Flipboard Partners Up With Google+ Thanks To New & Improved API

Google has been very hesitant to share Google+ data with 3rd party partners.  Today however,  Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of product management, announced the integration of Google+ on Flipboard.  The announcement was made at LeWeb ’12 in London.

The new integration is made possible thanks to a new Google API that not only allows public data to be pulled, but also to use the API to update to also update and publish posts.  A prototype was displayed at the conference showing the integration:

Image Courtesy of TheNextWeb

The ironic item is that Flipboard doesn’t have a presence on Android.  Google+ hasn’t branched out to create iPad specific apps yet, so this could be a way to provide access to Apple tablet users, without directly cater to them.  When talking about tablets and mobile Horowitz jabbed at competitor Facebook a bit saying:

“We’re dramatically investing in mobile … For us, mobile usage is not a problem. It doesn’t impact our business model. It’s a good thing for us.”

While Facebook has struggled in the mobile/tablet space they are on the verge of becoming serious contenders, more-so than even Google thanks the new iOS integration and Instagram acquisition.

Another interesting item on the Flipboard/Google+ partnership came from Robert Scoble who hinted that:

“This is the beginning of a real API. One that can write and read.”

In the comments he also hinted that he did have knowledge of the partnership before hand and that:

“I had to keep quiet until he announced it on stage. I can’t WAIT for next week at GoogleIO, either. This is just the first of a number of big bangs coming.”

For more information see TheNextWeb.