Filed under: iPhone
Google CEO says look forward to more Google/iPhone announcements
At ZDNet UK, Andrew Donoghue writes that at a Tuesday event in Paris, Google CEO Eric Schmidt promised further developments of Google and Apple cooperation, particularly regarding the iPhone. Schmidt said to "[E]xpect other announcements from the two companies over time." The iPhone, he said, is a particularly good platform for apps that Google has been building.
After May's introduction of Google Gears for Webkit and the WWDC keynote that emphasized Web 2.0 development for the iPhone, one can only guess that Google may be ready to provide the off-line data component so far missing from the iPhone development picture. Google Gears provides a way to take web applications offline so you can use those applications without being actively connected to the Internet.
[Via iLounge]
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
blancobrawler said 1:45PM on 6-21-2007
To hell with apps, how about imap on gmail?
Reply
Gerald Buckley said 2:00PM on 6-21-2007
Gears is the secret sauce that will make Safari 3 sing... provided they let the Leopard engineers back into the iPhone shed to apply the Jobsian polish to the WebKit nightly builds.
Reply
Dave Chartier said 1:59PM on 6-21-2007
Mmmmmm, IMAP and Gmail. Doesn't that phrase just roll off the tongue like butta'?
Reply
BillSaysThis said 2:13PM on 6-21-2007
The problem with this idea is that Gears requires a runtime component (sort of a small VM) which users of Gears-based apps must install (once per system, not app) and iPhone, so far, doesn't permit users to install apps. Right? Of course Apple could include the Gears runtime, either at launch or some future update but so far no one has said this will happen.
Reply
John Laur said 2:22PM on 6-21-2007
I find it somewhat disconcerting that Google, a company famous for creating highly functional web apps is excused from drinking the same kool-aid that Apple wants to pour down other developers' throats.
Why? Probably because you can't do the kinds of things Google wants to do with their apps -- like fill the entire screen, do things in the background, save settings locally, work offline, or experiment with a mult-touch interface.
I guess by "Sweet" Jobs meant "Sweeter than Strychnine, nut just barely!"
Reply
akatsuki said 2:41PM on 6-21-2007
Well, they could have avoided the whole Yahoo thing if they would have just added push-IMAP to their gmail offering...
Hmmm, two-way syncing of calendars and address book? Sounds a lot like .mac...
Reply
ben said 3:22PM on 6-21-2007
Interesting, though is the fact that Apple will probably not invest to make iWork on the iPhone. But if google's web apps will work, why not advertise that there is now a spreadsheet, word processor, etc. all available for the iPhone. It might take tweaking on both apple and google's sides, but if they are willing to both invest, I think the iPhone benefits. I'm for it!
Reply
Gerald Buckley said 3:25PM on 6-21-2007
@Ben - I think you will find both camps not only willing but eager.
Reply
marcosmalo said 5:07PM on 6-21-2007
Here's the deal: Google is not going to be just another developer. Apple and Google are building their own cloud. The iPhone is just a thin client, and local apps just don't make much sense when the whole point of the device is to be connected to the cloud. (And as Gerald Buckley perceptively pointed out at #3 above, Google Gears will allow for running web apps locally. Note to Billy: Obviously Gears is going to be pre-installed or installed on an update.)
Watch for Apple to partner with google in a complete top to bottom revamp of dot mac, which will be the beginning of the Apple/Google cloud. Watch Apple push WebObjects as the iPhone web app SDK. Watch WebObjects form the basis of an SDK for building storefronts and websites on Google.
This is an audacious plan. Perhaps even grandiose. But all the elements are there between Google and Apple. They're going to trump MySpace, Ebay, and Yahoo in one swoop by creating the tools and the environment for a new cloud.
Reply