iPhone Atlas

Czech developer PoweryBase is claiming that Apple is intentionally blocking push notifications to users of unlocked iPhones.

PoweryBase, makers of several applications that use Apple's push notification service, said 80 percent of its customer support complaints are coming from a very small minority of its customers. All of these customers are using unlocked iPhones.

The developer explains that when a push application requests an ID from the Apple server, the iPhone receives a unique token. Once the token is received, push notifications proceed as you would expect. The process only takes a few seconds to complete.

However, PoweryBase says on unlocked phones they have seen the Apple server not respond at all. This just leaves the user's app in limbo until it times out.

Apple representatives were not immediately available to comment on the developer's claims.

It's not clear at this point if other app developers are having the same problems with unlocked phones or if this is an isolated incident in that country or with that application.

Push notifications were implemented as part of iPhone OS 3.0 and allow developers to "push" information to your phone. For example, this means that you don't need to launch an application to be alerted that news headlines have been updated. The push service will pop up an alert and let you know as soon as it happens.

(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

According to the support document:

• If you don't have an option for Notifications in the Settings menu, then you don't have an app installed that supports notifications.

• An app needs to be used at least once before it will receive any notifications.

• The iPod Touch can receive notifications any time when the screen is on and Wi-Fi is connected. If the screen is asleep, the iPod Touch will check every 15 minutes for a notification.

• You can disable notifications for an app in the Settings menu

• If you restore a backup to your iPhone or iPod Touch, you'll need to use an app at least once to get notifications again.

Push notification: A major "get" for free-SMS apps.

SMS charges can quickly bankrupt a text-happy teen, which is why free-SMS apps are so popular. These programs effectively recreate the texting experience, but with one major shortcoming: they can't notify you of new messages unless they're running.

iPhone OS 3.0 changes all that, and mega-popular TextFree is one of the first free-SMS apps to support the operating system's new push-notification capabilities.

Specifically, TextFree Unlimited 3.0 pops up a new-message alert whether it's running or not, and whether your iPhone is on or off. In other words, it functions more like Apple's stock SMS app (now called Messages).

It differs only in that you don't pay dime one to send or receive messages. The only remaining downside is that if someone texts your phone number rather than your TextFree address (e.g., textyjoe@textfree.us), it'll land in Messages.

Actually, there's an exception: If a message comes from another TextFree user, it'll arrive in TextFree--even when sent to your phone number. But you'll have to tell non-TextFree-using friends and family to update their address books with your TextFree address. Minor hassle.

TextFree 3.0 sells for $5.99. Unfortunately, that's now an annual price, though if you own the previous version, you're exempt from the fee. The free Lite version offers nearly all the same features, but has ads and limits you to 15 messages per day.

If you're holding out for a free free-SMS app, stay tuned: The developers of ad-supported TextPlus told me that a notification-enabled version of that app is coming soon.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts on all this? Now that notification is in the mix, will you ditch your monthly SMS plan in favor of one of these apps? Or will the imminent arrival of MMS keep you from jumping ship?

Apple recently sent out an e-mail to developers testing the latest iPhone OS 3.0 software. Apple wants to put the Push Notification system through one last stress test before releasing OS 3.0 to consumers on June 17. The app picked for this second test was the AOL AIM $2.99 instant messaging application. (Previously, Apple tested the Associated Press application, AP Mobile Free.) We assume that Apple chose news and instant messaging apps because these applications will be using Push Notification the most.

Push Notification is a system Apple developed to work around the fact that Apple does not allow third-party apps to run in the background on the iPhone. (We first wrote about Push Notification last year when it was announced at WWDC. You can see a video about Push Notification here.)

Multitasking--or running apps in the background--caused security problems, according to Apple, and negatively impacts battery life. Although there are rumors that Apple may in the future be a little bit more flexible with background tasks--perhaps in answer to the Palm Pre, which does pull off multitasking--currently only Apple's native apps (such as Mobile Mail) can run in the background.

You can see Push Notification and AIM in action below in a YouTube video. We are told that with Push, receipt of the messages is practically instantaneous.

Push Notification was missing-in-action since last year and we had expected to see it last fall, but it was a no show. It appeared then that with all the new things Apple was bringing to market, the company may have bitten off more than it could chew. (Witness MobileMe's disastrous first days.) Now, fast forward to WWDC 2009 and all of this has changed. MobileMe has matured, and Push Notification appears to be working well according to our testing sources.

Tell us what you think about Push Notification versus true multitasking in the comments.

Apple distributed an e-mail recently to MobileMe subscribers that detailed some improved features, but the biggest news from that e-mail was the fact that push is back.

Push was part of the initially tragic launch of MobileMe in 2008--a launch so poorly implemented that the word "push" was removed from descriptions of MobileMe until synchronization between computers and mobile devices (i.e. iPhone and iPod Touch) would perform at an acceptable level.

Now that push is in business again, syncing with Macs or PCs is faster. Any updates that you make to contacts or calendars on your Mac in iCal or Addressbook, or on your PC using Microsoft Outlook are automatically and rather quickly pushed to the cloud. Conversely, any updates made to MobileMe data at me.com, or on an iPhone or iPod Touch is pushed back your Mac or PC. Finally, all your contacts and calendars will update across your devices much faster than previously.

In order for all of this to work properly, you must be using Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 or the MobileMe PC Control Panel 1.3. The iPhone or iPod Touch must have firmware 2.2 or later.

Read Apple's letter to MobileMe subscribers below and note the additional information about file-sharing using iDisk, which was previously announced a few weeks ago.

We recently revisited the topic of why push notification went missing in September last year. The promised push technology was a service that would have allowed applications like instant message services to operate in the background while the iPhone is asleep or another application is being used. It was meant to take the place of multi-tasking that we are all accustomed to on our computing devices.

Now we are hearing rumors that that the long delayed push notification technology might actually become a part of the forthcoming Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

According to various sources this fits in with the future of support for open push messaging standards for Mail, iCal and Address Book -- all three of those applications are supposed to get Exchange Server messaging support in Snow Leopard. So taking iCal Server as an example it will be rewritten to support the XMPP standard. This standard would allow the push of new or updated calendar events rather than entire calendars to recipients.

We visited the topic of Push Notification services for the iPhone 3G in November 2008. At that time, the feature was a month late and there was no word from Apple. Now five months later, Apple is still keeping mum regarding the status of push notification for the iPhone. Apple's self-imposed deadline for releasing the push notification services is now long past, and nothing about it was mentioned at Macworld 2009.

What Push would do: Push notification services would have allowed applications like instant message services to operate in the background while the iPhone is asleep or another application is being used.

Back in November we speculated about why it's not here yet. We thought that it was possible that, after the uproar over the unsuccessful launch of MobileMe and iPhone OS 2.0, Apple has exercised increased caution about launching yet another server-based technology. In addition, it appeared that AT&T's network was having trouble handling all the new data-hungry iPhones on it's network, and Apple's push service infrastructure may not have been ready to meet demand.

Some users, however, had posited a financial reason for delaying the service. Let's look at the instant messaging client as an example.

If push notification services existed, the instant messaging client could supplant, to some extent, AT&T text messaging subscriptions that sell for a $20/month for an unlimited texting plan. Developers could use SMS texting to resolve the no-background problem, and some apps actually do already, but the text message fee represents a barrier to entry.

Now fast forward to February and people are speculating that Apple might be looking to actually allow apps on the iPhone to run as user selectable background processes. This would bring what everyone, developers especially, wanted to begin with--true multitasking. However, there is some concern that existing hardware may only be able to handle at most two concurrent processes.

Most people are speculating that any new iPhone hardware would be based on chips being designed by P.A. Semi a company that Apple recently acquired. Apple is now able to create and build its own ARM chips in-house. Couple this with the licensing of Imagination Technologies' current and future PowerVR graphics chips that could possibly be linked with the ARM chip from P.A. Semi, and the current iPhone might evolve into something really speedy.

Finally, announcements regarding iPhones availability in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates mention the iPhone 3G being sold as soon as this month, but also note a third generation device debuting available in June.

Feedback? iphoneatlas@cnet.com.

Since introducing the feature at the iPhone 3G debut event earlier this year, Apple has kept mum regarding the status of push notification for the iPhone. The feature, according to various sources, was pulled from the final pre-release version of iPhone OS 2.1 that had been seeded to developers. Apple's self-imposed deadline or releasing push notification services is now long past.

What Push would do Push notification services would have allowed applications like instant message services to operate in the background while the iPhone is asleep or another application is being used.

Why it's not here yet It is possible that, after the uproar over the unsuccessful launch of MobileMe and iPhone OS 2.0, Apple has exercised increased caution about launching yet another server-based technology. In addition, it appears that AT&T's network was having trouble handling all the new data-hungry iPhones on it's network, and Apple's push service infrastructure may not have been ready to meet demand.

Some users, however, have posited a financial reason for delaying the service. Let's look at the instant messaging client as an example.

If push notification services existed, the instant messaging client could supplant, to some extent, AT&T text messaging subscriptions that sell for a $20/month for an unlimited texting plan. Developers could use SMS texting to resolve the no-background problem, and some apps actually do already, but the text message fee represents a barrier to entry.

What's your take? Let us know at http://www.iphoneatlas.com/contact.