Google tells developers to "bet on the web"

Chicago (IL) – Google has kicked off its annual I/O conference with a slew of new initatives, including Web Elements, Java Language Support in App Engine and the second phase of Android Developer Challenge.

“Bet on the web,” urged Vic Gundotra, a Google VP. “Its rate of innovation has dramatically accelerated over the past 12 months, giving rise to an open web platform that’s fundamentally more capable and more sophisticated than even a year ago. The combination of HTML 5, a vibrant developer community, and the pervasiveness of modern web browsers is delivering a programming model and an end-user experience that will surprise and delight people.”

The company described Web Elements as an “easy way” to incorporate Google products onto a website or blog, such as Maps, News and YouTube videos. According to Google, Java Language Support in App Engine provides developers with an end-to-end Java language solution for building AJAX web applications.

Google also showcased a set of Visualization components designed by Salesforce to store data in the cloud.

“These components enable Force.com customers and partners to quickly embed sophisticated reporting and analysis functionality in to their Force.com applications. You can even use the Annotated Time Line to visualize your sales progress,” explained Jesse Lorenz of Salesforce. “The Google Visualization component project is one of the most popular projects…Force.com partners have already begun to leverage the components to build new business intelligence apps so that users can quickly generate reports and dashboards that provide them with new insight to their data.”

Finally, Google launched the second phase of its Android developer challenge. The company plans to award the winner with a quarter of a million dollar prize in November.