Google Search app for iPhone—a new name and a new look
a new name and a new look — If you need to do a Google search on your iPhone or iPod touch it's now faster and easier when you use our redesigned Google Search app, formerly Google Mobile App. If you've been using Google Mobile App for a while, you'll notice that things look different.
Context & Ripple Effects
The rename closes out 'Google Mobile App' as a brand: what was pitched as a general-purpose mobile utility is now simply the Google Search app on iPhone and iPod touch, with the redesign aimed at making queries faster to run. Coming in mid-March 2011, it lands in a week when Google was visibly polishing its consumer surfaces — a redesigned Blogger interface was teased the day before, alongside themes and a content-discovery tool.
First-order effects
- Existing Google Mobile App users on iPhone and iPod touch get an automatic rebrand to 'Google Search' plus a new interface, changing how Google's flagship function is labeled on Apple's platform.
- The name swap moves the app from 'mobile accessory' positioning to being Google's direct search destination on iOS.
Second-order effects
- On iOS, Google now fields both the Safari default search box and a branded app carrying the same name — sharpening internal competition for which entry point owns the query.
- A unified 'Search' identity gives Google a cleaner template to carry the same product onto other smartphone platforms without mobile-specific naming baggage.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, search shifts from being something users reach through a browser into a dedicated branded surface each platform needs its own version of — making app-store presence, not just default placement, a competitive variable between Google and device makers.
The trend: Mobile search is consolidating around dedicated branded apps rather than browser boxes, with Google folding its mobile properties under a single Search identity.