Google Wave just released its Beta version to a select group of people. Don't feel bad if you were picked, Google tends to release the next round of invitations pretty quickly. Google Wave developers, however, have been hard at work for quite some time. Google Wave Apps are coming fast!
Google Wave Apps
What will applications for Google Wave look like? They will most likely be centered around communication and collaboration. Google Wave has built in real-time collaboration across sets of users. Google Wave is kind of like Twitter + Google Search + Google Documents. Think of it as Google answer to Twitter, but what it is truly is another swing at Microsoft. Google documents now become living, real-time, collaborations, which is something Microsoft cannot yet fully deliver. Do people want to collaborate in real-time? Will they feel threatened? That's the real question.
So while the public has been anxiously awaiting Google Wave, developers have been fooling around with Google Wave's API and development tools. Applications for Google Wave are already being released and tested out. You can imagine an incredible series of applications touching upon many aspects of everyday life. An app for Google Wave might include a specialized auction site for a private club of members or an application for a sales team to work collaboratively on penetrating an account. Google Wave applications will surely center first around business before approaching the public at large.
Google Wave App Adoption
There may be a very high hurdle for Google Wave applications to leap. Google has an incredible built-in distribution system and can propagate their system like no other. However, the concept of real-time search and collaboration is extremely foreign to all but the most hard-core tech enthusiasts. Google Wave itself may face real challenges in broad adoption, and you can imagine that derivitative applications based on Google Wave will face even greater difficulties. If you are thinking about how to develop for Google Wave or have ideas about real-time search, it might be wise to distance your application as far as possible away from the technology itself. Think about your Google Wave appliaction as just another client-server based application that a user might be familiar with. Grind away at every user interface hiccup and pay special attention to usability.
We can likely predict a very small adoption rate for any application that is prefaced on a bleeding edge technology and then takes even a further step toward the future. The most successful Google Wave apps will deliver a new functionality to a very specific audience and address a very specific need. Google Wave represents an incredible opportunity for both the public and developers - it will be exciting to see the innovative software that Google Wave will enable.
