Push Notification Service - New information and it's not good

[iPhonePhan]

I have some new information on the status of Apple's attempt at a fully robust push notification service.

During a recent Education IT conference in Orlando, FL (very big btw, like 5000 attendees), I got a chance to speak with a Systems Engineer for a large wireless PIM provider that has the iPhone in its dossier of supported devices. We chatted about his company's recent update to their product which leverages the iPhone's built-in ActiveSync implementation to communicate with a PIM application server.

I brought up some of the shortcomings of their application for the iPhone during my group's extensive testing and he mentioned that alot of bugs were solved in their most recent update (yay!) but that the remaining issues had more to do with iPhone's limitations. Namely the remaining issues concerned reoccurring calendar dates on a specific frequency, Meeting Invitations being delivered to the iPhone as a mail attachment, etc as all being iPhone software limitations.

So I asked him:

=-=-=-=

Me: Have you guys tried using Apple's new Push Notification system as a means of solving some of the wireless PIM issues?

Him: Crap. It's total crap. We tried it as part of a close-knit limited beta group and it's crap. It was completely unstable, inconsistent and was oddly a memory hog. It would make other apps crash randomly or when something was pushed to the device.

Me: Did the push notification service kill the battery like ActiveSync does when "push" is enabled?

Him: I don't have exact figures on that but I believe we did notice it when the service was set to push data to apps. It would kill the battery almost or just as quickly as ActiveSync.

Me: Wow. That sucks. I know they were supposed to come out with that back in September. Guess they're gonna have to shelve it until they get it right.

Him: And it doesn't look like they'll have a solution anytime soon either. Apple closed off all testing until they can go back and redevelop the Push Notification service. We haven't been told to test any new Push Notification service so I'm guessing all the kinks are still being worked out. What is this...October and like what...November in what...two days? Simply put; don't hold your breath 'cuz it's gonna be awhile.

=-=-=

Sorry guys to break the bad news....gonna have to wait longer for this awesome service. Maybe they'll hold off on this and dedicate cycles to getting us Copy and F-ing Paste!

[Nehemiah7]

Eh thats is either bad or good, fast buggy release or polished tested push notification. I think second choice.. Almost like a week long school project or all nighter red bull project.

[pranavss11]

I'd rather have no push than crappy push. I am glad they are going back to rework it.

[tico24]

If this is the case, Steve must be so pissed off that they announced it back in June. Someone somewhere in Apple must have told Steve that it was good to go for Septmeber.

Plus its not like apple to promise something so major without having done any basic testing on it beforehand. If what the OP said is true, someone in Apple broke normal procedure and heads will be rolling.

[Rob Mclovin]

what ale really meant...


September 2009!

[Fuchal]

Originally Posted by tico24

If this is the case, Steve must be so pissed off that they announced it back in June. Someone somewhere in Apple must have told Steve that it was good to go for Septmeber.

Plus its not like apple to promise something so major without having done any basic testing on it beforehand. If what the OP said is true, someone in Apple broke normal procedure and heads will be rolling.

It actually seems like pretty common procedure over the past couple years.

[saturniphone]

Originally Posted by Fuchal

It actually seems like pretty common procedure over the past couple years.

Absolutely. The SDK was 4 months late.

The thing that gets me isn't that they are taking their time to get things right. It would be nicer if they didn't announce things and then fail to deliver, but if they do that time after time they'll develop a reputation that will be hard for them to break. Even this, doesn't really bother me though.

The thing that absolutely kills me is that the mail app in 2.1 has a bug that makes fetch not work when in "deep sleep" mode. This has been demonstrated 4 million times and yet Apple STILL doesn't release a fix. I do NOT care about street view -- I want my mail. I'm tired of them working on features that the majority of their customer base do not care about when they can't even get mail right. Release 2.1.1 that only has the mail fix and then do whatever you want. It is insane to me that Apple just gets a pass on things like this.

[eashworth]

<<The thing that absolutely kills me is that the mail app in 2.1 has a bug that makes fetch not work when in "deep sleep" mode. This has been demonstrated 4 million times and yet Apple STILL doesn't release a fix. I do NOT care about street view -- I want my mail. I'm tired of them working on features that the majority of their customer base do not care about when they can't even get mail right. Release 2.1.1 that only has the mail fix and then do whatever you want. It is insane to me that Apple just gets a pass on things like this.>>

Could not agree more. If Apple wants to play in the business leagues, it has to fix the bush league mistakes like this fetching problem and the Safari shutdown problem.

[kas23]

Originally Posted by eashworth

<<The thing that absolutely kills me is that the mail app in 2.1 has a bug that makes fetch not work when in "deep sleep" mode. This has been demonstrated 4 million times and yet Apple STILL doesn't release a fix. I do NOT care about street view -- I want my mail. I'm tired of them working on features that the majority of their customer base do not care about when they can't even get mail right. Release 2.1.1 that only has the mail fix and then do whatever you want. It is insane to me that Apple just gets a pass on things like this.>>

Could not agree more. If Apple wants to play in the business leagues, it has to fix the bush league mistakes like this fetching problem and the Safari shutdown problem.

But we're getting emoji and Podcasts over 3G

[cjbryce]

Originally Posted by kas23

But we're getting emoji and Podcasts over 3G

Like that's soooooooo cool, like all us teenagers will have to like get like our mums to buy us an iPhone. Like it's just too cool for business

[TheSpaz]

What is deep-sleep? I get my mail fetched every half hour even when the iPhone is in sleep mode. What is this deep-sleep thing?

[gilkisson]

If all this is even partly true, we're not getting 2.2 soon. We're not getting Push soon. We;re not getting CP "soon"**, and we are not getting MMS, ever.

** "Soon" referring to units of time normally used to measure geologic periods, like Eras and Epochs.

[markgamber]

I don't think it really matters anymore. Given Apple's total inability to release it's iron grip over any aspect of the phone, ever, I can't imagine their push setup will be anything other than a total clusterf**k. The method used by Beejive is probably best. It works well, it's fast, it's easy on the battery and it's not subject to the whims and idiocy of Jobs & Co.

[saturniphone]

Originally Posted by TheSpaz

What is deep-sleep? I get my mail fetched every half hour even when the iPhone is in sleep mode. What is this deep-sleep thing?

If you have 2.1 and you aren't plugged into a charger and turn off the screen it will stop fetching emails regardless of your settings. If you turn it back on (hit the top button) then I believe it will fetch at the next fetch interval. If you simply just let it sit there, it will stop fetching after a short time of being in sleep mode. This has been verified by dozens of online publications and thousands of users and has been acknowledged as an official "known bug" from Apple. I guarantee you have this same problem.

http://gizmodo.com/5059779/iphone-os...-in-sleep-mode

[TheSpaz]

Originally Posted by saturniphone

If you have 2.1 and you aren't plugged into a charger and turn off the screen it will stop fetching emails regardless of your settings. If you turn it back on (hit the top button) then I believe it will fetch at the next fetch interval. If you simply just let it sit there, it will stop fetching after a short time of being in sleep mode. This has been verified by dozens of online publications and thousands of users and has been acknowledged as an official "known bug" from Apple. I guarantee you have this same problem.

http://gizmodo.com/5059779/iphone-os...-in-sleep-mode

Nope... I receive emails while my iPhone is asleep and not plugged in. I know this because sometimes my iPhone will vibrate and I'll check to see if I have an SMS... nope... I have a new email. That's how I know it works correctly.

[jlake02]

I don't know what's wrong with Apple this year. Their products used to "just work" but nowadays it's like their developers are on crack.

They need to hire some jailbreak guys like Saurik.. people that actually KNOW how to code for the iPhone.

[deimos256]

Originally Posted by TheSpaz

What is deep-sleep? I get my mail fetched every half hour even when the iPhone is in sleep mode. What is this deep-sleep thing?

basically its like when i wake up in the morning and unlock my phone and i have no mail then about 30 seconds later i get about 5 emails that were all sent during the night

[Amon37]

Originally Posted by TheSpaz

Nope... I receive emails while my iPhone is asleep and not plugged in. I know this because sometimes my iPhone will vibrate and I'll check to see if I have an SMS... nope... I have a new email. That's how I know it works correctly.

Mine does the same thing.

[TheSpaz]

Originally Posted by Amon37

Mine does the same thing.

Mine works.

[alchemistmuffin]

Well, if Apple had released the Push Notification Service in September, it would've been another MobileMe Meltdown, with ANOTHER iPOCALYPSE!!

[TheConfuzed1]

Although, I'm disappointed that they failed to deliver on their promise, I'm more disappointed in the fact that they have failed to address their failed delivery.

If they would just say, "We messed up--It's not ready, but we'll have it for you guys as soon as we can," I would give them a lot of leniency.

The fact that they are ignoring it instead, and hoping that we have forgotten about the fact that it was promised TWO MONTHS AGO, is nearly unforgivable.

[TheConfuzed1]

Originally Posted by deimos256

basically its like when i wake up in the morning and unlock my phone and i have no mail then about 30 seconds later i get about 5 emails that were all sent during the night

30 seconds later?!?!?!/11/1

OMFG!!! What do you do with yourself during all that time?