Google Gears for Mobile launches for developers

By Giselle Abramovich

March 6, 2008

Google Gears works in exactly the same way on a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device as it does on a desktop PC

Google Inc. has launched Google Gears for Mobile, an application that lets developers deploy applications directly to mobile browsers rather than develop native applications.

The application is designed to simplify the development process, since developers can use the same coding skills to create mobile applications. Also, if these mobile Web applications work offline, users can use them even when not connected to the network.

“It's a mobile zoo out there,” said Charles Wiles, product manager of the Google mobile team in his blog. “If you've ever tried coding up a mobile client application, you've probably noticed that the huge variety of mobile operating systems makes it tough to build rich applications that work on every device. We face the same challenges.”

Google Gears for Mobile is available on Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices.

Since mobile devices are often disconnected from their network, data connections in mobile networks can make Web applications slow. Google Gears gives developers the tools to overcome these obstacles, the company claims.

Google Gears works in exactly the same way on a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device as it does on a desktop PC. Applications written using Google Gears on a PC will also work on Windows Mobile 5 or 6 devices.

Developers obviously still need to consider the limitations of devices such as small screen and limited ability to enter text as well as the limitations of the Document Object Model and CSS APIs present on mobile devices.

“You can also create slick and responsive applications by hiding latency issues through controlled caching of data and storage of information between sessions,” Mr. Wiles said. “We're also working to bring Google Gears for Mobile to Android and other mobile platforms with capable Web browsers.”

Please click here to see Mr. Wiles’ entire blog post on Google Gears for Mobile.