HTML 5, Java App Engine, Android & Web Elements At Google I/O

Google I/O 2009 is being held on May 27 and 28 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. One of the key themes of this year’s event is the unprecedented acceleration of the open web platform: Nearly half a billion people now use browsers that are rooted in open source technology, which have quintupled their processing power in less than a year. Now, the new functionality in HTML 5 — from graphics and location to local storage and background processing — is enabling developers to build uniquely powerful web applications.

At Google I/O, Google is announcing new products and initiatives designed to promote application development on the web, including the following:

* Google Web Elements: A new product launching today, Google Web Elements is an easy way to incorporate Google products onto a website or blog. This includes content such as Maps, News and YouTube videos, as well as social comments functionality by Google Friend Connect. Already, Google has 4 billion API calls a day. Google Web Elements makes it even easier to add functionality to sites by choosing optional customizations and copying and pasting a few lines of code.

* Java Language Support in App Engine: Today Google is launching general availability of Java language support in Google App Engine, providing all developers with an end-to-end Java language solution for building AJAX web applications. An early look at Java language support in App Engine was released to a limited number of developers at Google’s April 7 Campfire One developer event, and in the last two months more than 10,000 Java language applications have been deployed on the platform. Over 80,000 applications have been built on App Engine since it was launched in April 2008.

* Android Developer Challenge 2: Today Google is announcing the second phase of the Android Developer Challenge, a Google-funded initiative to reward developers for building innovative and useful applications for the Android mobile platform. For Android Developer Challenge 2 (ADC 2), Google will let users of Android-powered phones participate in the judging process through the use of an on-phone judging application. Awards will be presented to the top applications, up to a quarter of a million dollars for the overall winner, which will be announced in November 2009.

“Bet on the web,” said Vic Gundotra, Vice President of Developer Products at Google. “Its rate of innovation has dramatically accelerated over the past 12 months, giving rise to an open web platform that’s fundamentally more capable and more sophisticated than even a year ago. The combination of HTML 5, a vibrant developer community, and the pervasiveness of modern web browsers is delivering a programming model and an end-user experience that will surprise and delight people.”