Why did push technology fail in the late 90s, yet email delivered newsletters are incredibly popular, even if they are just link proliferation designed to drag you to a website.
I think it’s something to do with the place, with the application you use (or did use) to access these.
A web browser is an app you use, a space you work in to hunt down information. The language surrounding it and the functionality that has grown up in the web and the browser are about navigation, searching, moving. The browser is you pushing out into an unmapped virtual space and finding stuff.
An email client is now not generally just about email. In biz parlance it’s a Personal Information Manager. The PIM application is for most people the central app on their desktop, they keep coming back to it, for most people its always on, open on the desktop. It is almost a replacement for the desktop/workspace. Documents are shared via CCing, and storing in inboxes, succeeding using old technology where more advanced groupware has failed. I’ve people work using email to share docs when they have easily accessible network drives, access to each others computers, and the knowledge to use these routes. The reason they use email as the sharing tool is because it is open in front of them and they are operating in it’s space.
Just as an aside, In many cases it PDAs are trying to be little portable email clients. They are creating the same space, but in a portable fashion. So soon will PDA/phone convergence. The browsing capabilities of these are limited and are not valued when on the move. Maybe this will change, maybe it needs a sea change in the web to facilitate this. Maybe semantic web innovations will make mobile browsing more attractive. Until then, only web based apps that extend the capabilities of PIM type functionality will work.
So why does push work for email and not for the web? Possibly as simple as the fact that the space evoked and the general use is different. Email clients are always on and are your personal space. You sit inside it and wait for a email or a task or an appointment to spur you into action. Although you may set up appointments or tasks it is still a passive, reactionary response. People expect a push space and will perpetuate that.
A browser for many people isn’t always on. Also when it is it is only in one external space. You use it when you have a specific task to perform; information to obtain or action to carry out. Using a browser has been and will still be a proactive use.
Also the difference between the two types of application in the way they treat net connectivity. Email has always been asynchronous, the web browsing is a synchronous activity. When you access the web you browse around expecting a response, email is downloaded in bulk. This was most important when push technology was introduced 5 years ago. At that point always on internet connections were rarer, primarily available only at work, even there it was not so common. Email naturally deals with this by downloading in bulk and offering to be read at leisure offline. Although this issue is less important now the history of this has lead to the differentiation of these two applications and the difference in the way they are treated. With an email client you can compose and queue emails whilst offline and connect occasionally when necessary. A web browser requires constant connection.
Push failed because of lack of always on connectivity, poor content, and also the fact that the space the information was being delivered in was not intended for passive use, also the information being delivered was often not the sort that was intended to promote reactive action.
What does the future hold for push information and PIMs? Well PIM software will migrate off the desktop. Eventually all contacts, notes, calendars, messaging, etc will be accessible off the desktop, via portable means. Desktop accessibility to this will be needed, but the primary means of reading emails in the future will be via your mobile phone. Some kind of push information syndication might be useful, but less so because of always on GPRS connections will allow you to access what you want when you want it. There is the opportunity to use alerts and syndication, but these don’t need to be the entirety of the content. These should be and are more than likely to be web service type messages, like Blog trackback and update pings.
