Google chief hints at additional iPhone tools

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Search giant Google plans to beef up its relationship with Apple by collaborating on further services for the iPhone, the company's chief executive and Apple board member Eric Schmidt hinted this week.

Speaking at a Google event in Paris, Schmidt said that the "powerful" iPhone - which he then showed to the audience - is particularly suited to Google applications. The iPhone will include a custom version of Google Maps when it launches next week.

The opportunities for Google were boosted by Apple's decision to use Ajax programming technologies for the iPhone. Google is the leading provider of Ajax-powered Web 2.0 applications - a large part of its business is based on this technology - and should have little difficulty in adapting these for the iPhone screen.

For next week's launch, both Apple and AT&T - the exclusive carrier - are planning to close their retail stores mid-afternoon, reopening 90 minutes later, according to a leaked memo. The memo also advises AT&T store managers to "determine an area outside the store where customer lines should form and whether or not stanchions (standards & ropes or chains) for crowd control are needed."

If an iLounge poll is any indication, they could well be required. Asked ''Will you line up for an iPhone?", 40 per cent have said "yes", with over half of those planning to buy one regardless of the contract price.

When they do they will have just a handful of third party applications to install. An iPhone interface for Digg.com and One Trip shopping lists were unveiled earlier this week (OneTrip has since been rewritten and as a result will also work in a desktop browser).

OneTrip developer Neven Morgan has since released Quip, which provides a daily quotation and plans more iPhone software. He may therefore find iPhoney - which simulates the iPhone display to provide developers with "a canvas on which to test the visual quality" of their designs - useful.

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