The situation of "blind push" of domestic Android system will eventually be improved.

The number of mobile phone users in Android system is huge, and some people ridicule that domestic Android is different from Android. Domestic mobile phones are all deeply customized Android systems, which are ecologically chaotic and cannot be unified. There is no pure and smooth feeling of native Android. In addition to the inability to use Google Store and the imperfect application review mechanism, the lack of a unified push mechanism is also an important reason.

Push mechanism, chaotic status quo

As we all know, mobile applications need to send notification messages to users' mobile devices in some way, such as new messages of instant messaging applications, activity information of e-commerce applications, push of major breaking news and so on.

In several mainstream smart device operating systems, iOS provides a unified message push service, and all messages must be initiated by Apple servers and pushed to designated devices. Notifications can be sent to users' devices in time whether the application is active or not.

Android also has a native push machine GCM(Google Cloud Messaging), but for some well-known reasons, the GCM server can hardly be used in China, and this mechanism is not mandatory. As a result, developers will generally develop their own push services on the Android platform or use the push services developed by third parties to meet the push needs of applications.

To put it simply, when we swiped Weibo with an iOS device, we received a WeChat. At this time, the system will inform you that we received a WeChat, but at this time, WeChat did not start in the background. Notifications are pushed through Apple's servers. When you click this notice, WeChat will be launched in your background. But on Android devices, when we receive a WeChat, WeChat will start itself in the background and deliver the message through the resident push service. Every Android app like this needs to stay in the background and wake up frequently.

In order to solve this situation, domestic manufacturers have made some positive attempts in the past. Xiaomi's rice push is the forerunner of domestic Android unified push. As early as 13, MIUI V5 adopted the alignment wake-up mechanism. It will limit the frequent wake-up of the background push service and wake up within a certain period of time, thus achieving the effect of saving electricity.

Schematic diagram of alignment wake-up mechanism

But this is a simple and rude solution, which limits the wake-up of background services, and also leads to some pushes not being delivered in time, which is especially fatal for applications such as alarm clocks and instant messaging. So Xiaomi later launched a system-level solution-Mi Push, which realized a push experience similar to iOS. Applications that support Mi Push can be pushed through the MIUI server, without having to keep the push service in the background, just need to integrate the SDK into the application.

Later, Huawei and other manufacturers also launched their own push platforms, and third-party technology providers such as Twitter also appeared.

Oasis Feng, an independent developer of Android who developed fast map browsing and Greenify, once initiated the Android Green Application Convention, trying to change the domestic Android ecosystem from bottom to top. Although the Convention has made some gratifying progress, it is still weak for many applications and models.

The big environment is that many domestic developers regard this function as a weapon, stay in the background indefinitely, and push wildly for activity and retention, which has caused the chaotic situation of Android ecology in China today.

We need top-down change.

Led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, it was put on the agenda in a unified way.

Finally, after the operator's rectification, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology waved the sword to the malicious competition App developers. As early as July this year, the Taier Terminal Laboratory of China Information and Communication Research Institute under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the establishment of the "Android Unified Push Alliance" to combat the chaotic state of Android system and application message push. Thiel Labs said that it will work with many domestic manufacturers to formulate technical standards for Android unified push service /UPS, aiming at establishing a unified standard for domestic Android message push service, providing better experience for end users and better solving the message push needs of application developers.

This afternoon, on June 6th, 20 17, 17, the inaugural meeting of the unified push alliance was successfully held in Beijing. Representatives from 75 enterprises including China Information and Communication Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as "CITIC Institute"), Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Gionee, Meizu, Nubia, Lenovo, Qihoo 360, Baidu, Ali, Tencent, JD.COM, Meituan, Ping An Technology, Songtui, Aurora, Spreadtrum, Google and Samsung attended the alliance meeting.

The formal establishment of the unified push alliance indicates that the mobile Internet industry will work together to end the chaotic state of the domestic Android ecosystem. In the future, Android phones do not need to wake up applications frequently when receiving push messages, thus greatly reducing the harassment to users, saving mobile phone memory, traffic and power, and providing users with a better experience.

At the inaugural meeting of the alliance, 19 units such as China ICT Institute were elected as directors, China ICT Institute, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Baidu, Ali, Tencent and Getui were elected as directors and deputy directors, and Dr. Wang from China ICT Institute was elected as secretary-general of the alliance. Three working groups, namely, collaborative promotion group, technical standard group and evaluation and certification group, were set up at the subsequent working meeting of the alliance to promote the specific work of the alliance.

From this list of exhibitors, we can see many interesting things.

First of all, Xiaomi and Huawei have their own mature push solutions, and third-party push solution providers such as Twitter and Aurora also occupy a considerable market share. There is no doubt that the establishment of the unified push alliance will steal their cake. It is unclear whether this joining is forced to respond to the call or whether there are other cooperation agreements.

In addition, Google unexpectedly ranked among them. What does Google think of standing on its own feet outside the original mechanism of Android? Surprisingly, Google's attitude is very friendly, and it agrees and congratulates the establishment of the unified push alliance. According to Tell Labs, as early as March 6th, Google's technical experts had joined the service seminar. They believe that unified push will play a positive role in promoting the development of Android industry in China, and will continue to pay attention to relevant progress. On the one hand, Google is doing this to enhance the domestic Android experience, thereby increasing market share. After all, even without Google service, the annual patent fee alone is a big income. On the other hand, it is also good for the domestic market, paving the way for future return.

However, this inaugural meeting only marks that the system-level unified push is officially put on the agenda, and when it will be put into use is still unknown. Although some people always say not to make wheels repeatedly, a unified domestic solution is the best outcome when GCM can't be used and manufacturers are fragmented.