Steve Jobs Pitches Google Gears?
When I read the WWDC 2007 coverage (or here, or a dozen other places), what I heard was the first real cry for offline web apps. On desktops and notebooks, web-based apps are trying to displace desktop apps that don’t generally have an offline “problem,” but Apple has, at this point, forced the issue by creating a popular (?!?!) platform with no desktop apps to displace.
This completely changes the value proposition of offline-enabling technologies like Google Gears. If the iPhone is to be used as any sort of general computing device (not just a phone, and not just an iPod), and all 3rd party applications are to run in the browser, then it is absolutely necessary that there be some offline capability for web-based applications. There simply is no option.
This new-found dependence on Safari is consistent with the just-released Safari 3 Beta for Windows XP, Vista, and OS X, and a deep reliance on Google technologies is consistent with the built-in Google Maps for the iPhone that seems to be demonstrated every time an iPhone is turned on. So, the big question, where is Google Gears for Safari?
