ReadWriteWeb

One of the most highly anticipated features coming to the new iPhone OS 3.0 is the ability for applications to deliver push notifications. Although Apple decided not to allow background processes because they drain the battery, the push notification service itself will have a persistent connection to the phone. This will permit apps to alert the user when there are any changes. These alerts will come in three varieties: badges, text alerts, and audio alerts. Text alerts appear like SMS messages, audio alerts play a sound, and badges show up on the app icon itself.

Recently, a video of instant-messaging application BeejiveIM appeared on YouTube, giving us a sneak peek of the push notification feature in action.