Here are some of the highlights:
“Brilliant Designer Shows Apple How iOS Notifications Should Work” – Softpedia.com

“Apple, Please Hire This Man And Implement His iOS Notifications Already” – Read Write web

“An iOS notifications concept that we wish was real” – The Next Web

“How Notifications on iPhone Should Work” – MacTrast

The concept was also mentioned at 9 to 5 mac and Tuaw.com

I’ve got in contact with some really creative and inspirational people and have gotten a ton of great suggestions and ideas. The response from the gadget community has been completely overwhelming, and I am so happy that I got the chance to share my concept with you all.

On monday it is the day we all have been waiting for. The day when Steve Jobs presents iOS 5 and hopefully Apples idea for an improved notifications system. I know it will be great as Apple always tends to lead the industry in terms of usability and innovation.

Thanks again.
/Andreas

Q: Is this a leak from Apple and will this be a part of iOS 5 or any other iteration?

A: No, this is not a leak. I do not in any way represent Apple. This is purely a concept created on my spare time.

Q: If I get a notification badge on Messages, will I get one on Notifications as well?

A: Yes, in my concept both of them will show one active notification.

Q: Do I have to use the Notifications app to check my E-mail?

A: No,  you can still just press the mail app and read it directly, circumventing the notifications app.

Q: Do I have to actively clear both the app badge, for example Messages, and the Notifications badge?

A: No, once you either read the message, or delete the notification the badges will disappear.

Q: How are people suppose to understand that they slide the actual program icon to view the item on the lock screen?

A: Well, they might not. But it’s not the first concept introduced into iOS that demands a bit of knowledge about the system. Pinch to zoom is one for example, it’s not really demonstrated to the user where it’s applicable, such as maps or Mobile Safari. Double tap the home screen button for app switching, long press for voice commands and long press apps to move is a couple of other features you as a user have to learn. And also, you don’t really have to use this function either, you could just unlock your phone and go straight into the app even if that is two operations instead of one.

Q: Having three different views for notifications seems excessive, what do I really need this app for?

A: That is a valid point if you turned of notifications for all apps except core services. In that case this app would probably be excessive for you. But that is also the strength of this concept, because it scales really well to all different users. A person who receives 2-5 notifications a day can shove this app into some obscure folder on the last page of their iPhone and forget about it. But a person who gets 15 mails, 10 Facebook updates, 20 direct twitter messages, 5 SMS messages and 25 other notifications will definitely benefit from using this app since they don’t have to hunt all around the system to find those items they actually want to act on.

Q: Showing messages and notifications from all apps in this one app, isn’t it a risk that you never start the other apps?

A: Not if you ever want to answer you incoming messages. You still have to go into the actual app to respond, delete or whatever the case may be.

Q: Why can’t I answer my messages, mails and other incoming items directly from the Notifications app?

A: Because it would add to the complexity ten fold once you start adding the functions from Twitter, Facebook and all other social media apps. Even functions from the system apps like mail and messages would be detrimental to the purpose of the Notifications app. I think it would start to deter people from accessing the actual apps and see the messages with their full functionality, (delete, answer, like, etc).

Q: Why have you created this concept? Whats your angle?

A: It’s purely just for fun. It’s not meant as an insult towards any person or company who loves their iPhone. Just my thoughts and ideas on the matter.

Q: I can do this with my jail breaked device, so why would we need your solution?

A: It’s great that you are a tech savvy person who can benefit from jail breaking your device. But let’s be honest, that isn’t for everyone. There are still alot of people who want to be able to use their device out of the box instead of searching the net through some very obscure forums and tech sites for a solution that might work, but also could destroy their phone. Therefore I would be very happy if Apple decided to implement something along the lines of what I’ve created

Q: This seems like a power consuming feature, running all these push notifications and background apps. Will the iPhone really cope with this?

A: Running a lot of push notifications and background services can be very taxing on your battery. But I still feel that with the advances that were made from iPhone 3G to iPhone 4 in terms of power consumption, this will soon be more or less a non issue with every upcoming hardware revision. Batteries increases in power size each year and the hardware seems to get more efficient.

Q: What about security? It seems really insecure to show notifications on the lockscreen.

A: Apple actually shows entire sms messages on the lock screen already. But I understand the concern, and that is why there’s an option to turn this feature of. But keep in mind, for this to be insecure, the perpetrator has to have physical access to your phone. If that is the case, they could actually break the iPhone security systems in more ways then one and notifications on your lock screen is the least of your concerns

Q: What if the notifications app is on a screen you’re currently not seeing? Android and WebOS shows notifications at all times!

A: Notifications popup as you receive them, if you missed one just double tap the home button and swipe left. And if notifications is really important to you, just place the app in the “dock” section at the bottom of your home screen. Then the notifications app will stay visible no matter what screen you’re on.

Yes, both Android and WebOS has great solutions for notifications, but my goal here was not to super glue something else onto iOS, it was to find a solution that really feels natural to iPhone users.

Q: Is this something that you will develop and release in the App store?

A: No this will never be released in Apples official App store. The reason for this is that the concept actually require access to some system specific resources and information. One example is the lock screen that Apple “owns” today. No app developer has access to this area. Changing the way some notifications are displayed is also a system related issue. So for this to ever see the light of day it has to be Apple who does it, and I highly doubt that this would ever happen

Q: Is this something that you will develop and release in Cydia for all jail breaked devices?

A: No, I will not release this to cydia. Primarily because I’m a designer and not a coder. But I also feel that there already are a bunch of creative solutions to this problem in Cydia. My concept was never created for the jail break crowd, it was designed for the every day iOS user

Q: Where does the actual notifying take part, I don’t get it!

A: 44 seconds into the video I show an incomming notification (as an SMS-message) at the same time I update the notification app badge number from 8 to 9 active notifications. Take a look and you will see how I think notifications should work

Q: Will all notifications be handled by the app switcher popup?

A: No there actually are a few system related exceptions. Permissions is one of them. I still feel that the current popup window works great for this. You really don’t want to miss when the app is asking your permission to access your position.

Q: What does the “Clear” and “Edit” buttons do in the notifications app?

A: “Clear” clears all your notifications. “Edit” enables you to clear individual notifications. Under the “Grouped by app”-tabb you can also clear a whole program group of notifications with “Edit” enabled. For example, if you want to clear all notifications from Twitter.

Q: How exactly do you know if the app is full screen? Isn’t all apps full screen?

A: This is just from a designers view point, but no, all apps are not full screen. In a lot of apps you can still see the telephone operator bar, and in most games (Angry birds for example) this bar is hidden. But I presume Apple can add some additional flag to indicate what is full screen, and what is not. Remember, this is just a concept and not a complete final solution

Notifications

Let’s get the obvious out of the bag first, the notification system in place today is kind of intrusive. The popups are so in my face that I have pretty much opted out of every notification I can. There is however another way to inform the user of an event such as an incoming message. The app switcher popup isn’t quite as intrusive as the current popup. It would be great to use for notifications.

Note that this popup is smaller then the app switcher and it doesn't grey out the rest of the interface

Today apple use it to display active applications and if you scroll left they show controls for the iPod app. I think there is room for the last notification you received also.

The new Notifications app

The app icon is basically a mash up of the settings icon and the current notifications symbol in settings. The reason for this that I feel that notifications is system service.

When I started thinking about how to improve the notification system I felt almost immediately that Apple is all about apps, so why not make an app that handles this task.

Take Settings for example, one would think that the entrance to this would be more integrated into the system, but in Apples case they view it as just any other app. Therefore you as a user can choose whether this is important to you or not, i.e. noteworthy of a first page placement or even quick launch bar.

Having one app that handles all notifications also reduce the time you have to spend hunting them all in various apps.

Notice that it summarize all the notifications and then present them in the red indicator badge. The great thing about having notifications in an app is that you can move it around just as you can with all other standard apps.

The app itself is very straight forward. Your notifications is structured in three simple views. The first is a list view in order to get an overview. The second is an extended view where you can read the full messages just like in an RSS news feed. And the third is notifications grouped by app, this way if you get 10 mails and 15 Facebook wall posts you can still find your 2 SMS messages quickly.

In all views you can also clear all notifications. Note that this only clears the notification, the actual messages is still there. You can also choose edit and delete specific notifications or groups.

When you press (or touch) any of the specific notifications you will automatically activate the appropriate action. For example:

• A message will show you the message.
• A missed call will call the recipient.
• A program update will bring you to the program page in the Appstore.
• A wall post in Facebook will bring you to that specific wall post thread.

You can’t answer a message directly from the app, because that would simply destroy the purpose of every other communication app and it would also add to complexity of this app.

Settings

Settings for notifications is located inside the Settings app where it currently resides. I have a few additions, first of all, better security with the option of not displaying notifications on the lock screen. Right now (4.3), if you get an sms message it will show up on the lock screen in the form of a popup for all to see (if they have direct access to your phone).

Note that Angry birds is the beginning of your app list

I’ve also included the setting of turning off popup notifications for full screen apps. I define a “full screen app” as an app that covers up the operator bar. This usually means games, but could be others also. You can also turn of notifications on a app to app basis, as you can today.

Lock screen

I thought long and hard about notifications on the lock screen. Apple is doing it already, only it’s one at a time and you can’t really act on it (that I know). I felt that the space between the clock and lock bar could be used more effectively. So I started adding more notifications in almost the same style as the app. I took away the time and date to clean up the impression a bit. It’s just glanceable information, and it’s also in chronological order.

These are the four latest unattended notifications.

I was looking at the lock screen and felt that you simply had to be able to act on the individual notifications, but how? Just enabling the ability to click a notification seems dangerous. Pocket calling would increase ten fold Then it dawned on me, why not slide the app icon in the same way you slide to unlock. This way it’s a reduced risk of accidentally calling your boss at a Friday night.