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Sent to you by Bill Boulware via Google Reader: iPhone Gmail Gets Push
By Routing Around The Mail App Using Apple's Servers via TechCrunch by
MG Siegler on 8/23/10

I'd wager that you'd be hard-pressed to find an iPhone user that
doesn't use Gmail on the device. And yet, it's an awkward relationship.
Why? Because Gmail run through the iPhone's native mail client is a
crippled experience. Set aside for a second that you cannot star
anything (well, aside from moving an email to the "Starred" folder,
which is ridiculous), more importantly, there is no push support. This
means you cannot get your email in realtime. Instead, you have to ping
Gmail's servers (either in set intervals or manually). Both Yahoo Mail
and MobileMe mail have full push support. It's ridiculous. Google
finally made a move to fix that today. Well, sort of.

With the latest version of their Google Mobile App, you can set up your
iPhone to receive Push Notifications each time you get a new Gmail
message or when you have a Google Calendar alert. No, Push
Notifications on the iPhone aren't technically the same as full push
support for mail, but it will do. Essentially, you'll now be getting a
notification when a new message comes in and this will alert you to
open your Mail app and retrieve it. It's two more steps than regular
push would require, but whatever.

What's interesting is that Google is using Apple's Push Notifications
servers to enable this service. All of these Push Notifications are
served up by Apple Push Notification Service (APNS). So yes, Google is
using Apple to overcome their own shortcoming (which may or may not be
Apple's fault, who knows what is going on between the two at this
point).

Perhaps even stranger is that you can actually set up Gmail to do
proper push — but you have to use Microsoft Exchange to make that
happen. Or you've been able to use a number of third-party apps like
Boxcar for some time now that allow you to get Gmail push notifications
— this new Google app simply cuts out this middle man, but works the
same way.

There's something else interesting about this Google Push Notification
support as well. When it pops up the notification letting you know that
there's a new message, there's a "View" button which will open Gmail in
the iPhone's web browser. So not only is Google bypassing Mail's lack
of Gmail push support, they're feeding you back to their site. While
they don't do it yet on the iPhone experience, they could presumably
show you ads here — something they can't do on the Mail app on the
iPhone. I'm fine with that as the iPhone-tailored version of Gmail in
Safari is great.

Something else interesting in all of this is that Apple and Google have
still presumably been working together to improve the Gmail/iPhone
experience. With iOS 4, we finally got the ability to archive (instead
of delete) in the Mail app. And you can now sync notes with your Gmail
account. Why there still is no real push support is anyone's guess. I'm
sure each side will blame the other one.

Also interesting to think about: will Google start using this same Push
Notification feature to make Google Voice easier to use on the iPhone?
We're all still waiting for the App Store approval of that app.
CrunchBase InformationGmailiPhoneInformation provided by CrunchBase





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