Push Notifications

Abstract

One day in the somewhat distant future, smartphones and other mobile devices will ship with batteries that last for weeks without the need to recharge them. But until that day arrives, Windows Phone software developers must write applications that use energy sparingly, since a resource-intensive program, such as one that uses the built-in cellular or Wi-Fi radio continuously, can quickly drain a Windows Phone battery. To prevent this from happening, Microsoft has built a number of features into the Windows Phone application platform to ensure that the phone battery lasts as long as possible. One such feature allows applications to appear as if they are constantly running in the background, providing updates about the weather or what your friends are up to. These applications subscribe to a central notification service that keeps track of all connected devices and sends alerts and messages to those devices, such as when to buy or sell stocks or where to take cover from bad weather.