Google Now is the future of Search and Google knows it

Apr 29, 2013 15:21 GMT  ·  By

As expected, Google Now has become available on iOS, as part of an update for Google Search. The fact that Google Now was coming to iOS wasn't a secret. It was an obvious move, for one, and a video describing it leaked a few weeks back.

Google itself didn't make it a secret, and Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt hinted at it only a few weeks back. But now it's official and it's here.

If you've used Google Now on Android or at least read about it, you'll know what to expect. It mostly works the same as on Android as well, though obviously it can't be integrated as deep.

The feature is opt-in as well; if you just want the Google Search app you can continue using it without Now, at least for the moment. There are no push notifications either, so you'll have to launch the search app to get Google Now cards.

While Now has only been available on Android until now and is still mobile-only, Google has big plans for the feature.

It's already working on building it into Chrome, another obvious move, but also inside the Google homepage.

Google is still a web company and Google Now needs to come in a pure web version. As much as Google would like it to be otherwise, there are still people who don't use Chrome.

It's not an exaggeration to call Google Now the future of search and the future of Google itself. As such, you can expect Google to build Now features into everything it can.

Still, it's no coincidence that Now debuted on mobile devices; it's there that it's the most useful perhaps. Timely info about whatever is important to you at any given moment is even more valuable on mobile devices than it is on the desktop.