Just like the Mobile Apps version, the Web browser rendition now offers offline and “flaky” mode, in addition to some added speed and support for a “floaty bar” that makes deleting and archiving messages more efficient. And that’s all well and good, but the downside is that the new Web version doesn’t yet support labeling–a key feature that will be missed by heavy-duty Gmail users–nor does it work with Blackberries or other smartphones beyond Android and the iPhone. (Google just made Mobile Apps, with its integrated voice search, available for download on the Blackberry.)
Perhaps with an eye toward these complaints, Google engineer Joanne McKinley wrote in the Mobile Blog announcing the revamp that the new features–which rely on the latest browser technologies, like Gears and HTML5–were just the beginning:
The full impact of this new architecture isn’t visible yet, but it will enable us to significantly improve performance and quickly roll out new features in the near future.
Google’s simply laying the groundwork for a more browser-based mobile ecosystem. When you look at it from Google’s standpoint, the main reason to support Gmail on mobiles at all is simply to get as many consumers as possible surfing–and clicking on ads–within the mobile Web, just as they do with the traditional Web. If it can bring the experience of Web apps at least up to par with those of downloaded apps, users might forgo the need to download apps at all, and instead spend all their time inside the mobile browser, surfing and clicking.
Maybe that’s why Google’s not putting too many resources into the Android Market–and seems to be putting quite a few into Android itself and especially Chrome. The important parts are the mobile OS and browser, hopefully both of which will run fast and well on a variety of cheap hardware, including phones, netbooks and whatever else comes down the pike. Maybe Google sees downloadable apps only as an interim step toward the eventual future of true mobile browser-based networking–where the real power isn’t in the devices but on the ‘Net. Just a thought.
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