Google Voice hacked iPhone by means of HTML5

The story of Google Voice ban on the iPhone is over. Thanks to Apple and AT&T, Google Voice app hasn't arrived to iPhone yet. That's why Google went the other way and launched the web service, that works in the mobile Safari browser just like the native application. It allows you to make calls via the Web interface, view and listen to the voice mail, send and receive text messages. But the most interesting thing in this story is that the emergence of this application may cause a revolution in the current mobile marketplace. Earlier we wrote about the political games around the HTML5 implementation. And one of the major players in these political games is Apple, the manufacturer of the most popular mobile device, iPhone, which is known for its closeness. No application can get to iPhone unless it's approved by Apple.

The new Google Voice for iPhone shows that almost any app can get to iPhone using HTML5. Though iPhone's Safari browser provides only partial HTML5 support, that's sufficient in most cases. In particular, the local cache and database are supported, so that mobile web-apps can be accessed offline and can work faster (due to the local cache). Besides, these browser-based apps consume less CPU resources, than, for example, flash-player.

We also can't help saying, that a week ago Google began beta-testing HTML5 version of YouTube. Thus, Adobe's flash business is expected to have bad times soon. However, it's still a question, when these times come. For example, you still can't watch HTML5 video in iPhone's Safari.

See also: Top 10 VoIP services