Developer API for Google+: It really is coming
by Rafe Needleman
Google’s new social network, Google+, has only been public for two days, and developers are currently thinking about access towards the service so they can roll out add-ons and enhancements.
Luckily for them, and ultimately for Google+ users, developer access is coming. It really is just a matter of time. As Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of social for Google, told me at a Web two.0 Summit cocktail party tonight, “I’m a developer guy in the core. It truly is inconceivable I’d develop something with no a platform.”
Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice-President of Social for Google.
(Credit: Julie Blaustein)
Gundotra worked for 15 years at Microsoft prior to leaving for Google. His last job there was as common manager of platform evangelism. It’s fair to say he’s got the background for developing systems that developers can assemble upon.
But it is not surprising that Google+ launched devoid of developer access. The service is far from totally baked. “We’re just receiving started out!” Gundotra gushed to me when we talked. The attributes and functions of Google+ will most likely change substantially in brief order. Far more functions will be definitely be added to the service, also as improved integration with other Google apps. Giving developers access now could be premature, as some could create solutions that end up duplicating features that Google itself is just about to layer into the publicly readily available service.
But opening up Google+ to developers ultimately could allow all manner of add-ons and enhancements, from third-party access apps, like Tweetdeck was for Twitter (ahead of Twitter acquired it); to Zynga-like games that access the Google social graph; to other utilities and add-ons. Personally, I’d prefer to see a utility that tends to make more quickly work of managing and sorting contacts into circles.
Google is collecting names from developers who want to know once the corporation launches developer tools. There is an e-mail and Google Group sign-up on the web now.
Study extra: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-20075974-250/developer-api-for-google-its-coming/#ixzz1Qq5niq00
