Where's the push-notification? When Apple started talking about the iPhone 2.0 software, one main thing was that applications *wouldn't* have the capability of running in the background. But in the same sentence, basically, Apple has said that push-notification would solve this problem in September 2008. Of course the 2.1 and 2.2 updates have come without such support and with an excuse of "we want to get it right the first time". I, too, want them to get it right the first time, but really: The lack of support for this makes the iPhone a single-task phone mostly. Sure: We *do* get E-Mails in the background. We also get SMS and phone calls even if we're running some application in the foreground. We take those for granted, of course.
But what about online chat applications like AIM? Why can't I get facebook-updates pushed at least to the icon on the desktop? It seriously damages the iPhone as a smartphone. It just ain't that smart. I don't mind the lack of copy-n-paste (why does everybody call it cut & paste nowadays, btw.? I don't need to cut, I need to copy!) that much, since most apps that would need it, find a way around it. But everytime I think "Hey, now I *am* going to download AIM for the iPhone!", I'm reminded that it just wouldn't work the way it should. *All* smartphone platforms out there support background notification. I've enjoyed this on various Series 80 and Series 60 mobile phones. The iPhone beats all of them hands-down in most areas, not the least of which is interface speed. But as long as the iPhone can't let apps get notified in the background, it simply *isn't* a real multitasking device. - posted by Patrick Armbruster @ 10:59 [article link]