Google Latitude for iPhone

A few days ago, Google quietly released their newest web app for the iPhone, Latitude. We’d been waiting for what seemed like forever, and in fact many had lost hope that it would ever get ported over to iPhone at all. With Google’s new round of upgrades to their mobile sites (and the iPhone being heavily considered in all of them) it’s no surprise that this is when Latitude finally makes its Apple debut.

Google’s first announcement came on their main blog, which gave a brief summary of the release and linked to their mobile blog for more details.

On your iPhone, goto: google.com/latitude

In those details is this disclaimer regarding the ever-present issue of running apps in the background:

Unfortunately, since there is no mechanism for applications to run in the background on iPhone (which applies to browser-based web apps as well), we’re not able to provide continuous background location updates in the same way that we can for Latitude users on Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile. Nevertheless, your location is updated every time you fire up the app and then continuously updated while the app is running in the foreground. And, of course, you can check in on where your friends are, so we think there’s plenty of fun to be had with Latitude.

OK, granted, it would be really nice to have this running as a full-fledged background app, mated with our already present Google Maps app. While that’s not the case, what they’ve given us is still seriously nice webware. It’s extremely fast, it’s got all the same smooth functionality of Maps, and it’s tied into your other Google contact lists. Overall, it’s worth the wait, and it would be silly to think they’re finished tweaking it already. I’m very curious to see how Latitude evolves over the course of the next year, as webapps become more prevalent in Google’s push for mobile-web advancement.

Google Voice’s App Got the Kibosh?

Also worth noting is that this trend of Google’s to bring interesting features to the iPhone in the form of a web app isn’t localized to just Latitude and revamps to old Google apps. Users who have been scratching their heads in wonder as to why they have no app available to fully utilize Google Voice have now learned the reason why:

(From Google) We work hard to bring Google applications to a number of mobile platforms, including the iPhone. Apple did not approve the Google Voice application we submitted six weeks ago to the Apple App Store. We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users – for example, by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers.

While I’m getting by just fine using Voice as a web app, it’s a pain. I’ll continue to hold my breath in hopes that Google gets green-lighted for an official app, and soon, because Voice is one hell of a service.

[Added]: A Hilariously Well-Put Point by TUAW:

One more thing: who else thinks it’s ironic that a company started by a couple of guys who spent lots of time phone phreaking in a garage in the 1970s now kowtows to AT&T and kills apps that help people make cheaper calls?

I couldn’t have said it better myself, but I don’t think it’s a case of active bullying on AT&T’s part. Since when has AT&T ever told Apple what to do in this relationship? I’m betting there are contract clauses buried somewhere that provide for this sort of thing, and no workaround could be found on Apple’s part that would allow it to accommodate Google. But I don’t work for either of them, so I wouldn’t know. Neither do the rest of the people screaming conspiracy.