push notification

Reports have surfaced that unlocking your iPhone for use with another carrier will disable application push notifications. There is some debate over whether or not Apple is simply ignoring the problem, or if it's something they intend to fix in the near future.

The problem was discovered by PoweryBase, the developer of a push-enabled "to do" list application called NotifyMe. According to the developer, five percent of users (those with unlocked iPhones) generate 80 percent of their customer service requests, claiming the app doesn't work as advertised. These dissatisfied users are also driving NotifyMe App Store ratings down.

Only one month after the initial release of push notification, Apple has invited iPhone OS 3.0 developers to participate in high-volume tests of the system. If all goes well, push notification is expected to be operative for general users with the release of iPhone 3.0.

Push notification saves the iPhone battery by allowing apps to receive information without actually running in the background. Recent reports have indicated that Apple is considering allowing a limited number of apps to run in the background, however this taxes iPhone resources.

Wouldn't it be great if every time you jumped to the iPhone home screen Pandora kept streaming music? The only application that Apple currently allows to run in the background is the iPod, however if recent reports are correct, this could all change.

Pandora is just one example of how useful allowing apps to run in the background could be. Another likely use would be keeping an instant messaging chat connected. Rumors have been swirling about just how Apple would implement background processing considering the limited resources of iPhone hardware.

Finally, the moment has arrived. Apple Push Notification service is live and ready for testing by iPhone software developers for the first time. The service promises to extend the usefulness of a wide variety of AppStore applications by allowing them to receive data even when not running.

This method eliminates the need for apps to run in the background constantly and drain the already taxed iPhone battery. All registered developers can now participate in the testing program and use the service immediately.

The next iPhone firmware update will be released this Friday, according to Steve Jobs at Apple's Let's Rock event in San Francisco. The new version will include fixes for many ongoing problems reported by users in version 2.0.1 and 2.0.2. On the list of fixes is a solution to the application crashing problem, battery life improvement, faster iTunes backup speeds, and other bug fixes.

In addition, firmware 2.1 is purported to solve many connectivity issues and reduce the number of dropped calls. The download will be free for iPhone users, although iPod Touch users who haven't already upgraded to 2.0 will have to shell out $9.95 for the upgrade. Along with the firmware, iTunes has been updated to version 8.0 and is already available for download.