Google Latitude expands to iPhone as web app

Google announced its Latitude friend-finder service is now available for Apple's iPhone and iPod touch as a web application running in Safari. "We worked closely with Apple to bring Latitude to the iPhone in a way Apple thought would be best for iPhone users," writes Google Mobile Team product manager Mat Balez on the Official Google Mobile Blog. "After we developed a Latitude application for the iPhone, Apple requested we release Latitude as a web application in order to avoid confusion with Maps on the iPhone, which uses Google to serve maps tiles." Balez admits that because the iPhone does not offer a mechanism for applications to run in the background, this new incarnation of Latitude cannot provide continuous background location updates as it does on Android, BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Mobile smartphones. Instead, Latitude for iPhone updates the user's location each time the application is accessed, and continuously updated whenever the app is running in the foreground.

Google introduced Latitude in February 2009--the opt-in service enables smartphone users to triangulate the whereabouts of family and friends, offering the approximate location of contacts who decide to share their activities. In addition, Latitude allows users to communicate via SMS, Google Talk, Gmail or status update, as well as upload new profile photos on the fly. Google vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra later said that more than a million subscribers signed up for Latitude in its first week of availability.

The new Google Latitude web app supports devices running on the iPhone 3.0 OS, and is available now in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Balez adds that because the iPhone 3.0 update enables Safari to access location, Google will continue to work closely with Apple to deliver new native and web-based apps for the platform.

For more on Google Latitude for iPhone:
- read this Official Google Mobile Blog entry

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