Developer API for Google+: It really is coming

by Rafe Needleman

Google’s new social network, Google+, has only been public for two days, and developers are currently considering access to the service so they’re able to roll out add-ons and improvements.

Thankfully for them, and eventually for Google+ users, developer access is coming. It is just a matter of time. As Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of social for Google, told me at a Internet two.0 Summit cocktail party tonight, “I’m a developer guy at the core. It is inconceivable I’d create something not having a platform.”

Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice-President of Social for Google.
(Credit: Julie Blaustein)

Gundotra worked for 15 years at Microsoft prior to leaving for Google. His last job there was as general manager of platform evangelism. It is fair to say he’s got the background for creating systems that developers can construct upon.

Nevertheless it is not surprising that Google+ launched without developer access. The service is far from fully baked. “We’re just getting started!” Gundotra gushed to me when we talked. The functions and functions of Google+ will probably transform substantially in short order. Extra functions will be undoubtedly be added for the service, also as improved integration with other Google apps. Giving developers access now might be premature, as some may make products that end up duplicating attributes that Google itself is just about to layer into the publicly obtainable service.

But opening up Google+ to developers eventually could allow all manner of add-ons and improvements, from third-party access apps, like Tweetdeck was for Twitter (prior to Twitter acquired it); to Zynga-like games that access the Google social graph; to other utilities and add-ons. Personally, I’d like to see a utility that makes faster perform of managing and sorting contacts into circles.

Google is collecting names from developers who desire to know when the organization launches developer tools. There is an e-mail and Google Group sign-up on-line now.

Read far more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-20075974-250/developer-api-for-google-its-coming/#ixzz1Qq5niq00