Google Beefs Up Integrated Applications For The iPhone

While Google continues works on its own phone platform, it rolled out enhancements to its Web applications suite for Apple's iPhone on the first day of Macworld.

Google launched the suite, which includes search, mail, calendar and reader, for the iPhone about a month ago. Among the improvements are changes in the user interface, customization, speedier Gmail and calendar, and the ability to use iGoogle gadgets on the iPhone.

The new features provide iPhone users with a "desktop-like Google Web application experience," according to Google.

The company plans to expand the "experience" to other platforms, but did not detail which platforms. "One of our goals is to support platforms that are fulfilling the promise of the mobile web - like the iPhone - and to ultimately deliver unique and compelling mobile experiences that improve people's daily lives," the company said in a statement.

The new interfaced allows for the customization of default tabs. Users can more easily access their favorite applications that appear on the Google.com menu bar and only need to sign-in once to access Gmail, calendar, Reader, Docs and Picasa accounts.

Within Gmail, e-mail automatically shows up, eliminating the need to manually refresh an inbox and an auto-complete feature helps compose e-mail faster. Calendar users can now see a monthly view.

Finally, iPhone users can also transfer everything from an iGoogle home page onto their iPhone, including weather, stocks and news feeds.