Originally Posted by
Lee_Bo Yeah, while the Gmail app supports push, nobody seems to want to use it. Apple just doesn’t allow push via their mail app.
I use the Gmail app. It's only for the push notifications - when I get a notification, I use the stock Mail app to actually read the message.
The answer to the no push for Gmail is that Google will not implement the standard IMAP push protocol that everyone else uses, and instead use a proprietary push protocol. Apple obviously has chosen not to implement it, probably because it makes the mail app more complex - if Google changes the API, then Apple must rush a fix to the Mail app, meaning a full iOS release. Also Apple probably wants to discourage other mail providers from implementing a proprietary protocol.
I fix the blame mostly on Google for this one, but Apple shares some of it. I think that Google is not going to change their protocol all that much, and they are the largest mail provider on the internet, if I am not mistaken.