whats the pt of these push apps

[mathewr]

whats the pt of push for these apps if they dont push anything. i feel the ap news app wouldnt push to tell us the cold war is over and the berlin wall is comming down.

[Branskins]

I completely agree. The service right now feels pointless. Why did Apple wait so long to give it to us?

[sharp65]

I have a feeling Apple is telling them to hold off for now, I can't imagine them only wanting to push 2 things since it's been released. That's also why the big IM applications haven't been approved yet.

[Branskins]

Isn't it kind of silly to have no big push apps on the day it was released? Why didn't they postpone the launch if they weren't ready?

[paulcdb]

Isn't it kind of silly to have no big push apps on the day it was released? Why didn't they postpone the launch if they weren't ready?

can you imagine the uproar by millions of people if apple did that?

How do we know some problem hasn't cropped up which is having to be addressed first?

As much as i want an im application, i'd rather wait and have it working properly instead of some hard baked, buggy piece of junk, even if it is driving me nuts waiting :(

[OneMike]

Isn't it kind of silly to have no big push apps on the day it was released? Why didn't they postpone the launch if they weren't ready?

The textfree push works pretty good. I received a lot of alerts and other then when I first installed they have been quick. For AP so far I only got one alert.

I think things are just warming up.

[mathewr]

The textfree push works pretty good. I received a lot of alerts and other then when I first installed they have been quick. For AP so far I only got one alert.

I think things are just warming up.

my 3GS didnt get the ap mobile news alert from this morning but my original did when i just turned it on.

push notifications are on on the 3GS

[astrosaurus]

Yeah, all I really want is an IM push app. Surprised they weren't touting a release on launch day for one.

[skubish]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A341 Safari/528.16)

I got a push notice from AP news this morning.

[Resist]

Why did Apple wait so long to give it to us?They explained the reason in their Keynote called Apple OS 3.0 Software Sneak Peak from last March. Look for the video on iTunes.

[Branskins]

I understand. They had to go back and redo some of the architecture. What I am saying is, if they took all of this time to redo it, what could be the problem now? The AIM app worked in the beta test.

I am just trying to figure out why they are doing this.

[MacToddB]

I am just trying to figure out why they are doing this.

Remember the simultaneous mega-rollout (and mega-fail) of iPhone O.S. 2.0 + App Store + Mobile Me? And Steve Jobs' apology to customers (including extending Mobile Me memberships) and letter to Apple employees that they wouldn't try that again?

[Branskins]

I got my iPhone after 2.0 =/. I guess I missed all of that mess!!

Sorry if I sounded bitter, I was just (and still am) very excited for a push IM app!

[MacToddB]

I got my iPhone after 2.0 =/. I guess I missed all of that mess!!

Sorry if I sounded bitter, I was just (and still am) very excited for a push IM app!

No problem... We're all anxious. Here's the letter I referred to... I think they learned their lesson.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/08/steve-jobs-on-mobileme-the-full-e-mail.ars

Team,

The launch of MobileMe was not our finest hour. There are several things we could have done better:

– MobileMe was simply not up to Apple's standards – it clearly needed more time and testing.

– Rather than launch MobileMe as a monolithic service, we could have launched over-the-air syncing with iPhone to begin with, followed by the web applications one by one – Mail first, followed 30 days later (if things went well with Mail) by Calendar, then 30 days later by Contacts.

– It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.

We are taking many steps to learn from this experience so that we can grow MobileMe into a service that our customers will love. One step that I can share with you today is that the MobileMe team will now report to Eddy Cue, who will lead all of our internet services – iTunes, the App Store and, starting today, MobileMe. Eddy's new title will be Vice President, Internet Services and he will now report directly to me.

The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services. And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.

Steve

[philgilder]

I think, as some people are hinting at, that apple are staggering releases to reduce server load

first, iphone 3.0, then the 3GS, which requires a large server demand due to all the numbers activating, and then all push apps will be released when the server demand by activating has reduced

[MacToddB]

I think, as some people are hinting at, that apple are staggering releases to reduce server load

first, iphone 3.0, then the 3GS, which requires a large server demand due to all the numbers activating, and then all push apps will be released when the server demand by activating has reduced

Right, but not just server load... What if they get something wrong? The same way they gave us developers early access to pre-release versions of 3.0, which they could learn from and fix before general release, and then they gave us early access to Push apps like AP News and AIM. Developers represent a large volume of beta testers, and end users are the next wave. I wouldn't be surprised by a 3.0.1 release BEFORE a significant number of push apps are released.

[philgilder]

Right, but not just server load... What if they get something wrong? The same way they gave us developers early access to pre-release versions of 3.0, which they could learn from and fix before general release, and then they gave us early access to Push apps like AP News and AIM. Developers represent a large volume of beta testers, and end users are the next wave. I wouldn't be surprised by a 3.0.1 release BEFORE a significant number of push apps are released.
well then apple shouldn't really say push is coming in 3.0 only to test push at high volume days before final release and find that it doesn't work properly and then delay several apps with many other new features until they can get their act together.

[MacToddB]

well then apple shouldn't really say push is coming in 3.0 only to test push at high volume days before final release and find that it doesn't work properly and then delay several apps with many other new features until they can get their act together.

This is the same Apple that said Push was coming in September... 2008.

http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/10/02/apple-misses-september-deadline-for-push-notifications/

Waiting a few more days/weeks to ensure high-volume Push is reliable probably is smart if it avoids another MobileMe debacle. I'm not defending their delays, but explaining them. I think the real problem is overcommitting or poor/non-communication.

[srl7741]

Could AT&T's weak network have anything to do with it? I could see them interfering with Push releases. IDK just asking...

[MacToddB]

Could AT&T's weak network have anything to do with it? I could see them interfering with Push releases. IDK just asking...

Possibly, but they've enabled MMS and Tethering with other carriers (so they could've rolled out Push that way).

Push content is probably smaller and has less of a Latency issue than MMS and Tethering... In other words, it's less of a concern if it takes 1 second or 2 seconds for a Push message to be received, than if it takes 1 second or 2 seconds to upload an MMS or download a webpage (via Tethering)... Those are interactive and the delay is painstaking.

[Narzist]

Could AT&T's weak network have anything to do with it? I could see them interfering with Push releases. IDK just asking...

So the whole iPhone world shoud suffer just because one carrier didn't get his homeworks done? Apple wouldn't make the whole world wait just because of one carrier's mistake. The iPhone world does not only consist of the USA.

[MacToddB]

So the whole iPhone world shoud suffer just because one carrier didn't get his homeworks done? Apple wouldn't make the whole world wait just because of one carrier's mistake. The iPhone world does not only consist of the USA.

Right, they rolled out MMS and Tethering with other carriers, despite AT&T. I think Push is too important to do right that they're staging it. For example, I'm getting jumbled icons on 3.0, i.e. the wrong icon shows up for a different app. Imagine if I got someone else's Push message, and vice versa?