the MACOS on full mac's. It has amazing multitasking, and is as smooth as a computer graphically if not better. They have done something similar with SSH (the community) which allows it to not be running but execute itself on a trigger, this allows you to SSH to your phone anytime, but not need to waste cycles running a background app.

In that case it does launch everytime, but it launches so fast you dont even notice.. it launches quick enough to establish an SSH connection for example without delay. The same will go for this push email. Soon as they send probably a special packet, there will be a built in trigger that opens the correct app to download the email or whatever, all this transparent to the user. This can happen very quickly and seem as though its realtime, and the great thing is,. no extra battery or CPU cycles are taken, leaving the phone powerful for other apps and longer battery life. The GPS is another story... but worth the benefits and capable of being left off while its not in use.

[murph @ Jun 9th 2008 3:04PM]

Right, because as Blackberry has shown us...critical notification systems NEVER go down.

[John @ Jun 9th 2008 3:58PM]

This was much needed, but I expect Apple will continue to add features like this to allow better apps. The iPhone apps will be the future of value on the platform: http://www.zintin.com/blog/2008/06/the-future-of-the-iphone/

[boe @ Jun 9th 2008 4:03PM]

I guess my biggest questions about the iphone 2 firmware is how it will work with exchange -

1. Will the exchange push support HTML e-mail format?
2. Will it require exchange 2007 for html or any push?
3. Are there any limitations if you use Exchange 2003?

[Adam @ Jun 9th 2008 6:02PM]

It will work just as every other activesync device does. Html will be supported as long as the phone does(which the iphone does), push has been supported since 2003, and the limitation of 2003 is the remote wipe will not work out-of-box.

[boe @ Jun 9th 2008 6:55PM]

Adam -

I guess my question wasn't clear. With WM6, you need an exchange 2007 server to push HTML e-mail. You can push e-mail with Exchange 2003 SP2 but you can't push HTML e-mail to your WM6 device.

My question is will it require Exchange 2007 to push HTML e-mail or will it get html formatted e-mail from Exchange 2003?

[intrglctcrevfnk @ Jun 10th 2008 12:23AM]

Uh, I think this is going somewhere else....

think IM clients, unable to run in the background.....

it's for devs, not for basic exchange.

[todd @ Jun 10th 2008 1:50AM]

X-Press mail by cingular/att is the software that I have been using on my ATT Tilt and it's older predecessor the 8525 for almost 2 years.

It has been "pushing" my Yahoo email to me for almost 2 years now.

I can't believe Apple gets press for FINALLY CATCHING UP.

http://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/solutions/email-messaging/email-xpress-mail.jsp

[John Stracke @ Jun 10th 2008 8:12AM]

It'd make more sense to let apps get notified by incoming SMS (or, dare I say it, MMS). Apple's trying to insert themselves into the data flow, so that they can control what apps can get notifications.

[Dave Myron @ Jun 10th 2008 3:53PM]

This is dumb. How about giving us some guidelines for memory/processor usage when backgrounding apps and let the customer decide if the battery hit is worth it?

What about an RSS reader that is to pull updates every 30 minutes? Or a third-party calendar / task list app? Is Apple suggesting that we have to run a *server* (for an app that doesn't inherently require a service backend) and we push an event to the iphone that just tells the app to update? What if your app has more than just a few users? It's definitely not scalable and only seems to be a "fix" for IM or chat applications - which make up a small portion of apps that require backgrounding.

It just seems so silly... Apple, just let us run background apps and be the ones responsible to our customers.

[Elliott @ Jun 12th 2008 3:17PM]

With Apple connected to your phone at all times, it seems like it could become harder to jailbreak. Couldn't apple monitor the usage and exercise their remote wipe feature if they caught you running jailbroken firmware? The SDK will be incredibly underpowered compared to jailbroken apps.

[barhom @ Jun 12th 2008 6:31PM]

What I am wondering is how this persistent IP connection will deal with the problem ppl were receiving while on those "nom1/nom2" edge networks.
Iphone V1 users still do have problems with not receiving calls while on a data connection.

And if this data connection is to be alive at all times will this make us unreachable on the cellphone while on a non-3g network?

http://www.intoiphone.com/2007/07/28/iphones-cant-receive-calls-while-transferring-edge-data.html

[TJ @ Aug 4th 2008 12:29AM]

Are you friggin kidding me? This is SO not the same as background processing. I want BACKGROUND processing for things like AIM and programs that I close and open frequently, like Maps. That's all I ask! So far not many programs have been designed that would benefit from background processes, but that's only because it isn't available! Remember all the software for the hacked iPhones that needed background processing to get things done? How awesome were those?

Apple, this is a simple effing solution: make all developers put an option on there software to enable/disable background processing. This would give people the option of actual usefulness, minus some processing power, but also give them the option for maximum processing power for all those CRAZY tasks the iphone does like, y'know, hacking into the friggin pentagon. WHAT THE HELL DOES IT NEED PROCESSING POWER FOR?! Cocoa does all the animations and graphics with literally 10% of all available processing power, and the most intensive application is safari, which only uses around 35% of available power. So please Apple, tell me, what BULL**** is running that uses up the rest of that power? Cuz I honestly can't think of anything. Is it the iPod part? I honestly think that you could find a way to run both the iPod functions and ONE other program easily, by making the iPod auto-switch off the background processes. Why can't Apple developers think of these things?!

Apple, I know you have people reading this site, trolling for ideas, and looking for hacks we come up with so you can shut them down in the next firmware release. I don't care about that. What I care about is my ability to utilize the true power of the iPhone's processor to perform background processes. This would NOT significantly affect my battery life if background processes are simply relegated to mundane tasks such as email/IM checking, or playing music through programs such as AOL Radio, Pandora, or Last.FM

The solution is simple, cheap, and leaves the option of background processing entirely up to the developers, provided they give users the right to turn it off.

Your current solution, Apple, is to create large server farms that generate excessive heat pollution and waste, and use large amounts of power and expensive equipment. How is this solution better than giving the consumers what they want? You are needlessly spending money and manpower to do something that very few developers will want to use because of the hassle of uploading data to YOUR servers. Most developers have their own servers because most products using the Push API are available for desktop use as well, meaning they were designed before your solution existed, meaning they don't NEED your solution.

This is just a warning Apple: Don't try to become Microsoft, taking over every little aspect of your systems' connectivity. They tried that already and lost 4% market share to you. If you continue with this hairbrained Push Server idea you will PUSH your customers away and all you'll hear from M$ will be "you got SERVED"

Dear god I love puns.

[Jay @ Aug 17th 2008 3:28PM]

TJ,

Are you an Apple iPhone developer? If so, you'll get a lot further with your request for background processing if you submit that request to Apple via the channels they provide for developers. If you are a developer, I'm sure you know to provide the specific technical and business case(s) for which background processing is necessary and push notification is insufficient.

If you're not an iPhone software developer, then how can you possibly know whereof you speak? Push notification is EXACTLY what any chat program such as AIM needs. It absolutely does not need to do any background processing. Off the top of my head, I can't see why a Map application would need to do background processing either.

If you think the answer is to leave everything as an option for the user, well, I hope you're not a software developer. Check out "The Tyranny of too Much" http://blackfriarsinc.com/totm.html to gain an understanding of why making everything a user choice is a bad idea. Basically, the typical user doesn't have (and doesn't want to have) the knowledge necessary to make a correct choice. The knowledge resides with the developers, and it is up to developers to know their market and make design choices appropriate for that market.

If you just want to play, please go check out something like http://www.openmoko.com/ That's completely open and you can do whatever you would like with it. I took a look at openmoko at the recent LinuxWorld conference in San Francisco, and it's actually very cool. It's an excellent platform for an engineer/hacker to play with. But I doubt that openmoko will ever be the commercial success that the iPhone has already been. For those of us who actually like to get paid for our work, commercial success of the platform is very important.

Providing background processing and/or push notification is a DEVELOPER tool, not a user/consumer tool. It is up to a partnership between Apple and software developers to provide what consumers need and want. If developers can provide what consumers want using push notification, then all is well and good. If they can't, then the developer making the case to Apple is what will change things, not you 'warning' them.

Perhaps you're just not part of the target market that Apple is going for. That's ok! There are other mobile platforms out there, and the competition among them will be good for all of us. From my perspective, as a software developer, Apple is making the right choices. They're not always easy choices, but they make sense for the set of constraints Apple has chosen. The fact that Apple is making intelligent choices (with the possible exception of the F*CKING NDA) is why I choose to develop for the iPhone and not Android, Blackberry, openmoko, or Windows Mobile.

[akirekadu @ Aug 25th 2008 9:35PM]

Doesn't this service infringe on RIM's BlackBerry push email model? Once this service becomes available, technically app developers can copy what BES+MDS combo can do today.