By Dan Gesser
Last week’s WWDC marked the public unveiling of Apple’s newest mobile operating system, iOS 5. The Xtify team is incredibly excited about the many new features and usability enhancements slated for this upcoming release. In particular, the Notification Center functionality offers several welcome features that will prevent incoming push notifications from being obtrusive (causing users to clear the notifications as a means of quickly returning to what they were doing before the notification appeared) and help consumers seamlessly interact with unread push notifications (increasing likelihood that notifications will be mindfully reviewed at a later date). Xtify’s push notification technology will become even more effective in helping application publishers engage their mobile users with targeted push notifications based on pre-configured schedules, locations and preferences.
The new Notification Center functionality offers the following improvements to existing push notification handling on the iOS platform:
o Notifications will no longer interrupt the user’s device usage when they are delivered (no more annoying popup that pulls the user away from what they were doing before the push notification appeared)
o All push notifications will be delivered directly to a single place, the Notification Center (similar to the Notification Tray already in place on the Android platform)
o Notice of a new push notification will be conveyed by an icon at the top of the screen
o The Notification Center will also list unread emails and SMS messages (great for users who interact with many apps and other people)
o The Notification Center can be accessed at any time by swiping down from the status bar at the top of the screen
o Notifications will appear on the locked screen (along with stock and weather alerts) in order to allow for quick and easy viewing when the user is ready
o When a notification appears in the locked screen, swiping the notification will automatically open the related app
The release of iOS 5 undoubtedly gives application publishers betters tools to create new and even more exciting apps for their customers. Similarly, application publishers utilizing Xtify’s push notification technology will be able to build great relationships with their mobile customers by providing relevant notifications that can be easily managed in the moment or at a later time.
If you'd like to Download the iOS 5 SDK beta, click here: http://developer.apple.com/technologies/ios5/.
If you’d like to watch the relevant portion of the presentation from the WWDC 2011 Keynote, click here: http://bit.ly/k1psNf and move to 42:55. Happy Viewing!
