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In December 2010, when Google unveiled its grand Chrome OS plan forChromebook laptops that did everything on the Web -- no local appsor even storage -- a big question was how could that work in thereal world where connectivity was often unavailable or the cost ofa patchwork of connection plans quickly became too high to remainalways connected. Google said it would deliver offline-capableGoogle Docs in March 2011, but it never did. It still hasn't. And Chrome OS is essentially a failed product today. At the same time, Google Docs -- which is quite useful in thatmultiple people can work on different parts of a spreadsheet (suchas a table) or calendar, and it serves essentially as auser-friendly content database -- worked horribly on mobilebrowsers like iOS's Safari and Android's Browser. Google came outwith a mobile-optimized Google Docs website, but it still workedpoorly. All this is why Google revealed today that it has bought Quickoffice , a small company whose Quickoffice Pro productivity suite is the only serious business editing tool for Android and the only serious competitor to Apple's iWork on iOS -- it even beats iWork in several key functions. In other words,Google has thrown in the towel on making a real, rich app work viaHTML only, at least in the mobile context. (Dataviz's once-leadingDocuments to Go has all but disappeared with no significant updatessince BlackBerry maker Research in Motion bought its key assets 18 months ago.) If any company could have -- and should have -- made mobile Webapps work like native local apps, it is Google. For Google to havegiven up means that the chances for Microsoft to make its Office365 suite work on mobile are remote at best; Office 365 too is essentially unusable on mobile devices. UPDATE: I should point out that Google called me after this postwas published to strongly object to the characterization that ithas given up on HTML for such apps, and a spokeswoman said in factGoogle is very strongly committed. She cited the update to Chrome OS last week that adds Quickoffice-derived technology to the Google Docs viewerand says that offline editing is working in beta at Google.Perhaps, but I've heard similar commitments before and haven't yetseen it translate on the ground. Enough promises and beta -- it'stime deliver it for real. If the Quickoffice acquisition can helpmake that happen, great! Other commentators have interpreted theQuickoffice acquisition as a way to compete better with MicrosoftOffice, perhaps with a Metro version for Windows 8 to make GoogleDocs seem less Webby and more appy. Perhaps, but Quickoffice has nohistory on any Microsoft or desktop platform. What I see as the limits of HTML for "real" apps is not the only implication of Google's purchase of Quickoffice.The buyout could lead to a real dilemma for businesses that useiPhones and iPads, which have become the new corporate standards.Apple and Google are, to put it mildly, at war, and it's easy toimagine that Apple will find some way to punish Google bywithholding approval for future versions of Quickoffice, especiallythe badly designed Quickoffice Connect app that tried to deliver a cross-platform version of iCloud. (UPDATE:Quickoffice has since announced that it will shut down Connect andmove users' data to Google Drive as of July 15.) Likewise, it'seasy to imagine that Google will pull Quickoffice from iOS ordeliver an inferior version (as it does for most of its iOS apps)to spite Apple and steer users to Android. In recent months, Quickoffice has partnered with several major mobile managementvendors , incorporating their security APIs so that IT can manage thecontents within Quickoffice, such as to prevent use in other appsor to wipe the data from users' devices if they leave the company.That's positioned Quickoffice to be the corporate mobileoffice-suite standard on the two mobile OSes that matter today (iOSand Android); given how poor Microsoft Office for Windows Phone 7is, you could easily imagine Quickoffice delivering a version forthat platform should it finally gain user adoption. Like Apple and Microsoft, Google is trying to create a proprietaryecosystem, so it favors its Chrome browser, Google+ social networkservice, and Android mobile OS, and it is working with otherecosystems only to the extent it has to. If that strategy isapplied to Quickoffice, any enterprise hopes of there being astandard mobile office tool that works across the major platformsand offers IT-friendly capabilities. This story, " Google gives up on mobile Google Docs, buys Quickoffice to gonative ," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really meanswith the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog . For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter . We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Labeling Machines Manufacturer , Shrink Wrapping Packing Machine for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Bottle Filling Machine.
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