Dear Apple, Please Copy This Notification System For The iPhone Immediately
As you're aware, I tend to take Apple's side on almost all matters iPhone versus Android. Having tried over a dozen Android devices ranging from the G1 to the Nexus S, I simply still prefer iOS. And it's not really close.
Context & Ripple Effects
The case for copying Android's notifications comes from an unusual source: a columnist who says he has tried more than a dozen Android handsets from the G1 era through the Nexus S and still prefers iOS — meaning the critique lands as friendly fire rather than platform tribalism. It also extends a running TechCrunch thread that dates back to the 2008 'Please Fix The iPhone' to-do list for Steve Jobs.
Developers have already been patching the gap themselves: Boxcar's 4.0 release in November 2010 pushed iPhone notifications further than Apple's own system allowed, which makes the columnist's argument sharper — the platform owner is being out-built on its own turf by both Google and its own third-party ecosystem.
First-order effects
- Apple faces public pressure from within its own supporter base to overhaul iOS notifications, while every iPhone user remains stuck with the current alert model until Apple ships a fix.
- Android gains a talking point in the iPhone-versus-Android debate even among reviewers who otherwise prefer iOS, sharpening the differentiation Google can advertise.
Second-order effects
- Third-party notification apps such as Boxcar see demand validated — and risk obsolescence if Apple builds the capability natively, the classic platform-vendor-squeezes-workaround dynamic.
- Apple's reluctance to copy visible competitor features gets costed publicly, raising the reputational stakes for how quickly iOS closes obvious gaps versus shipping new hardware like the iPad 2 launched the same week.
Third-order effects
- If platform owners routinely absorb their rivals' best interface ideas, OS competition shifts toward execution speed on copied features rather than exclusive inventions — a pattern that rewards whoever iterates fastest.
- Sustained third-party workarounds for missing platform features become a leading indicator of where the vendor itself will build next, turning small developers into de facto R&D for Apple and Google.
The trend: Mobile platforms are converging feature-by-feature as Apple and Google each absorb the other's interface innovations, with user pleas and developer workarounds marking the gaps first.