Skype 1.1 for iPhone Released- SMS but Don’t Push
The Skype people are busy, as they have released version 1.1 for the iPhone in addition to the WinMo version we covered earlier. This new version adds the ability to check Skype voice mail and to send SMS messages, but it lacks a highly desirable feature: push notification.
Push notification is the feature enabled in 3.0 that addresses the lack of multi-tasking on the iPhone. Some users of Skype on the iPhone are pitching a fit on the Skype blog that this “little” feature is not included in Skype 1.1. If any program needs push notification, then Skype is certainly it, as you can’t just run it all the time to the exclusion of all else. I guess your Skype buddies have to call your mobile number to tell you to switch to Skype to save money. Yes, that must be it.
As a developer, push notification on Skype would be difficult. For one, there is no guarantee that a push notification would be delivered soon enough to answer an incoming Skype phone call before it goes to voicemail. Even if the push notification was delivered in a timely fashion, there is still the app-launch delay to deal with. I’m afraid that the caller will either have to wait for alot of rings and/or be dumped into voice mail.
Now, I could imagine ways around the delay. For one, Skype could implement a service to notify the incoming caller that the other party is using an iPhone and that it may take up to a minute before the call can be answered. The caller could then have several choices: 1) wait for the call to be answered, 2) just leave a voicemail, 3) request a call-back.
Although I would love for Skype to add push notifications as much as the next guy, but I just don’t believe that push notifications as implemented through Apple’s servers is well suited for telephony services.
(P.S. The reason I mention Apple’s servers is that Skype has no control over the latency added by the push notification servers of a third party).
Huh? Just do the push for the IM part of skype, not the voice. That way you can just IM to your friends “hey, turn on skype and I’ll call”
Hi Rick,
Good to hear from a real developer! Personally I think you are over complicating the issue.
The simplest solution would be that when the iPhone app is activated then the user is online as normal. When they have logged in once, then closed the app, that would activate push notifications for a day or so (just like the AIM app). The iPhone status would be ‘Away’ in this situation (as technically they are away – just like they have stepped away from their PC for lunch or whatever). Calls could go straight to voicemail where the voicemail would be pushed to show as a badge when they have finished recording. IM’s would push to a badge as well, just like on the desktop.
Yeah, if could be done that way. I was thinking along the lines of using a Skype-In number such that a push notification would be sent when someone dials your number. In this case, I don’t believe push notifications would be fast enough to notify you, and you launching the Skype app before the caller hears 3 rings.
Uh lucky Americans … here in Canada we are still waiting for Skype on iPhone, which has not been released due to licensing issues …
Alex, you just need to create a free iTunes account from the USA iTunes store to be able to download Skype on your computer. Once it’s in the “Applications” section of your iTunes, you will only need to synchronize your iPhone or iPod Touch with it and there you go!
does anyone know what happend to the blackberry client?
I’m not sure that push skype is even technically possible.
Skype is a complete peer-to-peer system. As far as I know, calls are not routed through a central sever, so the skype folks don’t know when you get calls, and the same is true for IMs.
I think the could push voicemail notifications because they are stored centrally, they could probably push skype-in type calls as well.
How about they route iPhone calls (in & out) through a central server like Blackberry? Of course this would cost money, but most people wouldn’t mind paying extra for mobility on the move, as long as it wasn’t the rip off prices you get from the Telcos.