Apple asks iPhone devs to test push notifications

Screenshot of the iPhone's new notification system.

In an e-mail sent to iPhone developers Monday, Apple asked them to try out the AP's news app for the iPhone, the first third-party application to incorporate long-awaited "push" notification on the device.

The e-mail asked developers who would like to participate to install the AP News application on an iPhone running iPhone OS 3.0 beta 5. Apple has already said that the OS 3.0 release next month will include an expanded notifications service for third-party applications. Currently, the service only works with the device's core applications: incoming calls, texts, and calendar appointments.

The service was originally set to be introduced by October last year, but Apple missed the deadline. Instead, it was rolled into the wider revamp of the phone's operating system.

The forthcoming Palm Pre smartphone is also set to launch soon. Industry observers have noted that the Pre's sophisticated multitasking could give the iPhone's notification service a serious challenge.

[Super2online]

I think Apple has a lot more competition than alerts with the Pre releasing, more Andoid phones coming, Blackberry more popular than ever, and Windows Mobile releasing a new version. Nobody expects them to be knocked off the #1 perch any time soon, but having competition coming from so many fronts is definately a good thing for everyone.

[Mark_Anderson]

Symbian is actually number one by a very, very long way.

[seven7dust]

Apple doesn't really care about being no. 1 much !
if they did they would reduce prices and free the iPhone from At&t
Apple is Quality and profit first ,market share later !
@Mark
Symbian may be no. 1 worldwide , but in touchscreen Phones it's still far far behind

[DrtyDogg]

@seven7dust: Nice qualifying metric there, "but in touchscreen Phones." You do realize that not everybody wants a touchscreen phone right? The touchscreen phone is a trend that started with the Prada and continues on with companies still trying to find that sweet spot as far as size and use, personally I've yet to be impressed with ANY touchscreen phone.

[seven7dust]

@drtydogg
Yes not everyone wants a touchscreen phone
But when it comes to stuff like web browsing and applications
Touchscreens are a must IMO
There only so much a keypad/keyboard can do
As for Prada popularizing touchscren phones
I hope you were joking !
Touchscreen phones depend greatly on software and os
Have you seen the software on the prada ?
I know you hate apple and all
But it time to face facts but
even the nokia CEO and Ballmer spoke about how iPhone changed the mobile phone industry in the recent mobile phone congress
Touch phones still have a long way to go but they are the future
the fact that everyone including palm google nokia samsung are pushing new models should be proof enough

But above all it's software that's going to be king
Gone are the days of the crapy megapixel and hardware wars
courtesey of the iPhone the first real touchscreen phone

[Lumione]

@seven7dust.

Fine for browsing, touchscreen phones are good; but not everyone buys a phone to browse. Most people buy phones to talk and chat, where the power of a full tactile QWERTY keyboard comes to play. There's no touchscreen that can replace that.
For your information, Touchscreen started with Palm not Prada and then Windows Mobile, a decade before iPhone was dreamt. I think I'll opt for Palm's Pre, has both full touchscreen and a slide qwerty keypad or HTC's Pro2. It all depends on what you do anyway, if you do a lot of document editing on the move, then touchscreen aint it.

[benny mims]

the pre will have 4g and 3g ,the new iphone will have 3.5g( if theres one) but sprint said all the new phones will have 4g in them so rite there tell you pre going to kick ass out here in chicago iphone going down in the first round i got money on it all my sprint peolpe its our time to shine i have been waiting a long time for this (lets go sprint)im a fan WHAT ABOUT YOU!!!!!!!!

[myles taylor]

Can you state your source for sprint saying that all their new phones will have 4G? 4G is barely rolled out in this country and to put it in every phone is a waste, especially since most of them won't be using it before they'll be replaced. I'm guessing the average life of a phone is less than 1 year.

[seven7dust]

oh great ! yet another spec war !
I don't get why do people buy into these marketing gimmicks
4G is still a long way away and buying a phone for hardware specs is foolsih
A better reason would be the Web O.S which is ahead of the iPhone O.S in some areas

[MyRightEye]

"The forthcoming Palm Pre smartphone is also set to launch soon. Industry observers have noted that the Pre's sophisticated multitasking could give the iPhone's notification service a serious challenge."

The Palm Pre's multi-tasking OS will be better in some ways, as it will not rely on Apple's often flaky web services. The problem for Palm will be battery life, and each developer having to code his own API for push. Overall, the iPhone is a superior solution, though I still wish Apple would give us the choice to handle push ourselves. Got 10 apps that have push data? On a Pre, that's 10 apps running, on an iPhone it's ONE! You do the math!!

[vaibhav92]

Symbian supports multitasking before Winmo appeared. And then too they have far superoir battery life then iphone. So apples continous assertion that multitasking will hit battery life is wrong.

[AndroidProgrammer]

People always forget: while push notifications are a vital part of multitasking (that's all some apps need, such as twitter, email, sms, etc), others need TRUE multitasking: the pre and android can provide services that the iphone can't with its push notifications, such as gps logging!

[seven7dust]

some of the problems I have with notifications is how obstrusive they are in the iphone
plus nothing beats true multi-tasking
for eg-: loading a youtube video in the background ,
while listening to Pandora ,Composing a email with skype active in the background !
if Apple doesn't get it's act together they are in for some problems !

[sanjayb]

Let's see how long the battery lasts on a Pre with full multitasking.