The latest iPhone 2.2 operating system fixes many things, but something is still missing: Push notification services. Once again, Apple has missed the opportunity to enable push notification in a new update, which is specially bad after they failed to meet their self-imposed September deadline. That makes it almost two months late now. So what's the problem? Is the cause just a technical glitch or maybe there are other hidden, last-minute reasons behind it?

Many developers and users were eagerly awaiting for the 2.2 update to finally enable push notification services, which disappeared from the 2.1 beta right before release. Essentially, push notification is a clever way for your iPhone applications to receive messages from the network at all times, even while they are not active. Since the applications don't need to be active constantly, asking data to the application server every X minutes, this method saves power while giving you all the convenience of server-sided push messages.

As any BlackBerry user knows, push services allow the developer to implement functionality that is extremely useful. For example: An instant messenger program would be able to notify you whenever a new message is received, even while the application itself is not running. Think about it just like an SMS. Another example: A voice over IP application can receive a call and alert you right away, so you can pick it up like any normal telephone call. Or maybe return the call using the normal telephony service if you are not in a Wi-Fi spot.

As you can imagine, this makes push notification a Holy Grail for users and developers alike. The only people who may not be happy about these are the carriers. After all, the idea of an instant messaging application with push notification services taking over their lucrative SMS business doesn't seem like a very good one.

Or maybe I should take off my tin foil hat and just assume that Apple has hit a roadblock that nobody at engineering ever expected. But a two month delay? Why? It just sounds too weird.

Whatever it is, I only hope they deliver it as soon as possible.

The Fraunhofer Institute SIT alerted the producers of the iPhone about this issue a month ago. To close this hole, new firmware will be released on November 21.

According to Collin Mulliner, the exploit only requires three lines of HTML code, which anyone with basic knowledge of this language can add to any web page.

The scenario: The iPhone user receives an e-mail or SMS with an Internet link. Clicking on the link will open a web site. But suddenly, the iPhone will start calling a phone number without any user intervention. The worse thing is that you can't stop the call, as the cellphone will be gray while the number is dialed. (...) Even amateurs could easily develop a criminal exploit.

The Fraunhofer Institute says that a similar vulnerability was discovered last month and patched, "but obviously was not enough." [Fraunhofer SIT via Apple Insider]

Walking directions
Having just arrived to New York, I would definitely use this feature more than anything else. This would make Maps a lot more useful for all pedestrians, who can make a better use of the iPhone hardware than drivers.

Public transport information
Another great feature specially for big cities. I wish they could invest more on this, like connecting to status servers of public transport networks. That would actually make it perfect for commuters.

Street View
This will allow you to see any location in Google Maps that has Street Views, which is useful to get familiar with unknown places and for those people who are map-reading impaired.

Share location
If you are in the Maps application, you can share a location by just clicking a button, which will send an email with the URL to see the address in Maps. It's not actual real-time location sharing (and very low tech) but since we don't have any kind of copy and paste, it's better than nothing. Other than actually talking on the phone, that is.

Line-In sound access for developers
Apparently, the new OS update allows developers to have access to the sound part of the iPhone hardware. This opens the door for better microphones or high quality voice recognition.

Over-the-air podcast updates
This one will make TV and radio lovers happy, as many programs would be available from anywhere rather than having to connect to your computer every time you want to synchronize to get the lastest updates.

Japan will also get exclusive Emoji emoticons, as well as TV streaming support using a Wi-Fi accessory. [iPhoneYap]

If you're removing it, isn't it more likely you have a bad impression of the app? Why else would you dropkick it off your phone? We don't know the full extent of the new app rating nanny, so it's possible iPhone 2.2 might also ask you to rate it after two weeks of use to counter-balance what would seem to overwhelming provoke an influx of negative vibes. We'd hope there's some countervailing voting force, anyway. Still, while it's no Google Street View, it's a nice little addition to 2.2—we like anything that makes the App Store better. [iPhone Hellas via Mac Rumors]

Namely, the ability to turn off the keyboard's auto-correction feature and support for Japanese emoji emoticons—the typically adorable little icons that Japanese teens (and adults?) can't live without. Lack of emoji support has actually been blamed for slower iPhone sales in Japan, so there you go. I'm not sure who would want to live without keyboard auto-correction though—that would take a mastery of multitouch typing that I have yet to see. [Mac Rumors - image is a 'Shop, not the actual implementation]