Ahh… this is Push It!

Posted on 10 February 2009 by


Music is a big deal to me.  I carry both a 60GB 5G iPod and an 8GB 2G iPod Touch. To say I have the music in me is an understatement.  While the title of this article refers in part to an obscure song from the 1980’s, its really meant to garner some thought as to where background Push services are for the iPhone.

Yes.  Its been a while since I’ve written an iPhone based article.  I was very disappointed with the device, and sold it in early November. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t miss what it can do. In fact, I do, every day…or at least the consumer in me does (not the business guy…)

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However, you will remember that Push was the iPhone feature that was supposed to let non-core Apple (or third party apps) communicate with the rest of the device so that they could “run” in the background. Unfortunately, this service, originally promised in the 2.1 version of the iPhone/iPod Touch firmware, was pulled during its beta phase due to “problems”.  It still hasn’t found its way into the devices.

There nothing official on where and when the service will make it into a firmware update, though Apple hasn’t pulled the plug on the idea completely. There was a great deal of speculation at Macworld on what was going on with it – abandoned, still in the works, or set aside for a different system. No one really knows.  Apple as always, isn’t’ saying much of anything on it or their decision.

According to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, we’re approaching the end of the known iPhone roadmap.  There’s already speculation of new hardware (the iPhone Nano is rumored to be due in June), and they say that if we don’t get Push in that refresh, we likely won’t get it at all.

I’m not certain what’s going to happen. I’ve checked around, and while I’m no Apple expert, I haven’t seen anyone, at any site, give us anything to hang our Push hat on.  At best this is a definite maybe…

What are your thoughts?  I’d love to hear what you have to say.  Why don’t you join us in the discussion and give us your thoughts?

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  • Philippe Radley

    You are talking, if I understand you correctly, about multitasking, whereas Push to me means instant delivery of messages and emails. What has one to do with the other?

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/cgavula cgavula

      The connection is that Apple, until now, has prevented 3rd party apps from running in the background. Only some of their own built-in apps have been permitted to run in the background (multi-task). Push services require that a "listener" be permitted to run and act in the background. Push doesn't work if nothing is listening, after all. So there is a close connection between whether or not Apple restricts multi-tasking and whether or not generalized push services function.

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  • http://www.intensedebate.com/people/cgavula cgavula

    Actually, your answer may be here:

    <a href=”http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/02/11/iph…” target=”_blank”>http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/02/11/iph...

    It appears Apple may be doing it's own thing based on open standards rather than relying on MS' proprietary solution. If so, this may be why it has taken so long.

    If I'm reading the article correctly, it sounds like an interesting answer to the problem of push services and much more efficient than the MS Exchange solution, but, just like with Blackberry devices, the success will be in the linkage to existing services like Exchange or Notes or IMAP/POP.

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