I've got a database on my server which is about 3mb big. I'd like to ship that with my iphone application.
The most important thing is that I'd like to promote changes to the database (insert, updates, deletes) to the iphone. What's the best way of doing that? I mean - what is necessary on - the server - the client (= iphone) - between; how to transfer this data?
I'm pretty free in using technologies serverside; right now, I've got an sqlite-database on the server filled with the data I'd like to sync to the iphones.
Try using web hooks.
The concept of a WebHook is simple. A WebHook is an HTTP callback: an HTTP POST that occurs when something happens; a simple event-notification via HTTP POST.
A web application implementing WebHooks will POST a message to a URL when certain things happen. When a web application enables users to register their own URLs, the users can then extend, customize, and integrate that application with their own custom extensions or even with other applications around the web. For the user, WebHooks are a way to receive valuable information when it happens, rather than continually polling for that data and receiving nothing valuable most of the time. WebHooks have enormous potential and are limited only by your imagination! (No, it can't wash the dishes. Yet.)
You can find out more on Webhooks here: http://www.webhooks.org/ and http://webhooks.pbworks.com/