We’ve asked what happened to the Push Notification Service that iPhone Software VP, Scott Forstall first announced back at WWDC 2008. We’ve even wondered if Apple had changed their mind and gone with a true background multi-tasking approach. Or whether they’d simply scrapped the idea entirely?
Turns out Push Notification took a little longer to polish up than Apple anticipated, in addition to developers requesting features above and beyond what Apple initially expected (though, in all “truthiness”, we didn’t see anything new above the surface yet ourselves).
Apple claims to have tested Windows Mobile, Android, and other devices running background IM, and that battery drain was 80% compared with 20% for Push Notification. We’re not buying that yet, but we are happy Apple is taking their time with this. Better a rock-solid implementation than anything approaching MobileMe’s disastrous launch.
So what is Push Notification and how does it work? Read on after the break!
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As we reported earlier today (before the Apple event, even), the iPhone 3.0 update will allow real, turn-by-turn directions on the iPhone. It looks like Apple isn’t bothering with enmeshing themselves in the confusing licensing issues surrounding turn-by-turn and is instead simply lifting the SDK Ban on turn-by-turn directions. The first app may very well come from Sygic (that’s what they’re claiming, anyway), which we had the chance get some eyes-on time with during Mobile World Congress.
Apple is simply allowing 3rd party apps to extend their access to CoreLocation (the iPhone’s built-in location service that includes GPS, cell tower-based, and WiFi-based location) to include turn-by-turn. Of note: Apple says that developers need to “BYOM” (Bring Your Own Maps). What that implies is that the licensing issues referenced above prevents Apple from allowing developers to use another new iPhone 3.0 feature: embeddable maps. iPhone 3.0 allows (almost) any app to include embedded Google maps, complete with pinch, zoom, and the like, within the app itself. Using that embedded map for turn by turn directions, however, is verboten. Instead developers will either have to require a large download of maps and/or provide them over-the-air as TeleNav does.
It’s also possible that developers will be able to use the new in-app purchasing feature of iPhone 3.0 to allows users to purchase maps as well. It’s unclear who else besides Sygic is getting a turn-by-turn directions app ready, but you can probably rest assured we’ll see such apps from the big players in short order once 3.0 is released this summer.
Update: TeleNav is still staying quiet about their plans.
As part of their just concluded iPhone OS 3.0 Preview Event, Apple refreshed the iPhone SDK and announced over 1000 new API for developers which, according to Senior Vice President of iPhone Software, Scott Forstall, are designed to better help developers make great apps. (And a boatload of money for all involved, ‘natch).
Highlights include:
- In-app purchases, which means if you’re play a First Person Shoot, you can pay $0.99 (or whatever they choose) to get yourself a better gun.)
- Peer-to-Peer connectivity, which should allow multi-user, or multi-player interaction for games or information exchange using Bonjour and Bluetooth (no pairing needed).
- Push Notification Service, which was first announced at WWDC last year, will finally make an appearance and allow developers, through Apple’s server, to trigger badges (like Mail’s unread message counter), custom sounds, and modal alerts (like the new SMS message box).
- Maps lets developers embed Google Maps functionality in their own applications with full interactions, but also custom annotations.
- Accessory support means developers can now interact with “made for iPod” certified accessories either via Dock port or Bluetooth — no word yet on Bluetooth keyboards, however.
- iPod Library access — which we’re sure Steve Jobs wrestled from Big Music’s petrified hands — let’s developers access onboard audio content, so users can listen to their own stuff, in 3rd party apps.
There’s a lot more to it, of course, especially at the deeper and more fundamental levels it looks like. Hopefully if Apple can get the App Store sorted out in similar fashion, iPhone Apps could be steamrolling into the second generation!
There were plenty of things we were hoping for with iPhone 3.0, but that list definitely included improved support for the many things we can do with Bluetooth. The list was as long as the feature list for Bluetooth itself and though Apple didn’t get everything, they certainly got a lot. Here’s the list of what you can (and can’t) do with Bluetooth on iPhone 3.0:
- A2DP Stereo Bluetooth. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And come this summer, your bluetooth stereo headphones and speakers will work with the iPhone 3G. Note, it will not work on the original iPhone 2G.
- Peer to Peer. This is a big one, folks, but it’s a little strange. You can share files and talk to other apps over Bluetooth. This means you’ll be able to do multiplayer games, for example, or ‘beam’ your contact card from one iPhone to another. Or heck, play a trombone duet. No pairing is required, either. Discovery of other iPhones happens with Apple’s Bonjour ZeroConf autodiscovery protocols
- Control Accessories. In addition to the dock accessory control, you can now control Bluetooth accessories from within an app. The example from the event was a glucose meter, but the possibilities are honestly endless.
- Tops on my Bluetooth list: Bluetooth keyboard support. Technically, you will be able to do with with iPhone 3.0. The weird issue there, however, is that this keyboard support would have to happen on an app-by-app basis instead of happening device-wide. That, friends, is a bit of a bummer.
Biggest Bluetooth surprise of the event: confirmation that the 2nd Generation iPod Touch DOES have Bluetooth and they can ‘unlock’ it to reveal Bluetooth features.
The rumors had said that the iPhone would pick up some features that had been touted for the Pre. One feature of the Pre: Universal Search. The iPhone does the Pre one better with their Spotlight search — it not only searches contacts and apps, but will also search within other key applications like Mail and SMS.
Spotlight on the iPhone works thusly: it becomes your new left-most home screen. When you get there, you can just start typing to bring up a list of everything that matches your search. The list will include data from:
- Contacts
- Calendar
- Email (To, From, Subject)
- iPod
- Notes
- Messaging (SMS / MMS)
- Apps (name of App)
The search results get listed in a big, touchable list and each result will have the icon for the app it’s from set to the left of the result.
Ladies and Gentlemen: this is the single most important new feature of iPhone 3.0 for me and how I use phones. The ability to ‘just start typing’ in order to find what I want to get done is my killer app. How about you?
Whew! The feature announcements in the iPhone 3.0 event came fast and furious. One of the most-wanted features, MMS, will be supported when 3.0 is released to consumer this summer. That’s the good news. The bad news: Apple claims that the radio on the original iPhone 2G can’t support MMS, so that feature will not make it to 1st gen iPhones.
MMS on the iPhone 3G looks to be almost full-featured. You will be able to send and receive photos, audio, vCard (contact cards), and ‘location.’ One thing that won’t be supported on MMS: Video. The iPhone 3G still can’t record video and therefore, one assumes, receiving video MMS will be difficult.
Still – it’s lovely to see the iPhone finally support a feature that’s common not only on other smartphones, but on nearly every feature phone made. iPhone 3.0 can’t come soon enough!
Today Apple previewed over 100 new features for iPhone 3.0 — coming sometime this summer — along with over 1000 new API’s for developers, and enough new features to answer the fevered dreams of 17,000,000,000 fanboys.
We’ll be back with more feature-by-feature coverage in a bit, but here are the highlights.
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Thanks to those who joined us today for TiPb’s Live Meta-Blog of Apple’s iPhone 3.0 Preview Event. It was a great event, with great features like Cut/Copy and Paste, MMS, Stereo Bluetooth, Spotlight, Landscape Keyboard, and quite literally everything every fanboy wrote on their wish-list.
For our full transcript, read on after the jump!
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Kevin Rose jumped on Facebook video (login to Facebook required) to basically confirm what he said previously about copy and paste, saying it would be across apps, with cut available as well in those apps that support it (?).
He also confirmed hearing MMS would be enabled from multiple sources, something he said he didn’t know previously.
A third, unidentified rumor was mentioned but not elaborated on as Rose said he had conflicting sources.
That was it from Rose, though hopefully not from Apple. Just over 12 hours from now we’ll find out for sure!
We’re just under 24 hours away from when — we presume — Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall (and maybe Tim Cook?) will take the stage at Apple HQ and preview iPhone OS 3.0 and the new SDK. We’ll be meta-live blogging it, of course, tomorrow at 1pm EDT/10am PDT, so be sure to join us for the TiPb take on things as they unfold. In the meantime, here are the current rumors, broken down by functionality… after the break!
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