Google awaits decision from Apple on Google+ app

Google has asked Apple to approve a mobile phone version of Google+ for its devices, such as iPhones and iPads.

The new social networking site has been an instant success on the internet, with an estimated 10 million people signing up in the first two weeks, when the site was accessible by invitation only.
Google hopes that this success will translate to the mobile internet if Apple approves its dedicated app.

The news that it had submitted the app was revealed by a Google employee who let slip about the development on her personal page. Erica Joy wrote on her Google+ page: “For my iPhone using friends: the Google+ iPhone app has been submitted to the App store (no not today, sometime prior to today) and is awaiting approval.”

Google has not made an official comment about the app or its submission.

If Apple reject the submission, then Google+ will be restricted to a browser-based web application as with some of its other services. Google Voice was rejected because Apple said that it replicated one if the iPhone’s core functions.

A mobile version of Google+ is already available for Android smartphones.

Although there are advantages to having a native web app, experts say that it may not harm Google+ too much if Apple rejects its app submission.

However, mobile is essential to Google+, so it is expected that Google will do everything it can to optimise the social networking site for mobile use.