Service plan design, user interfaces, application programming interfaces, and device management

A method for use by a network message server, the method comprising:

• establishing a first network data connection between the network message server and a network application server;
• establishing a second network data connection between the network message server and a mobile end-user device, the second network data connection supported by a socket including a socket identifier (ID) having at least one of a port address or a port number;
• registering, by the network message server, a device ID for the mobile end-user device;
• registering, by the network message server, a plurality of mobile application IDs each having a corresponding one of a plurality of mobile applications of the mobile end-user device, wherein each of the plurality of mobile application IDs uniquely identifies the corresponding one of the plurality of mobile applications;
• receiving, by the network message server from the network application server via the first network data connection, a push request to push an application update to one of the plurality of mobile applications of the mobile end-user device without the mobile end-user device requesting the application update for the one of the plurality of mobile applications, the push request including the device ID corresponding to the mobile end-user device and one of the plurality of mobile application IDs corresponding to the one of the plurality of mobile applications;
• generating, by the network message server, a network data message based on the push request, the network data message including the application update and the one of the plurality of mobile application IDs corresponding to the one of the plurality of mobile applications;
• and
• transmitting, by the network message server for delivery to the mobile end-user device corresponding to the device ID, via the second network data connection supported by the socket, the network data message including the application update and the one of the plurality of mobile application IDs.