Apparatus and method for handling dispatching messages for various applications of a communication device

This invention relates to a communications device comprising a processor having instructions that execute the processor in the form of interacting computer programs. The invention relates to such a device with a message manager program and a message client program. A communications device () with a processor having instructions that execute on the processor. The programmed instructions include a message manager program () for accepting and dispatching messages, one or more application programs () for handling and presenting messages; and one ore more message client programs () that receive messages from the message manager program () and provides them to the application program. The message manager program () accepts a registration from each message client program and sets rules, and message attributes to which the rules are to be applied for new messages.