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NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)--Google on Nov. 5 spelled out long-rumored plans to enter the mobile phone market in 2008 by building software that could help the industry make the Internet run more easily on phones. ADVERTISEMENT German mobile network powerhouse T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom's mobile unit, plans next year to start selling Google-software-based phones, while China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier, and top carriers in Japan said they would offer Google-based handsets. Google, which has no immediate plans to make phones of its own, said it was working with 30 companies, including phone makers Motorola, Samsung Electronics and High Tech Computer. Also taking part are major communications chip makers, including Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Marvell Technology Group. The leading Internet company has long been rumored to be working on a new class of free or low-cost advertising-supported mobile phone of its own, popularly known as the "Gphone." Google's Schmidt would not rule out the company developing its own devices but said it had no imminent plans to do so.
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Yesterday, Google released their OpenSocial API. As a social application service provider we're excited about the concept of write once run anywhere.
What's the problem? It's all hype right now.
Google should have spent more time polishing OpenSocial before they released the product. The only live site that supports applications right now is Orkut and you still have to apply for access (we're still waiting). Google has assembled a large set of partners who have pledged their support but you have to ask yourself, if Google asked you to join a technology preview group, would you refuse?
Markup Language
One of the real powers of the Facebook platform is FBML. Facebook provides a markup language that helps developers keep the look and feel of their applications consistent with that of Facebook. FBML also reduces the amount of UI code a developer must write. We would like to see the same functionality in OpenSocial.
JavaScript Only
OpenSocial was released with a limited JavaScript API. Facebook has client libraries for 14 languages.
Missing APIs
The following APIs have been announced and Google has offered a preview of the format but they're not available/live yet.
- People Data API
- Activities Data API
- Persistence Data API
Developer Mindshare
The release of the Google OpenSocial API is disruptive but we don't see a mass migration in the near future. When MySpace is up and running and the product is actually production ready (i.e., all the APIs, client libraries and actual live sites) you will see more people adopt the technology.
Memory Lane
In 1999 Microsoft released Passport, a unified profile/payment solution. While this isn't an apple to apple comparison you might remember that they launched with over 50 partners. Anybody use Passport recently?
Going Forward
The OpenSocial API is something we're going to watch closely but we're going to sit on the sidelines until the product is a bit more polished.
Advice to Social Networks
Build your own platform technology. Embrace the partnership with Google but don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't have a clue about how to build a platform? Partner with Deft Labs :-)
Google Engineering
We're assuming someone pushed you to release this... alpha.
Google may have just come out of nowhere and checkmated Facebook in the social networking power struggle. MySpace and Six Apart will announce that they are joining Google's OpenSocial initiative. Silicon Valley Insider reported the MySpace rumor earlier today. We've confirmed that from an independent source, as well as the fact that Six Apart is joining.
Per the update below, Google has also confirmed Bebo is joining. Google will be making an announcement today. MySpace and Six Apart join Orkut, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo, Friendster, Viadeo and Oracle as announced Google partners. No word on whether MySpace will continue with efforts to complete its own recently announced platform, but the answer is probably yes. They are likely to simply do both (Update: see below).
Suddenly, within just the last couple of days, the entire social networking world has announced that they are ganging up to take on Facebook, and Google is their Quarterback in the big game.
Update (12:30 PST): On a press call with Google now. This was embargoed for 5:30 pm PST but they've moved the time up to 12:30 PST (now). Press release will go out later this evening. My notes: On the call, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said "we've been working with MySpace for more than a year in secret on this" (likely corresponding to their advertising deal announced a year ago). MySpace says they are abandoning their efforts to create their own markup language (which is what Facebook has done) and direct APIs will go exclusively with OpenSocial. So, MySpace Platform is being terminated before it even launches. The press release names Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING as current OpenSocial partners.
We're seeing a Flixster application on MySpace now through the OpenSocial APIs. Flixster says it took them less than a day to create this. I'll add screen shots below.
Here's the big question - Will Facebook now be forced to join OpenSocial? Google says they are talking to "everyone." This is a major strategic decision for Facebook, and they may have little choice but to join this coalition. Bebo has also joined OpenSocial.
As rumored for weeks, Google will formally announce tomorrow "opensocial" -- a set of common open API's that developers can use to create applications that work on any participating social networks. Any social network can participate.
At launch, it appears that the following networks are on board in what is shaping up to be a battle of Facebook vs. everyone else: Orkut (Google), LinkedIn, Hi5, Ning, Plaxo, Xing, Friendster. Many more will certainly join the party. Word is that Salesforce.com and Oracle will also join in.
I first mused about this coming back in August.
Arrington writes:
ZDNet has some great coverage, snippeted here:Google wants to create an easy way for developers to create an application that works on all social networks. And if they pull it off, they'll be in the center, controlling the network.
What They're Launching
OpenSocial is a set of three common APIs, defined by Google with input from partners, that allow developers to access core functions and information at social networks:
- Profile Information (user data)
- Friends Information (social graph)
- Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)
Hosts agree to accept the API calls and return appropriate data. Google won't try to provide universal API coverage for special use cases, instead focusing on the most common uses. Specialized functions/data can be accessed from the hosts directly via their own APIs.
Unlike Facebook, OpenSocial does not have its own markup language (Facebook requires use of FBML for security reasons, but it also makes code unusable outside of Facebook). Instead, developers use normal javascript and html (and can embed Flash elements). The benefit of the Google approach is that developers can use much of their existing front end code and simply tailor it slightly for OpenSocial, so creating applications is even easier than on Facebook.
Applications can have full functionality on profile and/or canvas pages, subject to the specific rules of each host. Facebook, by contrast, limits most functionality to the canvas page, allowing a widget on the profile page with limited features.
OpenSocial is silent when it comes to specific rules and policies of the hosts, like whether or not advertising is accepted or whether any developer can get in without applying first (the Facebook approach). Hosts set and enforce their own policies. The APIs are created with maximum flexibility
This openness is part of what Vic Gundotra, Google's head of developer programs, meant when he said last week, "In the next year we will make a series of announcements and spend hundreds of millions on innovations and giving them away as open source."
He explained the newfound openness as more than altruism: "It also makes good economic sense. The more applications, the more usage. More users means more searches. And, more searches means more revenue for Google. The goal is to grow the overall market, not just to increase market share."
What does OpenSocial mean for Facebook?
Facebook has a lot of wind behind its sails, but OpenSocial will cause developers to rethink their priorities. Developing OpenSocial applications will be easier than creating Facebook apps and will work across different social networks. However, Facebook is winning because 50 million users like the service and the applications. Unless the other social networks, which in aggregate have more members, have greater appeal to users, Facebook will continue to gain ground and developers won't abandon the Facebook Platform. Facebook could also consider supporting OpenSocial in addition to its own APIs and markup languages as a way to be more open. It will be interesting to see how Zuckerberg and company, as well as the MySpace team, respond.
The New York Times story by Miguel Helft and Brad Stone quotes Google's Joe Kraus on the Facebook topic.
Joe Kraus, director of product management at Google, said that the alliance's conversations preceded Microsoft's investment in Facebook. "Obviously, we would love for them to be part of it," Mr. Kraus said of Facebook. Facebook declined to comment.
What does OpenSocial mean for Google?
As cited above, OpenSocial is part of Google's quest to increase usage of the Web. More applications can mean more searches and ad searches. You could also expect some new advertising services based on tapping into the OpenSocial APIs that work across all compliant social networks. In addition, Google will weave OpenSocial across its services beyond Orkut, such as iGoogle, and eventually embed the social graph in the Internet fabric for its users.
This could create some issues for Facebook, which is rumored to be cooking up a targeted ad service that can follow its members across the Web. And, Google, taking a page from Microsoft, has some confidence that over time it can build or buy its ways into a leading social network. Google will try to have its cake and eat it too.
What does OpenSocial mean for users?
For users, it means more applications that can tap into user data, social graph, feeds and other content on a variety of social networks. They will have more choice of social networks and potentially some degree of portability as the APIs evolve and Google and other heavyweights push for more standardization.
What does OpenSocial mean for developers?
For developers, they have more opportunity to spread their work across different networks without significant cost and complexity. Many of the top Facebook developers are expected to support OpenSocial APIs. In the end, the top developers will flock to the social networks that have traction, leaving room for others to build apps for the less popular networks.
What does OpenSocial mean longer term?It could become a kind of identity fabric for the Internet-with user profile data, relationships (social graph) and other items associated with an individual, group or brand that is used as a basis for more friction-free interactions of all kinds.
