Oh, Mojo Messaging Service, where art thou? 62
Thu, 08 Apr 2010 11:26 am EDT
Think back one year from today. It was a heady time in the land of Palm. The Pre hadn’t even been released yet, the iPhone 3GS (well, the 3G S at the time) hadn’t been announced, in fact, Palm looked poised for incredible success. A year ago, April 7, was also the day that Palm announced the Mojo Messaging Service (confusing acronymed as MMS) for webOS. Mojo Messaging Service was portrayed as an advanced “push” notification system that not only would allow developers to push alerts out to webOS devices running their apps, it would leverage user data (e.g. GPS location) to managed targeted alerts to specific sets of users. The example given: traffic alerts to those that are actually in the area.
Mojo Messaging Service was to take Apple’s iPhone push notifications and put them on steroids. It would have given developers untold flexibility in managing alerts and allowed them to build much more powerful apps. Not to mention, push notifications would result in notable battery life improvements. Instead of an app like Tweed having to poll the server every 15 or 30 minutes at a set interval, the server could instead contact the phone when you get a direct message or a mention. If you’re the type that gets such notifications on an infrequent basis, you could be looking at significant battery life improvements simply by virtue of your phone not being as active.
So here we are a year later, enjoying the fruits of Palm’s push notifications labors, right? Wrong. A year has come and gone and we have heard nary a peep from Sunnyvale about the future of Mojo Messaging Service. While we fully admit that Palm has a lot on its plate right now, a measure of the webOS platform’s success in our day and age is going to be both the quantity and quality of apps available. While quantity is a direct, albeit circular, metric with the number of devices sold, quality could receive notable improvement with a push notification system.
So, Palm, could you (ahem) push out an update letting us know when we might see the Mojo Messaging Service?
62 Comments
damn. CHOP!
http://forums.precentral.net/general-webos-chat/217894-mojo-messaging-se...
I wasn't even aware it wasn't even using MMS. Well, what the hell are we texting with if it's not mms messaging, and that would explain some loss of battery consumption I guess, if that's true in the article. C'mon Palm, dammit. (:
we are using mms and sms. mms being picture/video/voice recorded messaging, and sms being text messaging. we have them! :P
its just that mojo messaging system is also, suspiciously, laid out as "mms" too
unfortunately, mms on sprint is weird/broken. It uses your data plan, and always uses the phone radio, never wifi. So, if you turn data off to save battery at home, you'll never get a mms, but your network will run fine over wifi, and you will still get sms.
hmm.. didnt notice that. oh wait doh! i have a sprint pixi, therefore no wifi. thanks palm :(
Don't Thank Palm, you should have bought a Pre if you wanted WiFi.
you still get sms because they work on a different level. they go on the same wires as the voice, where as mms (multimedia messaging service) are delivered on a completely different path. Hence why you can get sms messages while you are on the phone, on wifi, or even have your data turned off: you dont need data service to get sms, you only need a phone signal.
+1
lol
The Mojo Messaging Service (MMS) has nothing to do with Multimedia Message Service (MMS). They just happen to have the same abbreviation.
The Mojo Messaging Service is for server-to-application background push notifications. It has nothing to do with text/picture/multimedia messaging.
I totally agree Derek, the Facebook Beta app is a good example. It pings the server too much for notifications and kills yer battery life. If the server contacted the phone instead that'd be huge.
It's not as simple as writing an app, the server you're connecting to must be setup to send out the notifications. In other words it would require third party support for it to work.
sounds good in theory but wouldn't that require change on the service providers end? Such as facebook or twitter.
I have a hunch that Mojo Messaging isn't fully baked and thus isn't ready for webOS 1.x. I don't think we'll see it until webOS 2.0, just a hunch.
I suspect you're right. Even Apple discovered that setting up a general-purpose flexible notification service like this was a Bigger Task Than Expected. Witness how long the iPhone push notification service got delayed from the original announcement. (At one point, the system even existed as a placeholder API in the iPhone SDK, which vanished when Apple decided it wasn't baked enough, only to reappear in a better form much later.)
i wonder what Palm's response'll be to this article. coz you and i both know, derek, that Palm stalks the pages of everythingpre and precentral to find out whats uhh.. whats going on XD
which isnt a bad thing, btw, it makes the company more rooted to its customers. more....homey :3
I could tell you right now what Palm's response would be, as it's written clearly (and bolded) on the Mojo Messaging Service page on the developer site:
"The Mojo Messaging service is currently in beta and is not yet available for production deployments. Developers with apps nearing readiness should contact Palm developer support to inquire about deploying as part of the beta program."
lmfao just when i found the palm dev center talking about the mojo mess. service, i refreshed this page to see your comment.. we palm minds think alike, eh?
That's most definitely a 2.0 feature. I'm guessing they want to be able to fully deliver on their 2.0 release, and to deliver a killer punch when they do.
I sure as hell hope they plan to release a 2.0 version of their OS this year. I wonder what their developers are doing. It doesn't seem like much with regards to 1.x.
Personally, I'd like to see the whole framework of the OS revamped using the PDK (thus written in C instead of Javascript). It would run smoother because of the use of the GPU and use less battery.
It's insane that they aren't using the GPU for the basic animations that happen 1000 times a day.
2.0 Release Dreams:
PDK/GPU driven OS
PDK released with access to the camera and mic
SDK released with Transforms support
Implement Virtual Memory to eliminate "Too Many Cards" error
It looks like it went the same way as media sync with iTunes. Which also was a major selling point of the phone for me. I have a feeling I may not be a Pre user much longer.
I remember Roger (idiot) McNamee talking about it during an interview.
It knows when you are going to be late. No, seriously. Using the Pre
That is one of the coolest features I've ever heard of. If this does get introduced, WebOS is going to be an even more wonderful place than it already is.
agreed
Yeah I remember segment with McNamee.. I remember when I got my Pre, I looked around on WebOS for what he was talking about.. Never saw it... Was pretty let down.. I was really excited for it too...
Would this be something baked into the Calendar app? Not sure the app is ready to handle events with several contacts linked to it...
Lets hope 2.0 revamps Calendar to incorporate this idea!
I remember that as well. I, like most, just forgot about it. Thanks P/C for the reminder. I do think that like any tech company, releasing new and innovative technologies in stages is obviously the wisest thing to do. From a business perspective, releasing all the goods in the first version of webOS would just be stupid. Built in obsolescence is the key to any successful business plan. Be patient, it is sure to be released soon, PALM needs some "sizzle" right now. Keep us upgrading!!!
Had almost the same discussion last night with my girlfriend. Over-the-air software updates is a tremendous idea. Otherwise, if you put out a device with a certain OS on it, that's what you get. As people discover places to improve, that OS is what they are stuck with, and they need a new device to fix those issues. Fix issues as they pop up, release a new version of the OS on a new device, and keep one-upping yourself (sort of like the concept of expansions for MMO games. Content updates every so often keep the players happy, then you release an expansion with major updates and changes and everyone has to buy the expansion to stay relevant). It is a great idea, and the next iteration of WebOS and even the Pre handset should be quite interesting indeed.
I've been asking since launch. Even sumbitted this question for the lightning round on the Palmcast SEVERAL times. Concept is awesome and would save battery life for messaging app.
Cool, we needed an article that gave people an extra thing to complain about around here. ;)
/highfive
/to the side!!
/Down Low
/to slow!!
too much time on your hands >.>
lol, that was wonderful. I'm glad I could start that.
This is why the iboys post great stuff on the front page and complain in the forum... doesn't look for us/pre.
http://www.precentral.net/mojo-messaging-service-webos-more-just-push
palm has way too many let downs. A year later and can't crack over 2000 apps.(android just got over 9000 in march alone). Updates that mess up things that worked fine before. And lets not even mention the worst battery life I've ever experienced. I love web os's platform it's like having a phone that can do anything but in reality it's just a instinct with a fancy update and a better touch response. Then with android taking over the market. It's getting harder to not wonder what life would be like with a android powered rig. I'm hoping palm does something soon or it's bye bye pre hello evo 4g....
aww but look sprint ceo defends palm http://news.zdnet.com/2422-19178_22-309090.html?tag=video-more;video-pla...
Even though thats a old interview, I still am inspired!!
I've gone back and forth between the original iPhone, Pre on June 6th release date, back to my 2G iPhone, iPhone 3GS, DROID, HTC Hero, and now back to the Pre. Web OS just keeps bringing me back. I, personally, do not need 150,000 apps, rather just a handful that are well programmed and get the job done.
Android is solid, but the UI and overall experience just doesn't compare to Web OS.
Here's to hoping new Palm hardware with updates to Web OS over the next few months.
Here here! New hardware would be wonderful. I'd like to see what Palm has up their sleeve for the next Pre (or whatever it ends up being called).
the Palm Pre is nowhere near the instinct, if you are referring to the original, not the S30, or HD. But even still, the Instinct had no support, no developers, and no community. it was DOA. I had one, was probably one of the worse phones I ever owned. I bought the Pre, full price ($500) before my contact renewal date to get rid of that paperweight.
I could not be happier with the Pre, I would say even without patches, I would still be happy with the phone today. Patches make it more functional and useful to me, but, I bought the phone for it GUI and Features. Everything else so far has been a BONUS.
Palm is working to improve their features, functions, API, PDK, MMS. It is not Doomsday for Palm. Look at Apple, several years ago they had everyone saying the same things that people are saying about Palm. Look at how many FAILED devices they have had over the years, remember the berry colored iMac's. Those sold like crazy, NOT! They finally hit is big with the iPod. Tech companies have highs and lows, right now Apple is in a high. Palm is working its way back into the market. It is going to be a bumpy road, lots of competition. GO PALM!
Life moves fast. Don't miss a thing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1OHlFOee2w
is it coincidence that evo comes out when palm's early adopters 1 year is up?
OOOOOHHHH boy!!!!!
Apple just announced the same thing we are talking about!!
"Now building on push notifications is local notifications. It doesn't need to use our servers."
What are we gonna do about iPhone multitasking?! Thoughts please! Also I couldn't quite get a good idea of how it was implemented...
It is better that Android, but not better than the WebOS. I'm not worried.
i actually prefer android to iphone overall, because android gives you the option of widgets as a home screen, rather than the iphone which makes it your business to have widgets all over the place, and no real background wallpaper, other than in the lock screen.
i believe widgets are the death of creativity -.-
From what I've read, it sounds like you have to double tap the home button, and you get a 'tray' that comes up at the bottom of the screen and you can scroll through your open apps.
They're also releasing their multitasking APIs to developers so people can integrate multitasking into their apps (run-in-background, save current state, etc).
Haven't seen any videos or pictures, but from the sounds of it, it's not native multitasking, and it's just a prettier version of a task menu.
Yep, I totally agree.
I all but entirely skipped discussing MMS in my book aside from a quick mention because it wasn't fully-baked at the time and there wasn't enough information to even try and make sense of it... to think we're still essentially there now is depressing because I *REALLY* wanted to use that in an app in the book... even a recent discussion I've had with Palm about another developer network article didn't change my opinion... I wanted to use the service in that article but it's still not in a state I'm comfortable doing so.
I hope this service isn't going by the wayside because I think it could be a real killer feature, not to mention the potential battery improvement it'll bring. I don't know how much it would actually be, but I suspect a noticeable amount anyway. Especially for a device and OS that purportedly "lives in the clouds", which has been the Palm refrain from day one, this becomes a bigger missing feature as the months roll on. It'd be a shame if it only hits the streets when others have had time to catch up and its no longer a the differentiator for Palm that it could have been all along. The sooner its available the better (assuming it still is on the plate at all).
It more like app switching, not multitasking. That home button is sure going to get worn out!!
From Engadget:
"You just double click the home button and see a list of your apps, and you can just tap to switch between apps. The system actually runs the services apps need in the background -- the apps don't need to do them individually, so it's not a "true" multitasking system."
BTW, their notification still pops up in the middle of the screen.
The Home button on an iPhone/iPad touch already gets worn out. Each time I try to use it, I just get annoyed by all the Tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap. Doing stuff that is one or two gestures on WebOS.
Perhaps either this OR Flash..you know, make good on at least ONE of the representations upon which I wrongfully relied when buying this phone.
I still love my Pre and all, but these sorts of dropped projects are unacceptable when people are making purchases in reliance thereon.
hah! i hope the iphone OS4 copies webOS in its entirety so Palm could sure Apple for its true bitchiness XD
ok SERIOUSLY
i just checked out the iphone os4 page at apple
and alot of the improvements and addons are TOTALLY copying RIM and PALM desgins like wtf?!
pfft. Apple wants to sue htc? lets see how they like getting sued >:D
The Mojo Messaging Service is in a beta state and you can request access to the beta program according to the Palm Developer API:
Mojo Messaging Service in API Docs
Uh-Oh just heard iphoneOS 4.0 is gunna bring multitasking to the platform. I hope palms stock doesnt go under...even more
Already in the stock price to some extent as analysts have been hoping for this move by Apple for some time. However, if Apple's execution isn't great, and if Palm has cause of action to file a patent suit, likely a net positive, rather than a negative for Palm's stock.
I really would like to see Palm announce an alliance (rather than a buyout) with someone with deep pockets to help them accelerate product development to really capitalize on WebOS and establish technological leadership, and maybe even help fund some major litigation to defend their patents.
Its one of those chicken and egg situations, though, because the major money is likely not going to come in until Palm gains some critical mass by way of market penetration. Single digit share and falling is not going to do it. And the last thing stockholders need now is further significant dilution. Just hope that Palm has something up their sleeve that will shake things up and really excite consumers about their products.
If they do, my guess (cynic that I am) is that it will be introduced after their May 30 fiscal year end, and after the officers get their new stock and option awards with the stock still comfortably in the mid-single digits. Then the expected lousy Q4 will be followed by a surprisingly robust first half of fy11, new doors will start opening for the company, and the analysts will reluctantly start raising their target prices to above zero. ;-)
Of course, now y'all will think I believe in the tooth fairy also.
What are you saying... the tooth fairy isn't real?! sh*t who is taking my teeth & what are they doing with them? lol