Now after watching the above video, it seems as if Google has made one heck of a voice recognition app. But where the heck has it gone?!
It’s pretty clear Google loves the iPhone, that is something we all know. Now why would Apple go ahead and delay their latest App Store app, Advanced Voice Search? Or have the reports of a Friday release been greatly exaggerated? The app was “expected” to make it’s appearance in the App Store this past Friday. TechCrunch is now telling us to look for it tomorrow!
Google was under the impression that the application would be live on the App Store on Friday (obviously, since they pushed all significant press attention to it). Sometime Friday they found out Apple wouldn’t be pushing it, despite the fact that Google submitted it for review earlier in the week and got a thumbs up for Friday. One source says they’ve had little direct contact with Apple during the review, instead getting their updates via the standard iPhone developer tool, which has said “in review” for the last few days.
So what is your take on this? Why did Apple delay this app from Google? Or do you think it was never slated to be released this past week at all?
The intertubes are a flood with rumors that Apple may be building their own search engine. Does this mean they’re going into competition with Microsoft Live! Search? With Yahoo!? With Google?! (After all, Google went into competition with Apple in the smartphone market!)
The answer is they’re not. But the rumors persist, and we believe they have a nugget of truth. Here’s what we think is really going on: Apple doesn’t like the search experience on its mobile devices, and may be building a radically different user experience which is much more visual than exists today. It will likely still be powered by Google results, but Apple may present it in a very different way that suits mobile users much better.
Apple’s already proven with the iPhone Map application that they can produce absolutely killer front-ends for Google’s data pipes, could they do the same for search? And what would it be like?
The New York Times (via Giz) is reporting that Google’s love for the iPhone is about to hit epic, Shakespearian proportions with the release of their ground-breaking “advanced voice search” App:
Users of the free application, which Apple is expected to make available as soon as Friday through its iTunes store, can place the phone to their ear and ask virtually any question, like “Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” or “How tall is Mount Everest?” The sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the Google search engine.
Will it be perfect? Nope. It will sometimes return nonsense, and indeed the researchers behind it claim it will never reach 100% — but they’re aiming to make it as good as it can possibly be.
This caps off several weeks of Google announcements for the iPhone, of course, including OS 2.2 updates for Street-View, Transit and Walking Directions, and Location Sharing for the Maps App, the release of Google Earth, and an optimized version of the Google Search page for the iPhone.
So, when’s this hitting the App Store, and aside from candy, flowers, and a lobster dinner, what could possibly be next?!
This week: Google Earth, Contest updates, iPhone developer noodling, and your emails. Listen in!
(Update: If you’re hearing weird things happen at about halfway through, your Podcast downloader is especially aggressive and caught an upload that somehow managed to get 2 of our SPE podcasts mixed wrongly. GarageBand FAIL. We’ve uploaded the proper version — delete the podcast from iTunes (or whatever podcatcher your use) and re-subscribe to get it.)
[This is a TiPb AT WORK App vs. App Interlude! Last week, we ran our Remote Desktop/VNC Showdown, with Jaadu edging out Mocha for the victory. But which forum voter and blog commenter won copies of the winning App? Congratulations MSZATNY and GOS
This week, while the TiPb iPhone Forums vote on THE TWIST Casey steps in to look at Earthscape and it's major-league new rival, Google Earth! They're both FREE, but if you comment below (and make sure you leave a valid email address in the comment form -- it won't be made public, but it will be used to contact you), you'll still have a chance to win an iTunes gift certificate from TiPb! Check out the full contest details, then grab your iPhone and get ready to get things done -- the TiPb AT WORK Interlude: Earth vs Earth is on!]
Google has a certain love affair with the iPhone. Yeah, we know Android is Google’s baby but that doesn’t stop them from putting out top-notch applications for the iPhone. The Youtube App and Google Maps are both best in class and Gmail and Google Reader on Safari are setting the bar for web-based applications. So though Android is all Google, they’re still not ready to leave the iPhone.
Case in point, the release of Google Earth on the iPhone. Anyone a bit surprised that they released one of their more unique products on the iPhone before it got even as much as a sniff for Android? Luckily, as iPhone users we don’t have to worry about the politics of the situation and we get to enjoy the app for what it is.
But Google Earth isn’t the only player in town. Earthscape has been around, is free (used to be $9.99), and works admirably. So in this arena of mobile Earth based apps, is Google Earth the young challenger or the new champion?
Read on to find out in this special edition of App vs App!
iPhone 2.2 style Google Maps Street-view, Transit, Walking Directions, and Location Sharing still not enough Google love for the iPhone? Want just that much more proof of affection? How about this: Google Earth is coming to the iPhone!
According to CNet, Google Earth for the iPhone runs almost desktop-class well over WiFi and taps into CoreLocation Services, just like Maps. The accelerometer can be used to adjust the angle of the view, and multi-touch gestures are likewise supported. Geo-tagged photos, and Wikipedia tags round out a pretty dang impressive offering!
Says Stephen Shankland:
What’s most interesting to me, though, is that the iPhone’s multitouch screen actually made using the application easier than the PC versions. Dragging a fingertip across the screen slides the view appropriately, of course. Two-finger pinch gestures not only zoom in and out, but also, by adding a little twirling rotary motion, steer the view’s orientation in one direction or another.
Google isn’t monetizing the app with ads yet, but doesn’t rule it out at some point. Likewise, they’re not talking about an Android version yet (sorry AC!)
TiPb loves answering your emails, but we also love sharing our answers with the community in hopes that more people will benefit, and even better answers will present themselves (hey, that’s why we have them forums!). Today’s question comes from Chris:
“Why doesn’t the iPhone have real GPS?! Even the [redacted] Samsung Instinct has turn by turn! Why does Apple add [redacted] like street view [but] not the things users really want?”
Dieter’s been saying for a long time that Google hearts the iPhone — and why wouldn’t it, it delivers an incredible amount of mobile eyeballs for advertising. We’ve also said that the ultimate edge the iPhone enjoys over Android is that while Google produces great service for both Android and the iPhone, Apple only produces for the iPhone. The iPhone gets the best of both worlds. Latest case in point, iPhoneYap (via Apple Insider) has posted extensive screenshots of the new Google Maps 2.2, and it looks like we’re getting:
Public transit directions (including schedule info)
Walking directions
Street view
Location Sharing
Since Google pimped out Street View for Android already, it’s no big surprise that the iPhone (and other mobile platforms) are getting it as well. Same thing happened with cell tower location services last year. Still, we’re hoping Apple’s usual UI expertise will make this a particularly good implementation. No word yet, however, if we’ll be getting Android-style real-time rotation…
Sampling of images after the jump, see the full gallery at iPhoneYap
Android Central got their mechanical pincers on a fresh new T-Mobile Android G1 un-boxing today, and what’s the first thing they go and do? Measure it up against an iPhone 3G, of course.
Not that we can blame them. While Android’s rugged R2D2-esque looks might not make for an obvious point of comparison, they are currently the only two devices on the North American market with capacitive touch screens, and both are game-changers when it comes to the mobile platform space.
For good measure, Dieter throws it up against a bunch of other smartphones as well, including the Windows Mobile Wing and Shadow, Blackberry Pearl Flip, Blackberry Bold, the Palm Treo Pro, and the Instinct.
When Apple launched the iPhone, they teased a “breakthrough internet device” and promised us “just the internet” in our pocket. Increasingly, the internet is becoming synonymous with Google, and how does Google make it’s Microsoft-rivaling money again?
No, not search. Advertising! And now, everyone’s favorite online advertiser is getting ready to better serve up their ads on the iPhone. With MobileSafari’s monstrous browser share, who couldn’t see this one coming?
As part of our ongoing commitment to help advertisers more effectively reach their target audience, Google is currently testing a feature that gives advertisers more control over how their ads will appear on mobile devices with full Internet browsers, like the iPhone. This feature is currently in a limited beta with a small number of advertisers.
So is this a Good Thing or a Bad Thing? Ads are a fact of life. They keep many internet sites free to the end user the same way TV ads keep shows free on the networks. If we don’t want to pay a premium in cash (HBO-style), we pay it in visual clutter. Google taking the iPhone into account and — hopefully — minimizing the impact of online ads we’ll see either way?
We’re filling it under “hope for the best” for now. How about you?
