Search on the go: from Toronto to Toulouse, London to Leipzig

Posted by Steve Cheng, Group Product Manager, Mobile search team

If you're in Canada, the UK, France, or Germany, then say hello, bonjour, or Guten Tag to faster and more intuitive search on your mobile phones. Starting today, our new mobile search experience is available in these four countries, giving you access to the information you need with minimal effort and distraction.

One of the ways we do this is by bringing you the most relevant result for your query, regardless of whether it's a local result, a web result, or what have you. If you enter a search for [sunflower] ("tournesol" in French or "Sonnenblumen" in German) for example, we know you could be interested in pictures of sunflowers in addition to web results. Another new feature is the ability to remember your recent search locations, so we can provide useful local results when you search the next time -- no need to retype the location! It takes just a few clicks to get listings for nearby restaurants, weather reports, and other information tailored to where you are.

To access our new mobile search service, point your mobile browser to the following: www.google.ca (Canada), www.google.co.uk (UK), www.google.fr (France), or www.google.de (Germany).

YouTube for Mobile unveils millions of videos and beta Java application

Posted by Lawrence Chang, Product Marketing Manager, Google mobile team

If you own an iPhone or a Helio Ocean, chances are you've already been enjoying some of YouTube's tens of millions of videos through custom applications developed for your device. On the other hand, if you have a phone that supports streaming video and you've been visiting m.youtube.com through your mobile browser, you've only been able to view a smaller subset of YouTube for Mobile videos.

Starting today, m.youtube.com offers the full assortment of the tens of millions of videos that YouTube fans around the world have come to know and love. What's more, you can now log in to your YouTube account through your mobile phone browser to rate, share, and comment on videos, view your favorites, and even upload new videos.

Also launching today is a beta version of a YouTube for mobile Java application for a select number of mobile devices, including the Sony Ericsson K800 and W880 and the Nokia E65, N95, N73, 6110 Navigator, and 6120 Classic. Through this downloadable application (currently available in U.S. and U.K. English), you can access the entire YouTube for Mobile catalog. The application includes a super slick interface (with a carousel view of video tiles), as well as full community and uploading features.

Watch the video below to see product managers Dwipal Desai and Andreas Tuerk demo today's YouTube for Mobile releases. As always, let us know what you think by leaving comments below. And, feel free to leave these guys video comments as well!

Google and NTT DoCoMo announce collaboration

Posted by John Lagerling, partner team, Google Japan

Most of you were probably asleep at the time, but we wanted to let you know about an announcement we made last night with NTT DoCoMo, one of the leading carriers in the world: We're going to be working with DoCoMo to offer their 50 million subscribers a more accessible and useful mobile web experience. For starters, we'll be providing Google search via a search box on the top page of DoCoMo's i-Mode portal, and we'll pair ads with the search results whenever they're relevant to users. Beyond search, we'll also be exploring the possibility of bringing i-Mode users other Google mobile applications and services, like Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, and Picasa.

At Google we want to provide users around the globe with access to the information they need -- whenever and wherever they need it -- and teaming up with industry leaders like DoCoMo helps us do just that. Read this press release to learn more about how we'll be working with them.

Videos and Pictures from the Google Mobile Team at Macworld

Posted by Lawrence Chang, Product Marketing Manager, Google mobile team

At the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco this week, the Google mobile team joined other Googlers from the Geo, YouTube, and Mac teams at the Google booth, space #1268, in Moscone Center South Hall. In addition to demonstrating our various products we also served up Geo Bingo, the Google mobile scavenger hunt, and, of course, Google swag giveaways. For those of you who were able to visit our booth, thanks for stopping by and saying hello!

Here are some videos of the Google mobile team taken at the conference. As always, you can watch our other videos on the Google Mobile Blog YouTube Channel.

• Google Mobile at Macworld: Marc Vanlerberghe and Gummi Hafsteinsson are shown in action at the Google booth, while Anita Mhaskar and Ulf Waschbusch reveal the Google swag giveaways.
• Interview with Steve Kanfesky: Anita Mhaskar chats with Steve Kanefsky, one of the software engineers responsible for developing the Google experience for the iPhone. Steve talks about the Macworld keynote and some of the new features of Google on the iPhone.
  
• Overview of Google Mobile Products on the iPhone: Sidney Chang and Ulf Waschbusch highlight some of our new product features in a presentation at the booth.

From waiting in line for the keynote to snapshots of Googlers working the booth, here's a view of Macworld from the lens of Steve Kanfesky:

My Location on the iPhone and other Updates

Posted by Jerry Morrison, Software Engineer, Google mobile team

At Macworld today, version 1.1.3 of Apple's iPhone software was announced that includes updates to Google Maps for mobile and IMAP access to Gmail. You can get the updated software by syncing your iPhone with iTunes and agreeing to the update.

Once you get the latest version, Google Maps for mobile on the iPhone can provide you with automated location information, thanks in part to Google's My Location technology. Just push the button with a circle on it at the bottom left-hand side of the Google Maps for mobile application and you'll see a circle appear on the map approximating your current position. If you have an iPod Touch, you can now have access to Maps for the first time.

Also, the latest iPhone email application will now use IMAP to access your Gmail account rather than POP. IMAP is better than POP because your Gmail messages on your iPhone are better synchronized to your Gmail account.

As a developer for Google Maps for mobile, I had a good time watching Steve Jobs today demonstrate Maps on the iPhone at Macworld. It's a fun project to work on and it wows my friends and family, too. On Sunday I demo'd it on an iPhone to the FIRST Robotics high school team I mentor. The students seemed to be as inspired by what they saw as I am by their robot designs.

Google on the iPhone: Macworld Makeover

Posted by Sidney Chang, Product Manager, Google mobile team

Six weeks since launching the first version of an integrated Google.com on the iPhone, we've heard a lot of meaningful and insightful feedback from you and we've addressed some of them in this current release:

• Customization of tabs: We're all very diverse in what products we use, particularly on mobile. Now you can customize the tabs you want on Google.com. Go to the More tab and press "Custom tabs" to select your favorite three Google mobile products.
• New and improved Gmail: The latest version of Gmail delivers messages to your inbox without the need for you to refresh it. Also, if you need to write an email, we help you complete the address -- you only need to type out the first few letters of your contact. Read more about pre-fetching and address auto-complete on the Gmail blog.
• New and improved Calendar: A calendar can be one of the most important things on a phone. Now Google Calendar is faster and has a month view.
• iGoogle for the iPhone: One of the most common requests to date has been to include personalized modules. We're happy to announce a new iPhone-optimized version of iGoogle that mobilizes all of the modules you know and love. Simply click on the iGoogle link from the Google.com home page or go to www.igoogle.com.

Some of you have been wondering why we've made this only for the iPhone. The entire experience is made possible by the iPhone's general usability (touch and high-resolution) and the capabilities of its web browser (AJAX, CSS). It's also pretty cool that the iPhone has an unlimited data plan so you never have to worry about cost when you're browsing the web. And we're working on making this version of Google.com available outside the U.S.

To get to the latest Google on your iPhone, just go to Google.com on your iPhone or iPod Touch web browser. Let us know what you think!

Impressions of CES

Posted by Lawrence Chang, Product Marketing Manager, Google mobile team

As the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show winds to a close, some of you may have wondered if any of us attended. Some of us did make it to Las Vegas, primarily in support of and to meet some of our partners who demo'd some pretty neat things that highlight and leverage Google applications.

I was excited to have a chance to go, so I took a video camera to capture some of the sights, sounds, and people that I met. You can play the video clips below in sequence, or select individual videos to view one at a time.

• "Don't waste time while you're there!": If you've never been to CES and want to get a sense of what it's like, or, if you were there and want to compare notes, take a look at this.
• Picasa Web Albums on BlackBerry: Mike Pegg of Google mobile chats with Trudy Koen from Research in Motion about a new Picasa Web Albums application that will soon be available for BlackBerry devices.
• GOOG-411 'Map it' Feature and Thomson's new GE DECT 6.0 Phone: Jonathan Matus of Google Mobile tells us about the 'Map-It' feature integrating GOOG-411 and Google Maps on the iPhone. He then talks to Jordan Riggs of Thomson about Thomson's new GE DECT 6.0 phone, featuring a dedicated GOOG-411 button.
• Google applications on the new Sony Mylo: Philip Boyle, a product manager at Sony, describes how to get to Google Search, Gmail, Google Talk, and YouTube on the new Mylo.
• Good-bye to CES 2008: Some parting thoughts of mine as I leave the show.

Finally, we've created our own Google Mobile Blog YouTube channel where you'll be able to find all of the current and future videos we make.

Happy New Year!

Posted by Lawrence Chang, Product Marketing Manager, Google mobile team

When I first asked the mobile team to send me pictures of how they rang in the New Year, I imagined fireworks sprouting colorfully over the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Opera House, the glimmering ball descending in Times Square, or the spectacular floats at the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

Some may have gone to those places, but I got a more eclectic and less predictable selection. On New Year's Day, David Maynard and his wife ran five kilometers for charity (www.worldrunners.org) in Palo Alto, California. Leslie Fabello and Ben Davies took some amazing photographs with their mobile phones of the lush countryside in the U.K. Meanwhile, Peter Mayo spent the day with his kids, clearing a couple of feet of snow from his driveway in Ontario, Canada.

And Jonathan Matus, Andrew Hyman, and Stefan Haustein sent me pictures that are terrific examples of the spontaneity that can be captured with cell phone cameras: a beautiful sunset, friends getting ready to go out to celebrate New Year's Eve, and a city sign proclaiming that heavy fog had shut down public transportation in Oberhausen, Germany.

So this is how some of us truly welcomed in 2008. Happy new year from the whole Google mobile team!

Holiday stress? Google Mobile to the rescue!

Posted by Joshua Siegel, Product Manager, Google mobile team

The holiday season can be a stressful time in the U.S., but it should be enjoyable. Whether you need flight updates, store locations, or price comparisons, let Google Mobile offer you some peace of mind.

At the airport...

• Search for flight info: You're heading to the airport to pick up your relatives from New Jersey and want to check the status of their flight. Just go to www.google.com on your cell phone and search for the flight number to get departure and arrival times.
• Find a popular restaurant: Once at the airport, you suddenly realize you forgot to make dinner reservations! Crisis? Not at all. Find them the best lasagna money can buy -- just go to www.google.com on your cell phone, search for "Italian restaurants", and see ratings and reviews of local favorites.

Shopping...

• Keep track of to-do lists: Keep your family's wish lists, grocery lists, and all your other "To-Dos" in Google Notebook and access them while you're out and about. Easily update them online on your computer, then visit google.com/notebook/m on your cell phone when you're on the go.
• Compare prices: Before heading to the cash register, compare in-store prices to online retailers' prices by texting product names, ISBN or UPC numbers ("price mp3 player," "price 1591841410") to GOOGLE (466453). We'll send the results back to your cell phone in a snap, so you'll always know where to get the best deal.

On the way to the holiday party...

• Get directions: Try the "My Location" feature on the newest version of Google Maps for Mobile to find out where you are. Then, enter the destination address and get directions to the party. You can even turn on the traffic overlay to find out which highways to avoid. Just go to google.com/gmm on your cell phone to download the application.
• Find a last-minute gift: The moment you find your way, you realize you forgot to pick up a gift for the hosts! Avoid a social faux pas. Dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-4664-411) and say "florist" to find a flower shop on your way. GOOG-411 can even connect you directly. If you have an iPhone, say "map it" and we'll send you a link to a map showing the florist's location.

Discover some other ways Google Mobile can help you reduce stress this season.

Happy holidays from the entire Google mobile team!

Upload Geo-Tagged YouTube Videos from your Helio Ocean

Posted by Christine Lee, Product Marketing Manager, YouTube

Helio has just released a custom-built application that enables you to watch, record, upload, and share YouTube videos on your Helio Ocean phone. Now, you can really interact with the YouTube community on your Helio Ocean by rating videos, posting text comments, sharing videos with friends, saving videos to your Favorites and Playlists, and subscribing to new channels. You can even let everyone know where you shot a video by attaching a "geo-tag," which includes the GPS coordinates for the location where you shot the video.

You can also personalize your YouTube experience on the Helio Ocean by customizing your video feeds like My Subscriptions, My Favorites, My Playlists, My Videos and Received Videos. Of course, you can always view traditional YouTube categories like Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated and Recently Featured.

What better way to show you than via this video:


To get the new application in the U.S., just "JUMP" to YOUTUBE by entering 9688823 (YOUTUBE) from the Helio Ocean idle screen. You'll then receive a link to download the application.

This is a nice example of how mobile providers can bring YouTube to their customers. We're pretty excited about the opportunities for YouTube on the small screen. Now people can watch YouTube on their phones and participate in the YouTube community without having to be at their computers.

No more excuses for being late

Posted by Marcus Foster, Product Manager, Google mobile team, London

A few months ago we released a mobile version of Google Calendar. I find it incredibly useful, especially when traveling and running from one meeting to the next. I know that wherever I am, my Google Calendar travels with me.

Since we know how much Calendar users depend on their schedules, we are always trying to make it easier to access at any time. For example, I live in London, and like many people in major metropolitan areas around the world, I spend a lot of time underground, on the Tube (a.k.a. subway, Metro, U-Bahn...). At least in London, there is no mobile network coverage on the Underground, so I cannot always access Google Calendar on my phone.

But now there's a solution. Starting today, you can use Google Sync for mobile to synchronize your BlackBerry handheld with Google Calendar. Simply go to http://m.google.com/sync in your mobile browser to download and install the Google Sync for mobile application.


Once installed, simply click on the Google Sync icon (which looks like this):
Then, sign in to your Google Account or your Google Apps account, and that's it. The Calendar application on your BlackBerry will always be synchronized with your Google Calendar. You can even edit events or create new ones on the handheld.

Get more information on Google Sync.

Picasa Redefined for your iPhone

Posted by Joe Walnes, Software Engineer, Google mobile team in London

I was sitting in the pub recently (I'm a Brit, it's what I do), and I wanted to show my friend a photo of the sunset I saw on my honeymoon. I pulled out my phone and started typing in the URL for Picasa Web Albums. Before I could continue, he threw his shiny iPhone into my hand. He told me to launch the Safari browser bundled on the iPhone and give that a try.

I had a look around some websites and I really liked how they looked on the iPhone. I could get to everything I needed. I went to picasaweb.google.com but it didn't quite feel right. It was using some very cool AJAXy features, but these were designed with a desktop web-browsing experience in mind. So the next day I had a go at creating a new interface for Picasa Web, designed for the iPhone.

Today, I'm happy to tell you that we've just released this new iPhone interface for Picasa. After you go to Picasa on your iPhone and log in, you can quickly see all your albums that you've uploaded to Picasa Web. If you click on any of the albums, you can get a full view of your picture with comments from your friends. Or you can click on Slideshow, sit back and watch the pictures scroll. You can also search for photos in your album or through community photos. Finally, with one of my favorite features, you can view your friends' albums through favorites.

What are you waiting for? If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch go to http://picasaweb.google.com and check it out. Alternatively, you can go to www.google.com and launch the application from the "More" tab. Note that we've only launched in English so far, so you'll have to change your language preference if you're not in an English-speaking country.

For those that have never used Picasa before, visit our web site for PC users or Mac users. You can easily upload all your photos from your desktop. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please leave us a comment below.

Update Google Mobile Products on your BlackBerry with One Click

Posted by Charles Wiles, Product Manager, Google mobile team

If you find it hard to keep your BlackBerry up to date with Google's expanding mobile product suite, we hope we just made your life a little easier. The new Google Mobile Updater for BlackBerry makes it simple for you to stay informed and current by telling you when new products and updates are available for your phone and allowing you to install them with a single click. The Updater will even put an icon for each product on your BlackBerry's main menu, making it as easy as possible for you to get to your favorite Google mobile products.

Now you can easily get the latest Google mobile applications like Google Maps for Mobile with My Location (the magical blue circle on your map), and web applications like Picasa Web Albums and Google Docs -- all of which you can choose to install to your BlackBerry's main menu for easy access.

Google Mobile Updater is also the only way you can get the latest, fastest Google mobile search for BlackBerry. In under a second, you can start entering your query without waiting to load the Google home page. This saves you valuable time when you are trying to find the answer to that quiz question, the address of a nearby restaurant or the latest price of your favorite stock. You can assign a convenience key to make it even easier to access Google search.

To get Google Mobile Updater, visit mobile.google.com on your BlackBerry and click "Download all" under "Get all Google products in one go." From there, you can get the latest Google search application by selecting "Search" and then "Update." Note that right now, Google Mobile Updater and the new Google search experience are only available for BlackBerry devices in the U.S. In the future, whenever we launch new products or updates we will let you know by changing the Google Mobile Updater icon to have a green arrow, like this:

Google on the iPhone: Fast and Fluid

Posted by Steve Kanefsky, Software Engineer, Google mobile team

We all know that using the web on mobile phones can be a challenge sometimes. Compared to our personal computers, the screens are smaller, it's more difficult to navigate and enter text, the network connections are slower, and the browsers lack many of the features we've become accustomed to. I deal with this every day as both a developer and a user of mobile web applications. So you can imagine how excited I was when the iPhone launched with a large touch screen, Wi-Fi, and a full-blown Safari web browser!

I started thinking about how to use AJAX technology to improve Google on the iPhone. I set out to create an application that would preload my favorite Google products and allow me to switch between them instantly. I wanted web results as well as image, local, and news results without having to repeat my search. I wanted to check Gmail and my news feeds in Google Reader without having to load a new page every time. I also wanted Google Suggest to save me time typing queries on the virtual keyboard.

I created a prototype and showed it to some fellow Googlers. After that, things started moving pretty quickly. A few weeks (and a few gallons of mint tea) later, I had an improved version which Googlers throughout the company were using on their iPhones (it works great on the iPod Touch too). Now we want to share it with everyone.

Our guiding principles were "fast" and "fluid." We think we've achieved both, thanks to some AJAX magic made possible by the iPhone's Safari browser. To try it out, just go to www.google.com on your iPhone.

We want to know what you think! You can post your comments below or submit specific questions on our discussion board. We hope you'll like it.

The Auction

Posted by Marc Vanlerberghe, Product Marketing Director

In case you missed it, Google officially announced today that we'll be applying to participate in the upcoming 700 megahertz spectrum auction. You can read more about it on the Official Google Blog. As Chris notes, we'll be obligated to remain silent on this for awhile -- just so you know.