The keynote may still be a day away, but that doesn't mean Macworld isn't kicking off with a bang — Google plans to show off a new iPhone interface for its applications later today. Among the revamped Google apps to see a makeover are Gmail, Reader, Calendar, iGoogle, Picasa and more. Although there’s no official announcement yet, CNet got a sneak peak at the new features which are said to include niceties like auto-refresh for Gmail, auto-complete for faster composing and a revamped application tab menu for moving through the various pages with greater ease.
Update: The new interface is live and Google has put out an official announcement. The new iPhone interface uses a browser detect script so all you need to do is point your phone to the Google homepage and you'll see it (if you have an iPod Touch, let us know if it works for you since there have been some issues with Google apps and the Touch in the past).
Aside from the features mentioned above, Google Docs has a nice new interface and Picasa is easier to use and navigate. IGoogle offers access to all your Google gadgets and perhaps the best news is that you can customize the applications that appear on the Google. menu bar.
The Gmail auto-complete for addressing mail is another welcome addition and web interface seemed somewhat faster than IMAP access via the iPhone's built-in mail application — YMMV.
That Google should go to so much trouble optimizing for a relatively small subset of users seems a bit strange until you recall that Android, Google’s mobile OS project, uses WebKit the same rendering engine behind the iPhone version of Safari. So while these interfaces are primarily for the iPhone at the moment, there’s a potentially much wider audience down the road.
Even if the interfaces were just for the iPhone, according to the New York Times, that wouldn’t be such a bad move for Google. The Times reports that “on Christmas, traffic to Google from iPhones surged, surpassing incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device.” Of course it didn’t stay that way, but that’s still a pretty decent indicator of the iPhone’s popularity among Google’s user base.
One other interesting thing to note in CNet’s coverage is that Vic Gundotra, vice president of mobile and developer at Google, hints that offline support for Google’s mobile apps is coming soon. “One thing that bothers me,” Gundotra tells CNet, “is that (mobile) apps don’t work offline.” CNet speculates that mobile version of Google Gears could be in the works, but Gundotra doesn’t give any specifics.
And just so there's no confusion, the screenshot above is Google's current iPhone-specific interface, not the expanded version. Google’s new unified mobile interface, code-named Grand Prix, will be officially unveiled at Macworld later today at which point we'll be sure to give you the full details.
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