Offline Google Docs coming next week and that's important for mobile device users

There must be a break in the clouds because Google Docs is about to get a little sunshine in the form of offline functionality. Rafe Needleman breaks news that Google Gears support starts rolling out to Google Docs accounts next week. You won't be able to create a new doc offline initially, but you will be able to edit existing docs.

Why is this important to mobile users? Well, I use Google Docs for all of my freelance writing for example. With my mobile devices, I can work anywhere these days, provided I have connectivity. My EV-DO modem offers that, but it comes at a price, and I don't just mean the $60 monthly charge. It uses valuable battery power. Let's imagine that I'm editing a document. [Actually, that isn't hard to imagine with my writing of late.... three to five go-arounds seems to be norm for me.] I can pull down my doc for offline use while using my EV-DO or a WiFi connection. Once I have the doc, I can shut my radios down to cut down on power use while I edit for the next hour or two. Sure, it's not going to give me hours more run-time, but it's smart power management and it will let me be productive longer.

While folks at the Google are messing with Google Gears: any chance for Safari or Opera support? There's more to the web than IE and Firefox. Ok, thx!

Comments

[Philip Ferris]

i take it gin have seen the ScobleI0 interview re this? http://www.mahalo.com/Google_Docs_Offline

[Philip Ferris]

That should have read: I take it you have seen the Scoble interview at http://www.mahalo.com/Google_Docs_Offline

[omon]

The bigger news comes from Google's Australian division with the announcement of gDay beta and its Machine Automated Temporal Extrapolation technology:
http://www.google.com.au/intl/en/gday/index.html