According to Andrew Fogg from kusiri, Google will start rolling out offline support for both Gmail and Google Calendar through Google Gears within the next six weeks. Google enabled offline access to Google Docs earlier this year, after they had already been using if for Google Reader for over a year. Fogg also found out that Google will start supporting SyncML for synchronizing contacts in Gmail around the same time.
As Google is trying to push more of its products into small businesses and enterprises, having offline access to email and calendar functions is becoming an absolute necessity for Google. Even as mobile Internet access is becoming more ubiquitous every day, few business users would want to risk being caught in a situation where they don't have access to their email or calendaring clients.
Some of Google's competitors such as Zimbra or Zoho are already offering some of these capabilities based on Google Gears. MySpace, too, is working on making its messaging platform available offline using Gears.
As Alex Chitu from the Google Operating System blog observes, Google's support for SyncML is also noteworthy. SyncML is an open standard for synchronizing information between different devices and, so far, has mostly been adopted by the mobile phone industry, with all the major companies such as Motorola, Nokia, Sony, LG, as well as IBM and Siemens supporting it in at least some of their products.
The latest version of SyncML has added support for push email. According to Andrew Fogg, Google is using SyncML for synchronizing its contacts database with the iPhone, but in the long run, it is probably worth speculating if Google might also start pushing email to the iPhone (or any other phone for that matter), using the SyncML push technology.
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all Read/WriteWeb posts
The dynamic duo of online/offline access is crucial. I know personally that sometimes I'll be in an airport and there is no wifi access while I'm waiting for another plane. Which companies have the best opportunity to beat google at the offline/online game, in regards to tools like google docs, etc? Here's some ideas of how to innovate here... www.readtheanswer.com/index.php?RTA=web2
Posted by: Jeff | July 17, 2008 10:39 AM
That's great, been waiting for that for long time, of course depends on the implementation and how smart it'll be . The IMAP implementation sucks (re. labels as folders) so having the interface with labels and most of things offline is a real benefit.
Syncml was neglected for too many years, what it means that cal/contacts/tasks from google will be avail to real sync for most of today's phone (i played with nokia and sonyericsson) out of the box.. if the new google contacts will mature, it's a killer IMHO.
Posted by: Naor | July 17, 2008 12:35 PM
Awesome - I'm using a Windows mobile phone and it would be hugely useful to use the native cal and email app for Google rather than web browsing.
I wonder if there's some thoughts around monetisation as the offering gets more and more complete.....?
Posted by: Ben Kepes
|
July 17, 2008 12:47 PM
As someone who has spent the past 4 years immersed in SyncML, I say good luck to Google. SyncML implementations are consistently half-assed and broken. The spec is ambiguous and unclear. They invented their own representation of XML (WBXML) that is an absolute nightmare.
For example, take a single Nokia device - that single model may have 4 or 5 releases of different firmware, every firmware release makes slight changes to the way it interprets SyncML. Couple that with the fact that NOBODY updates the firmware on their phone (aside from iPhone users) and you have a complete cluster....mess.
-jf
Posted by: Johnny Fry | July 17, 2008 12:58 PM
This might make me change to Gmail from Yahoo... Maybe - lovin offline Google Reader
Posted by: Stewart Rogers
|
July 17, 2008 1:10 PM
We are taking another direction for the use of Google services with our free application KiGoo.
Off line is one of our next features planned to be developed soon in order to support several Google services like Calendar, Docs and Contacts.
The cool thing is that our core technology (Kayxo Insight) allows us to connect to any Google service to manage it within MS Outlook.
Check the first beta release of KiGoo in http://www.getkigoo.com
Posted by: Ariel Di Stefano | July 17, 2008 1:22 PM
@Johhny Fry - you right, but that's the nature of a neglect protocol, as more uses it'll get mature. I've been using goosync with nokia and SE and they work fine. I've also homebrewed a syncml server at home several years ago (to have my cal and contact in sync while gathered from other resources) and basically it went ok .
Google's move might change things and .. it make "online-ing" much more usable for masses not only the FF/Twitter/etc. iphoner's etc.
Posted by: Naor | July 17, 2008 1:54 PM
this url is broken
kusiri
Posted by: Ajay Pathak | July 18, 2008 6:35 AM