Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering at Google told Forbes that Google’s strategic thinking is dominated by the confluence of ever-increasing computing power (as seen in what an Android device can do), mobile connectivity (which provides real-time data, as well as access to the network) and cloud computing. “If you put all three of those into designing software, it changes things,” he said.
He demonstrated with a new application, called Maps for Mobile, which is capable of a number of things unavailable on standard GPS systems, including real-time traffic information, access to photographs of landmarks (like highway ramps or a destination), and a strong voice-activated search function. In a demonstration at the Googleplex, the system correctly responded to the voice request “navigate to the museum in San Francisco with the King Tut exhibition” with both directions, drive time and a green indicator that the traffic was light. Had the traffic been heavy, the color would have turned to yellow, then red, and the projected drive time would have increased.If you have significant offerings in them, you can also hold a strong competitive advantage, Forbes noted. “The voice recognition system of the app, and the computing that can turn the mention of a current museum exhibition into a precise address, are both proprietary to Google. So are the app’s street view images and the stored knowledge of various locations, including personal favorites, that the app can zoom in on.”
“The general narrative over the next year,” Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said, “is that “mobile platforms are powerful things that will connect with the cloud. Don’t limit your imagination to this set of problems.”
Surely Google won’t.
Filed under: Cloud Computing, Google, Google Maps, Uncategorized Tagged: | Android 2.0, Cloud Computing, Forbes, Google Direction, Google Maps, Maps for Mobile, Vic Gundotra, Voice Recognition
