Google intends to be early with the development of native iPhone 2.0 applications, according to the company's vice president of engineering. "We expect to have applications at Day One," says Vic Gundotra, in reference to June's expected launch of the App Store and the iPhone 2.0 firmware. Although Gundotra refuses to comment on the details of particular software, he notes that development of web applications will continue in parallel, because these can be continually updated and improved without requiring a new download. "It's the best of both worlds," commments Gundotra.

The company may be most likely to create native versions of key web applications, such as Calendar and Docs, in order to give access to these without having to transfer data over a comparatively slow cellular connection. This is the same purpose served by the only existing native iPhone application, Google Maps, which would otherwise have to fetch basic interface information in addition to map updates over a slow 2.5G EDGE receiver.