ON GOOGLE AND YAHOO! TO GO

MOBILE WISH LIST

(Update:  Nick Baum, product manager of Google Reader, notes in a comment below that a mobile version of Google Reader is available. It's not available in a Java client like the other Google apps mentioned in this post.  At first try, I can see this mobile version of the Google Reader becoming one of my favorite applications on the Blackberry.  Thanks, Nick).

As highlighted by this New York Times story, Google News has been in the news itself lately given a Belgian court's decision to ding the company for linking to news service. 

I find Google's official response to the whole brouhaha succinct, fair and reasonable.  But court cases help politicians get on the six o' clock news and build reputations, both here and overseas.

I've been a fan of Google News since it's launch in 2002, even though it's not the number one news site out there.  That credit goes to Yahoo! News as Greg Jarboe of Search Engine Watch explains in a nicely detailed post today.

My favorite way to consume Google News of late has been on the road via my Blackberry 7130. 

 Google recently made it possible to download a number of small Google applications on your phone and use them on the go.  As the graphic on the left illustrates, they cover most of the basic Google major Google applications.

In fact the only major Google App I really miss on my phone these days is Google Reader, to catch up on blog and news feeds on the go.  This is something that increasingly a challenge to make time for, as Robert Scoble expresses in a post today.

So, here's hoping for a Google Reader as a mobile app soon.

While I'm at it, I might as well ask for a little Google Finance app, especially one that allows very quick access to a few standard quotes quickly on the Go.

As simple as that sounds, none of the major Finance services from Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL etc., have made it easy to do.  I've tried the mobile applications from all of them, and for the most part they still serve up standard web pages off their Finance sites into a mobile browser.  Not a very good experience.

I did have high hopes for Yahoo!'s recently released integrated mobile application suite, called Yahoo!  Go 2.0.

But I've still not been able to figure out how to add a few standard tickers to the Finance module that can be displayed quickly on the go.

If anyone has seen a good solution for both stock tickers and news reader feeds on mobiles, especially on the Blackberry, do let me know.

Comments

[Nick Baum]

Hi Michael,

I'm the product manager on Google Reader, and we actually do have a mobile version of the app, accessible at:

http://www.google.com/reader/m.

It's not a java client like the Gmail app, but I use it all the time on my BBerry.

-Nick

[P-Air]

Google Reader on my Blackberry works well.

Quick question Michael, the link under "Blackberry 7130" has a Google URL, is this an in text ad, since it takes me to Verizon's site? I generally trust your links and would be disappointed if this was a pure ad link, especially given that it's made to look like all other links on your page.

[Michael Parekh]

My Bad, P-Air. I put in the wrong link for the Blackberry 7130 off a rushed Google Search. Will correct it as soon as Typepad is back up.

Thanks for the heads up.