Quickies October 29, 2008

iPhone 2.2: Why isn’t anyone talking about push notifications?

Gear Diary iPhone 2.2: Why isnt anyone talking about push notifications? photo

I don’t understand one thing about this latest (yet to be released) iPhone 2.2 upgrade. The iPhone was slated to have push notification services before the end of September. The last major release of the iPhone OS was pushed out on September 12. While this release generally stabilized the operating system, reduced lots of system lags and improved battery life – it was missing one major feature. There was no support for push notifications – a feature Apple had trumpeted in their keynote address announcing the iPhone 3G. The lack of push notifications is a major missing feature. It means that your iPhone’s many applications such as instant message clients must run in the foreground if you expect to receive timely notifications. So, while I’m excited to be able to rate apps as I delete them and see Google Street views – when am I going to have the Unified Push Notification Service that has been promised for iPhone 3G?

CNET and The Apple Blog (new features in iPhone 2.2)

Tags: Apple iPhone, Mobile Phones

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About Wayne Schulz

View all posts by Wayne Schulz

Wayne is a diehard Blackberry user and consultant specializing in Sage MAS90 Accounting Software. He lives in Glastonbury CT with his two children. When not helping them with their homework or pushing the latest school fundraiser off on his co-workers, he is active hiking, Scuba Diving and investigating all manner of technology.

questionfear

Not only does this impact IM programs and such, it also impacts some 3rd party productivity programs. Pocket Informant for the iPhone is designed around the push notification idea. Since the iPhone SDK does not allow access to the calendar, my understanding was that PI would use a server to push calendar notifications and alarms to the phone. Since programs can’t activate in the background, they also can’t alert you to an alarm unless you leave the phone open to them 24/7.

To be honest, the lack of push notifications was one reason out of many why I bought a Samsung Epix and put my iPhone on the back burner. I just needed more simple productivity options, and most of the multimedia and games that I enjoy about my iPhone I can continue to use even if it’s been demoted to a glorified iPod Touch…plus I get a phone that has more robust PIM options and helps me keep my schedule better.
weshsu

When Apple damn well thinks we’re ready for it. Yes, that pisses me off to no end. I’ve been IM-less since the iPhone came out. I’ve been a long time WiMo user and really enjoyed my multi-service IM client. Apple’s announcement about push notifications was enough of a tease to tide me over. I’m now pretty upset with Apple. They’ve dropped the ball on the 2.x software. Things do not “just work” like they’ve been tooting for the past 2 decades.

I still cannot update applications on the phone, either directly on the phone or through iTunes. Email does not get checked every 15 minutes. There’s still a lot of lag and erratic scrolling. It’s a big change after enjoying the stability of the 1.x software.

Why give us Street View and the ability to rate apps when they haven’t given us something they promised…push notifications?

I hope Android takes off in a huge way. I hope Microsoft can revolutionize WiMo to compete with Apple. I hope RIM can do the same. Apple needs some serious competition to light a few fires under their butts. I love my iPhones but I have no problems switching to something better when it comes out.
weshsu

You bring up another good point about my recent dislike for Apple. What modern mobile OS won’t let applications access the calendar data store? The Newton OS was designed for seamless and easy access of data across all applications. Why would Apple regress? This is absolutely ridiculous. And why can’t I sync my notes to the iPhone Notes app?

I can’t believe WebIS has to jump through hoops just to pop up alerts and to display calendar information in PI.

If Apple doesn’t change their Draconian ways (I know, wishful thinking), I may end up carrying a much more functional phone and enjoying most of what I like about the iPhone with a new iPod Touch. A lot can change over the next year. Competitors can improve their offerings and hopefully so will Apple. But when it comes time to renew my contract, I will be taking a hard look at the competition. I just hope Apple will continue to win my hard earned money. But, if I were to go back to WiMo, at least all of my licenses will become useful to me again. I do miss PocketInformant.