Is This the New iOS 5 Notification System?
Is this what the new iOS 5 notification system will look like? That’s the question on everyones mind now that there has been confirmation that the developer of MobileNotifier is working for Apple.
For those who don’t know, MobileNotifier is a popular jailbreak tool that completely redesigns iOS’s notification system for the better. Notifications pop across the top of the screen but do not interfere with app functionality. If you’re on a lock screen, they gather in relevant groups and are easy to quickly identify. Shown are a few screenshots and two videos of MobileNotifier.
Notifications delivered and managed through the MobileNotifier app are easier to view, see, manage, and just all around improved, and apparently Apple was impressed enough too to hire developer Peter Hajas directly. This is perhaps the strong indicator yet of what the iOS 5 notification system will be.
The confirmation was uncovered by RedmondPie with this now deleted tweet, where after Peter Hajas stated he would inexplicably halt development on MobileNotifier he then said he was “off to work in CA at a ‘fruit’ company” which is almost certainly a reference to Apple.
Another very telling quote is from his blog where he signs off on the MobileNotifier project:
I’m taking a break from MobileNotifier… I can’t say why, but it’s worth it. Trust me. If you look around hard enough, you’ll probably figure it out…
Until then, stay hungry and stay foolish.
Stay hungry and stay foolish is a classic line that Steve Jobs has referred to on multiple occasions regarding the founding of Apple and also what should drive young innovators.
I find this hiring confirmation especially significant when you consider that Apple may kill jailbreaking with iOS 5 simply by matching many of the features and incentives that currently only jailbreaking offers. If iOS 5 is able to replicate the best jailbreaking has to offer, there will be little reason for most casual iPhone users to bother with the sometimes hassling process.
Here are two videos of MobileNotifier in action:
Great find by MacRumors and RedmondPie.
Apple has hired Peter as an intern, see http://mobile.twitter.com/davedelong/status/75666136045326336 and http://mobile.twitter.com/davedelong/status/75666752259895296
Dave DeLong is a “frameworks developer for Apple”: http://davedelong.com
honestly those screenshots and videos do not do justice to mobilenotifier, it really flies when you are barraged with notifications, texts, missed calls, etc, the more you give it, the better it sorts and displays.
PLUS, you can respond to any notification directly from that bar across the top, you do not have to enter into the SMS app or anything else, you can just do it all from ANYWHERE.
HUGE improvement if this is true.
I’ve used MobileNotifier for a long time and I can say that is far superior to the existing notification system in iOS. If Apple has in fact hired Peter, even as a consultant to an improved notification system, then iOS is better off for it.
Very exciting, can’t wait for iOS 5 Beta 1!