New Chrome developer tools bring Bluetooth, iTunes integration to packaged apps
Google's latest Chrome developer tools could give us even fewer reasons to close our browser — devs can now build packaged apps with access to Google Wallet, Google Analytics, Bluetooth devices and an API that dives into the user's music library.
Context & Ripple Effects
Chrome has been extending packaged apps beyond ordinary web-page capabilities: the 2012 beta added camera, microphone and game-controller access, while Google had outlined Android-like Web Intents for Chrome in 2011. The new APIs add commerce, measurement, Bluetooth and music-library hooks to that broader effort to make Chrome a more capable application runtime.
First-order effects
- Chrome developers can build packaged apps that connect to Bluetooth hardware, work with a user’s music library, and incorporate Google Wallet and Google Analytics.
- Google Wallet and Google Analytics gain a more direct route into Chrome-packaged software, rather than being limited to conventional websites.
Second-order effects
- Developers choosing Chrome packaged apps can address hardware-connected and media-oriented use cases that previously demanded deeper device integration, increasing pressure on native-app alternatives for those workloads.
- Bluetooth-device makers gain another software channel to support, with Chrome’s packaged-app APIs becoming part of their compatibility and integration decisions.
Third-order effects
- If Google continues pairing browser distribution with device and service APIs, the competitive boundary shifts from browser features to which runtime gives developers the broadest access to hardware, payments and user data.
The trend: Chrome is evolving from a web-page viewer into an application runtime that combines browser reach with selected native-device and Google-service capabilities.