Distributing APNS providers
- by Sam
I'm writing a business-focused iPhone app which includes a self-hosted server component. I'd like to include push notification functionality in the server; reading through the programming guide it looks as if this would involve either:
Distributing the provider certificate with the server component - this doesn't sound like a terribly good idea (even if Apple permits it?)
Hosting a shared notification provider and forwarding notifications to APNS from the servers. For an ongoing, high-availability service, this is likely to require including a subscription pricing component, which I would prefer to avoid.
Require customers to apply for their own provider certificate. However, it's not clear whether multiple organisations are allowed to apply for provider certificates with a single bundle ID, and it would significantly increase the barrier to adoption.
APNS looks to me as if it's specifically geared for centrally hosted services. Is anyone distributing self-hosted notification providers? Are there any other options?
