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The App Store has really come along way since its beginning, which is still not a year old. There’s close to 15,000 apps up on the store. They range from silly, to actually being useful. There is one problem that has been apparent with the apps. None of them can run in the background.
The programs that come standard with your iPhone, or iPod Touch have the ability to run in the background. Like the alarm. Unfortunately, third party apps don’t have the option of running while the iPhone is inactive. Which, leaves some problems for certain apps, specifically those based around communication.
During the Worldwide Developer’s Conference in June 2008, Apple announced they would be bringing something called, Push notification system. This basically gives an app the option of receiving notices, and messages even if the app isn’t active. Steve Jobs stated that the service would be arriving by September 2008. Of course that update rolled by, and the Push notification was no where to be seen.
There has been quite a bit of speculation as to the reason for delaying the system. Many believe that Apple is trying to implement a better system, one in which the user can decide which apps can run in the background over others. The really spicy rumor is that Apple is just waiting until the next generation iPhone, before bringing background processes.
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What are your thoughts on background processes for apps on the iPhone/iPod Touch? Would you benefit from them being implemented?
