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Google Apps Go Mobile, Starting with iPhone

As the Google vs. Microsoft battle hits the road warrior, many are expecting the first major outbreak of the iPhone to be fired with Google Docs and Spreadsheets - which as of this week, works on Safari.

What does Safari 3 have to do with Office applications on the iPhone?

For those of us who downloaded and reviewed Safari 3 beta, we received a nice surprise from Google. It may not have been all we were hoping for at an otherwise lackluster WWDC, but it is nonetheless interesting and forward-reaching.

Google Docs and Spreadsheets works in Safari 3. “Well, its about time!” you might be saying to yourself…Or perhaps you didn’t know that Google Apps previously didn’t work in Safari. In either case, this is very big news.

Why?

Because the iPhone runs a full version of Safari according to Steve Jobs (on several occasions). So therefore, by the transitive property of compatibility (invented my me just now) Google Docs and Spreadsheets — and who knows what else — will work on the iPhone.

How well will it work? On a 320×480 pixel screen like shown below, it feels very crunched in. And that’s before the keyboard and menus are on the scene. Also, I’d hate to have to fire up Google Apps from an EDGE connection that initial iPhones will be shipped with. It would likely mean a long wait between deciding to open a document and actually reading and editing it. Also an unknown is if the new BFF duo of Apple and Google put together a better interface than the stand alone web browser.

iphone_google-apps.jpg

Still, this means that you will be able to open, edit and save documents and spreadsheets on an iPhone, which is news to us.

About the Author

Seth Weintraub is a Paris-based IT management consultant specializing in the technology needs of creative global organizations, including The Paris Times, Omnicom, the FIA and WPP Group. He is also a regular contributor to 9to5Mac.com.

 
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4 Reader Comments

1 | MACrosoftXP — July 5, 2007 1:56 AM

While this is a lovely piece of speculation, the reality is somewhat different. I am able to log into Google Docs with my iPhone and read anything that I have posted there, but I am unable to edit any of the information stored in the documents using the standard interface. Perhaps in a future update from either Apple or Google, full compatibility will be enabled.

2 | ded — February 1, 2008 8:15 PM

1.3 firmware and still cannot modify them...
shame...

3 | D Kaplan — July 1, 2008 11:21 PM

Anything new yet? I use Google Docs on one of my websites as a calendar, embedded with iframes, so this would rock. I'm picking up the 2nd gen at release (I hope).

4 | Ridolph — September 24, 2008 6:59 PM

2.0 and while you can switch to the desktop version of the main screen, the hot menus don't work properly. And when you select a document it goes back into the read-only mode. Guess they want you to get an android...

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