Google+ SDK for iOS now available, Google confirms

Google’s social thing, Google+, may be lagging behind Facebook (250 million users versus Facebook’s nearly one billion globally), but the search Goliath has no intention of sitting on the sidelines.

Earlier this week, it announced that the official Google+ client would hit the iPad very soon and today the company took to the blogs to announce the official software development kit for iOS and Android.

Francis Ma, product manager with Google+, wrote in a blog post that Google+ platform for mobile is available beginning today in early developer preview…

A set of tools and social plugins will let iOS and Android developers write programs that are deeply integrated with Google+.

Earlier this month, the popular social network aggregator Flipboard became the first mobile app to offer Google+ integration by way of official APIs.

The Google+ SDK supports features to facilitate the creation of iOS and Android apps that can integrate Google+ identity, sharing and history. Full documentation for developers is available here.

The news came hot off the heels of Facebook’s announcement that it would “soon” provide an iOS SDK to make it easier to add Facebook to iOS apps, along with support for the Facebook integration in iOS 6.

Google said at Google I/O yesterday that its social network now commands a 250 million strong army of users around the world, 150 million of them active at least once a month and fifty percent signing in daily and spending approximately twelve minutes on average in the Google+ stream.

The search firm also showed off a native Google+ app for iPad that will launch “very, very soon”. It’ll support Hangouts and sport a “playful” and really responsive user interface.

Just hours before Google kicked off its Google I/O show at San Francisco’s Moscone West, Facebook suddenly announced in a blog post that it would completely rebuild its sluggish iOS app, re-writing it for “blazing fast” performance.

Who says competition isn’t a good thing?


Thoughts on the rumored 7-inch iPad

It was inevitable that after Google’s Nexus 7 announcement, the “iPad Mini” rumors would start surfacing again. The 7-inch Asus-branded tablet has garnered quite a bit of attention this week.

Apple has long been believed to be working on its own 7-inch slate, with reports coming from both Apple-insiders and news outlets alike that such a product exists. But will we ever see it?

The latest report comes from Pacific Crest‘s Andy Hargreaves. The analyst told investors that his firm believes that Apple is planning to unveil a 7.85-inch iPad this fall.
 

“We anticipate an entry-level 7.85″ iPad with 8GB of NAND capacity to price at $299 with an initial gross margin of 31%. We estimate Apple will sell 10.0 million 7.85″ iPads in FQ1 (Dec. 2012) and 35.2 million in all F2013. Based on estimated component order volume, we believe our iPad mini unit estimates are well within Apple’s production capacity.”

Rumor or not, releasing an “iPad Mini” right before the holidays would probably do wonders for Apple’s bottom line. Not to mention what it would do for its already-dominant tablet marketshare.

We have a bit of a problem with the $299 price point though. Google is selling its Nexus 7 at just $199, so it seems like Apple would be pricing itself out of the market at $300. Although to be fair, word is that Google is currently losing money on every tablet sold. And that’s just simply not Apple’s style.

But even if we took the competition out of it, would $299 be worth it for a 7-inch tablet? That’s just $200 cheaper than Apple’s 10-inch Retina-display slate. And just $100 cheaper than the iPad 2.

More importantly, where would the iPod touch fit into all of this? The device hasn’t seen an upgrade in almost two years. And last we heard, it was going to be getting the same 4-inch screen upgrade that the iPhone is rumored to receive this fall.

In all reality, Apple wouldn’t need a larger iPod touch and a smaller iPad. You would think that it would either a) make an iPod touch with a larger display (4, maybe 5-inches), or b) scrap the Touch line altogether and make a smaller tablet.

The odds are actually pretty good that Apple has at least one of these products in the oven, and will unveil it alongside the new iPhone in the fall. The question is, which one is it? And which one would you be more likely to buy?


Judge deals Kodak a major setback in Apple patent suit

Those of you longing for more news regarding the ongoing court battle between Apple and Kodak over image patents will be happy to hear that we’ve just received an update on the case.

It appears that the judge, today, has denied the struggling camera company’s request to fast-track the trial, meaning that Kodak could go broke before a decision is reached in court…
As many of you are aware, Kodak is currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was hoping to sell off some of its extensive IP portfolio to help pay for the proceedings, but given the fact that some of those patents are being used in this lawsuit, that’s not really an option at the moment.

This is why the company requested that the trial be fast-tracked, but it looks like Judge Allan Gropper isn’t going to allow it. In a hearing today, Gropper stated, “an adversary proceeding will permit the parties to raise issues in an orderly and expeditious fashion and preserve all of their just rights.”

The patents in question are image-related. Apple says that they stem from technology the two companies shared together back in 1994 while working on the QuickTake 100 digital camera. Kodak, however, says that’s not the case, and is seeking compensation for the use of its IP in Apple’s products.

You have to feel bad for Kodak at this point, as the one-time camera giant appears to be getting extremely desperate.

iOS 6 brings built-in support for Government Alerts

Still looking for new iOS 6 features? Then you’re in luck, because we’ve just come across one that you might not have seen yet: Government Alerts.

That’s right, it looks like the latest iteration of Apple’s mobile OS includes built-in support for AMBER alerts, and other emergency notifications…
For those of you who aren’t familiar with AMBER alerts, they are sent out to the public on the suspicion of a child abduction. Then there’s general emergency alerts, which are typically issued during severe weather or other life-endangering events.

From the looks of the above screenshot, users will have the option to receive these alerts natively via push notifications in iOS 6 — something that could come in handy for folks who aren’t constantly around local news sources.

It’s not known, however, how Apple will go about implementing this feature in the public release of iOS 6. It doesn’t appear to be available on all devices in the beta (we’re not seeing it on ours, anyways), and obviously government alerts are going to be country-specific.

Regardless, this is definitely a step in the right direction. These push notifications have the potential to prevent injuries — say in the event a hurricane or tornado is approaching — or even save lives. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.