Thinking about it, I would be slightly surprised if there were NOT a feature like this. Maybe using Nokia's Smart Messaging protocol (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Messaging) with some specific port number? Anyone know whether Maemo implements Nokia Smart Messaging?

I am sure, in this case, it was the AppMgr bug (after all, no one is very likely to be pushing a World Cup app) but I am also sure some such features exist. Maybe another reason why CSD is not open?