I just read on TechCrunch that Google quietly launched a new interface for Apple’s iPhone (and iPod touch too by default). If you have your iPhone (or iPod touch with WiFi turned on) handy, just head over to google.com. You don’t need to type a special URL. Your iPhone will be autodetected and sent to the new interface. Switching between web-areas (say from Home to Gmail or Calendar) is instantaneous.
Heading over to Google with a Pocket PC or Smartphone redirects you to the older and, unfortunately, uglier, mobile device interface. This widening gap between the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices should be a great concern to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile team. iPhone Safari users (and iPod touch users) are clearly getting a more satisfying mobile browsing experience than Windows Mobile Internet Explorer users. This is clearly reflected in the Gartner data I quoted in my previous blog that shows the iPhone browser use marketshare has eclipsed Windows Mobile browser use marketshare in the less than 6 months since the iPhone launched.
I do like having access to the RSS reader from the search page, if your iPod has been jailbroken then you already have Apple Mail Mobile on it and it is easier to check your gmail that way. I wish we could change what is displayed so that stuff we don’t use is not displayed.
One other little nit to pick, it does add to the page load time. Not a big deal on wi-fi but it might be on slower edge networks.