Google [GOOG] have announced that they have optimised their web services specifically for the Apple iPad [AAPL] that launches tomorrow.
The update to services such as GMail have been optimised to work on large screen mobile devices to give a better email experience. When visiting GMail from an iPhone for example, you just see a list of messages with buttons across the top to move around sections. The new iPad optimised version uses a two column approach where your messages can be scrolled through on the left of the screen and the message viewed on the right of the screen as pictured below.
The GMail app now uses a HTML5 web app that is also used on Android and the iPhone at the moment.
If you prefer not to use GMail through the web browser than Google also allow you to connect up to GMail with the IMAP protocol where you can easily see messages in the regular mail application built in to the iPad.
Google also mention that their services play quite a big part in the iPad with a default Google search box in the Safari browser, the ability to use HD video in YouTube and also the Google Maps app pre-installed allows Google Street View to be used on a larger mobile screen which should look fantastic.
The Google Mobile App that you can also download has also been modified to work on the larger iPad screen. The app still works in a similar way to the iPhone Google Apps application in that some of the applications load in the mobile web browser while others load natively. Google have said that this still happens on the iPad and has been designed this way after testing each app and determining if it works best on the web browser or best natively.
It seems like the Apple iPad is really shaking up the way web companies present their data considering a number are switching video to HTML5 format to allow it to play on the iPad along with Google also modifying their apps to work better on the iPad. It’s certainly an interesting change happening in the tablet arena.
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