Launched in August, Apple’s Snow Leopard server operating system includes a new beefed up mail server that supports Push email to the iPhone.
Following the update, Snow Leopard will contact users whenever it receives new mail. Without Push, each user’s mail software must poll the server every few minutes to see if new mail has arrived.
Adding Push capabilities to Apple’s Mail Server, which is based on the Dovecot open-source IMAP software, is great news for firms using Snow Leopard. It means people using iPhones will get their email as soon as it hits their server inbox. Without Push notification, users would need to wait up to 15 minutes before the iPhone automatically polls the server.
Unfortunately this doesn’t help the majority of iPhone users, as very few have access to a Snow Leopard mailbox.
It’s also unclear how to configure the iPhone to receive Push notifications from Snow Leopard. In fact, people might need to wait for an iPhone software update to enable the feature. Currently, Apple’s documentation covers Push email for people using Microsoft Exchange, Yahoo webmail and Apple’s own MobileMe service.