Native Gmail app coming to iPhone, iPad?
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The word on the street is that a Gmail app for iOS is about to hit Apple's App Store. If true, not only would iPhone and iPad Gmailers benefit, but Android device makers would lose one of their advantages over Apple's iDevices.
This tantalizing tidbit comes from the personal blog of TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler, who reports that "mulitple sources" have told him that a native Gmail app is on its way.
"In fact," he writes, "I believe it has already been submitted to Apple for review."
Gmail users on iPhones and iPads currently have access to their accounts through a decent mobile web app, and there are third-party apps such as those from Idemfactor Solutions and Nicholas Schlueter, but if Siegler's sources are correct, Google's native iOS app will offer a host of Gmail features in full Googly fashion.
Push notifications, for example, which are absent in the Google web-based iOS Gmail client.
While Apple's iOS Mail for iOS 5 is an improvement over its earlier incarnation – formatting and flagging, for example – a native Gmail iOS app might best it with such features as the color-coding that exisits in Gmail for Android, improved search and filtering, the ability to zip through mulitple profiles, message prioritization, and more.
Of course, those features will be possible only if Siegler's sources are correct, a native Gmail iOS app actually exisits, and if Apple actually approves it. When The Reg contacted Google, a spokeswoman declined to comment.
And remember: Cupertino and Mountain View haven't been known to be the best of buddies when it comes to Google apps and iOS.
What's more, if a native iOS Gmail app does hit the App Store, it will level the playing field between Google's Android and Apple's iOS.
Does Google want to expand Gmail's reach at the expense of its Android partners? We'll see. ®
COMMENTS
What he said.
Open Standards a bloody sight more useful to me than all the worthless source code in Stallman Land.
Say what you like about Apple, but at least they've never pretended to be anything other than a hardware manufacturer operating in the consumer electronics market. Unlike Google, whose purpose is to _spy_ on your every move on the internet and sell that juicy data on to advertisers, all while loudly, and hypocritically, claiming not to be "evil".
I don't see anyone whining that XBox360 games won't run on a PS3, for f*ck's sake, so quit with the "walled garden" bullshit too: Android is just as "closed"—unless you're seriously claiming that Android apps will run just fine on other platforms.
As for Adobe's Flash...
The sheer hypocrisy of complaining about Apple's not supporting Flash from fanatics of "openness" is delicious given Adobe's track record. I don't see anyone complaining about the lack of Silverlight or Unity plugin support in the iOS versions of Safari. Double standards, much?
Flash is a *proprietary* third-party plugin that is absolutely NOT part of the W3C web standards, and never has been. Mobile Safari browses *standards-compliant* websites just fine.
Safari on iOS does not support ANY plugins. None. Zip. Nada. It's a pure-play "web standards only" browser. That's all it was ever meant to be, and all it *should* be. There are *open* standards for building websites for a bloody good reason.
The whole *point* of a website is that it can be accessed by people all over the world, on *any* compatible browser. Including Lynx, browsers linked to Braille displays, systems with screen readers, and plenty more variations.
If your website cannot be "read" by such systems, you're doing it wrong. There is no debate here. No argument. The above is how the web was *meant* to be used. Ask Mr. Berners-Lee. The moment you wrap your precious content up in a proprietary package, you might as well have slapped DRM around it, because there *will* be many users who will simply be unable to access it. Guaranteed.
The bottom line: If you're relying on Flash for your websites, the fault for taking such an idiotic approach to web design is yours, and yours alone. That so many web designers cried "Foul!" when Apple made their design choice is merely a testament to how many incompetent web designers there are out there. This debate reflects poorly on them, not Apple.
Seriously?
You mean the main reason people buy Android phones over iPhones is because of the native GMail app? And if it does make it to iOS, Android phone makers will lose one of their main selling points?
Are you high or something?
I like Android for the overall experience, its more intuitive to use for me, and I like the phones. I didn't even use GMail before I got Android, it's only been since that I've started using it.
Sorry, but this article is such a load of rubbish.
Get off my lawn!
What's wrong with IMAP, POP, and e-mail clients? Why is there a need for a special Gmail app when you can use the web, or even a regular e-mail client and save a lot of bandwidth?
Kids these days...
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