Google has unveiled an update to its cloud-based Google Docs service that will let users of selected mobile devices edit work files. The new service, rolling out over the next few days for English-language users around the world, is compatible with Android-based handsets running Froyo version 2.2 as well as an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch running Apple iOS version 3 or higher.
“We’ll be adding support for other languages soon,” Google software engineer Andrew Grieve wrote in a blog Wednesday. “And as before, we also support editing of spreadsheets from your mobile device’s browser.”
Untethering Docs from the Desktop
Google’s latest move is part of a rising tide of services and applications that promise to bring capabilities to mobile devices that were formerly reserved for the desktop. For example, earlier this week Adobe Systems launched a new Acrobat X platform that makes it possible for subscribers to produce PDFs from anywhere while using any device equipped with a web browser.
Adobe’s new SendNow service also gives business workers the ability to track and manage documents right from within any mobile web browser. “There is no longer any reason to tie documents to one machine,” the Adobe Acrobat X support team wrote in a blog. “We should be able to get access to and retrieve and view those files reliably no matter where we are and no matter what device we are using at the time — and this is where the cloud delivers value.”
Though small mobile screens are obviously not suitable for full document creation or massive editing tasks, Google, Adobe and other companies believe business users will find mobile-device editing an attractive option whenever they need to put the finishing touches on a doc on the fly or make minor last-minute corrections. For example, it “means that you can work…