Is there a private beta for that “Find My Keys” API?

I would gladly “go Pro” and pay real money for that.

Posted by jon deal on 5 November 2007 @ 2pm

Don’t forget about the forthcoming “Open My Door” for all those pesky door opening needs that we all have!

Posted by Kai Davis on 5 November 2007 @ 2pm

It’s almost sad, seeing all the Digg-style comments saying “this will be sooo cool! I can’t wait for my Google phone!” This was a business partnership announcement, with about sixty degrees of separation from the consumer.

Posted by Neven on 5 November 2007 @ 2pm

They’ll have a developer SDK out next week, so it hardly seems like vaporware — or, rather, we have a week in which it can appear to be vaporware.

I agree on execution. The best platform in the world remains impotent with no implementations.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman on 5 November 2007 @ 2pm

Vaporware sucks. Where is the proof that Google can build client devices that restore a user’s sense of childlike wonder? If Apple announced a cloud server initiative people would be just as rightfully suspicious.

Posted by Hamranhansenhansen on 5 November 2007 @ 3pm

Well, the Android SDK is going to be released next Monday, so presumably that’s real. It is disappointing to have a lot of hoopla without any actual phone, even a design, to look at. But I think that’s a necessary evil when you’re developing a platform versus a product.

Posted by daveadams on 5 November 2007 @ 3pm

I’ve already asked a question (elsewhere) about how “open” this really is. They did a good job of talking about extnding things without talking about what kind of licensing this will be released under.

But now that I actually found a blog post linking to the announcement – one where a cursory glance didn’t mention next Monday as the true release date – I have one question for the commenters….

Why did they have to announce this today? Why not wait one week?

Okay, that might have come across wrong. I’m not sounding doubtful over next Monday. Rather, I’m looking at this from a timing standpoint.

Microsoft takes a stake in Facebook. Less than a week later Google announces Open Social. I can see the connection. Of note is how VERY beta this was. Included in that announcement was the term “sometime soon”.

Now, let’s reverse that. Google announces Android a week early. Why? Surely not because Apple is retailing iPhone tomorrow, right? I can’t think that’s the reason. But there IS a reason for this. But what?

Posted by DaveD on 5 November 2007 @ 4pm

Most companies announce products before they’re released. What’s different about Google that makes their announcements seem like vaporware to you? They give a specific date as to when they’re releasing an early version of the Android SDK (November 12), and they’ve already released OpenSocial. I’m pretty sure software that has already been released can’t be vaporware.

Also, what software has Google announced and not followed through on? Perhaps there are some examples, but I don’t think there have been enough to presume that Google is just announcing soon-to-be vaporware to get press coverage.

Posted by Peter Lutz on 5 November 2007 @ 5pm

I wouldn’t classify this as vaporware either. All the big software and game companies announce their titles before launch. Vaporware is usually reserved for grandiose claims and missed deadlines without updates. Vista was announced in 2005 but delivered in 2007 – is that vaporware?

I’ll admit it’s uncustomary for Google to announce a product before making it publicly available. Then again, Google has never “shipped” a platform involving multiple vendors before. A platform with 3rdparty involvement, requires participation and consensus. You couldn’t have expected OpenSocial and Open Handset Alliance to launch with every social network and mobile developer already plugged in and working. Developing OpenSocial isn’t anything like developing AdSense, Gmail, or any of the other small Google Labs apps.

Posted by Patrick on 5 November 2007 @ 6pm

Android is promising everything that Java promised to the same mobile developers. Java was pitched as the open platform for mobile development many years ago (run on all platforms! write once deploy everywhere!) and this sounds exactly the same, except Google is replacing shitty Swing UI with (hopefully) something more on-par with Apple’s design aesthetic.

This is crappy vaporware, even with the SDK coming soon. Phones with these apps deployed on them aren’t hitting shelves until 6+ months from now, so… where’s the excitement? Where’s the real product? Nothing gets my juices flowing like screenshots of applications I can’t run yet.

“Vista was announced in 2005 but delivered in 2007 – is that vaporware?”

May not make it vaporware but with the huge gap in development buildup, it certainly was a let down. Now apply that to the SDK launching very soon and phones not launching for many months.

“You couldn’t have expected OpenSocial and Open Handset Alliance to launch with every social network and mobile developer already plugged in and working.”

Um, why not? Nothing seems complicated about telling a few key partners about the OpenSocial API a month or two before the announcement so they could have some neat applications already put together. They dropped the bomb and now everybody is standing around waiting to really check things out. Don’t give Google any more credit here, not having a plethora of live OpenSocial applications together is simply piss poor planning.

Posted by Mike Rundle on 5 November 2007 @ 11pm

Announcing all that stuff sure helps with the stock price. And the funny part is that in over-playing it this way Google’s stock has a lot more value to gain than to lose.

They announce way in advance: the market reacts by saying “wow, this means a lot of future value: the stock is therefore worth more now!”

Then, several years of incubation later:
If they actually complete the project: Yeah, Google is a good company, pat in the back…

If they fail to complete, then the market says… well it doesn’t say much. Because it doesn’t know much. If an app is failing but never leaves Beta, does it make a sound?

Posted by H on 5 November 2007 @ 11pm

Perhaps Google should take a break from announcing new stuff and work on getting all their old stuff out of the beta phase. It may be a Web 2.0 thing to have eternal betas, but that doesn’t make sense from a software standpoint.

Posted by Cody on 6 November 2007 @ 2am

“Vista was announced in 2005 but delivered in 2007 – is that vaporware?”

The name was announced in 2005, but Vista was started in 2001 and was –when it was called Longhorn– supposed to ship in 2003. And many of the major features were dumped … so, yes, it was vaporware.

OpenSocial “gadgets” on the other hand are already being used by Ning.

Posted by huxley on 6 November 2007 @ 5am

based on their illustration, I look forward to playing Katamari on my future gphone.

Posted by t o n x on 6 November 2007 @ 8am

Is this a complaint about something specific, or just a sweeping generalization
Sounds like you just don’t like hearing about things in advance :(

Posted by imma on 6 November 2007 @ 8am