iGoogle for iPhone
Google created a version of iGoogle optimized for iPhone, that displays all the gadgets and feeds from tab in a single column. To switch to another tab, choose a name from the drop-down displayed at the bottom of the page. — The iPhone interface has a public URL …
Context & Ripple Effects
This lands at the end of a year in which Google pulled iGoogle's gadget format toward the center of its portfolio: October's unification of iGoogle with Desktop gadgets made the same widgets runnable on the Windows desktop, and December's iPhone application launch established Google's pattern of shipping dedicated surfaces for Apple's phone within weeks of its debut.
The new release is a reflow, not a rebuild — the same tabs, gadgets, and feeds restacked into a single column with drop-down tab switching — which keeps the gadget catalog as the unit of investment across desktop and mobile rather than forcing separate mobile authoring.
First-order effects
- iPhone users get their full iGoogle tab content in one scrollable column immediately, with tab changes moved to a drop-down at the bottom of the page instead of horizontal navigation.
Second-order effects
- Every gadget already published to iGoogle gains a mobile audience at zero marginal cost for its developer, which strengthens the gadget format against rival portals' separate mobile homepages.
Third-order effects
- If the personalized start page becomes cross-device by default, portal competition shifts from page design to gadget ecosystems — and the iPhone's browser-first model makes that portability cheap for Google while raising the bar for competitors maintaining parallel mobile properties.
The trend: Personalized start pages are becoming portable across desktop and mobile as Google carries its gadget ecosystem onto each new surface Apple opens.