Google adds Passbook support to iOS Chrome, spreadsheets to Drive

Google on Wednesday rolled out updates for the iOS versions of its Chrome web browser and Google Drive cloud storage solution, each bringing notable enhancements like Passbook support and spreadsheet editing.

Chrome

Google's Chrome browser, first introduced in June, hits version 23 with the latest update and brings Passbook integration for devices running iOS 6. Much like Apple's own mobile Safari, Chrome is now able to recognize Passbook-ready boarding passes, gift certificates and other digital assets, for storage in the Passbook app.

In addition to Passbook support, the newest Chrome version is capable of sending PDF files to other apps like GoodReader.

From the release notes:

What's New in Version 23.0.1271.91

Open PDFs in other apps
Save your boarding passes and tickets with Passbook
Seeing garbled characters? Turn on text encoding detection in settings.
Stability and security improvements
Many bug fixes

Google Drive

Also debuted in June alongside Chrome for iOS,

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-drive/id507874739?mt=8">Google Drive

received a few requested changes with version 1.2.0, including the ability to create and edit spreadsheets in-app, a feature some Google Docs users may be familiar with. According to Google, iOS users will now be able to see collaborators' edits in real time, a function previously restricted to the app's desktop client.

Formatting when copy-and-pasting text in Google documents has also been enhanced

From the release notes:

What's New in Version 1.2.0

Create, edit and collaborate on spreadsheets
Upload to Drive from other apps using â€œOpen in...â€
Manage upload progress and see recent uploads in new Uploads section
Rich text copy-paste within a document
Improved speed and stability
Improved contact search for sharing
Bug fixes

Both apps are free to download from the iOS App Store, with Chrome weighing in at 15.7MB, while

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-drive/id507874739?mt=8">Drive

is 22.7MB.

Follow AppleInsider on Google News

6 Comments

tallest skil

said about 11 years ago

Huh. Well, that's good! The more Passbook support the better.

akf2000

said about 11 years ago

MS Office killer

gatorguy

said about 11 years ago

The NYT has an article up on the success Google is having in competition against Microsoft Office.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/technology/google-apps-moving-onto-microsofts-business-turf.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&ref=technology&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1356534248-ohr9VHs082DB/ffzEfSwUw

Google has been promoting the idea for more than six years, and it seemed that it was going to appeal mostly to small businesses and tech start-ups.

But the notion is catching on with larger enterprises. In the last year Google has scored an impressive string of wins, including at the Swiss drug maker Hoffmann-La Roche, where over 80,000 employees use the package, and at the Interior Department, where 90,000 use it.

One big reason is price. Google charges $50 a year for each person using its product, a price that has not changed since it made its commercial debut, even though Google has added features. In 2012, for example, Google added the ability to work on a computer not connected to the Internet, as well as security and data management that comply with more stringent European standards. That made it much easier to sell the product to multinationals and companies in Europe.

Google is tight-lipped about how many people use Google Apps, saying only that in June more than five million businesses were using it, up from four million in late 2011. Almost all these companies are tiny, but in early December Google announced that even companies with fewer than 10 employees, which used to get Google Apps free, would have to pay.

Google’s revenue from Apps, according to a former executive who asked not to be named in order to maintain good relations with Google, amounted to perhaps $1 billion of the $37.9 billion Google earned in 2011.

Shaw Industries, a carpet maker in Dalton, Ga., with about 30,000 employees, switched to Google Apps this year for communication tools like e-mail and videoconferencing. Jim Nielsen, the company’s manager of enterprise technology, calculated that using Google instead of similar Microsoft products would cost, over seven years, about one-thirteenth Microsoft’s price.

Shaw is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, run by Warren E. Buffett, but the close friendship of Mr. Buffett and Microsoft’s founder, Bill Gates, did not sway Mr. Nielsen. “When you add it up, the numbers are pretty compelling,” he said.

In addition to the lower price, Google has simplicity in pricing. Mr. Nielsen said he had to sort through 11 pricing models to figure out what he would pay Microsoft.

jupiterone

said about 11 years ago

[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/154675/google-adds-passbook-support-to-ios-chrome-spreadsheets-to-drive#post_2238404"] Google's Chrome browser, first introduced in [B]June[/B], hits version [B]23[/B].....[/quote] 23.....:wow: