Google’s new APIs and their effect on Google Talk, Gmail and yes, Google Phone

The way I interpret some newly posted information, Google could be
preparing to allow developers to fashion applications that will run
with Google Talk, Gmail, and more hot Google services such as the
widely anticipated Google Phone.

After speaking with three Non Disclosure Agreement-signing (but
apparently loose-lipped) sources who attended a supersecret meeting at
the Googleplex (Google's corporate HQ in Mountain View, Cal. Thursday,
TechCrunch's Michael Arrington has the scoop on some new initiatives
Google will announce in the next several weeks that will open some
Google apps to projects by third-party developers.

Mike writes:

The short version: Google will announce a new set of APIs on
November 5 that will allow developers to leverage Google's social
graph data. They'll start with Orkut and iGoogle (Google's
personalized home page), and expand from there to include Gmail,
Google Talk and other Google services over time.

My take is that these third-party apps will be able to enhance
GoogleTalk with applications none of us have thought of- at least as
of yet. More than IM, which they do now. I'd think these new apps
would work best when, as Google promises, GT will be SIP-compatible.
This step, promised for nearly two years, would in turn pave the way
for true PSTN termination for Google Talk, much in the manner of Skype
or Yahoo! Voice.

Once this is done, some of these options then available to third-party
developers could, at least in theory, make Google Talk-calls more
manageable, configurable, and measurable. I'd expect for, or even hope
for, diagnostic tools for each call, not unlike corporate-VoIP
solutions we see from such companies as Cisco and Avaya.

I'd also expect a third-party service to come in and construct a
name-searchable directory of all Google Talk numbers and Gmail addys,
as well as enhanced searchability for Google's Orkut social network.

And if Google does get into a GooglePhone type mobile service, maybe
some third-party could tunnel in and construct a searchable directory
of those phone numbers.

Can Google do all this and ensure privacy? Once you grant API rights
to third-party developers, strict access controls to your customer
records becomes an even higher priority.

Posted by Russell Shaw @ 4:00 am