Google announced that it is releasing a new application for Apple's iPhone, which consolidates the search giant's services such as e-mail, Web search and calendar into a single interface. Google said the new interface, based on AJAX programming, will make it easier for users to find, use and switch between its services on the iPhone.

Steve Kanefsky, a software engineer on Google's mobile team, wrote on Google's mobile blog about the challenges of using the Web on mobile phones -- smaller screens, slower connections, difficulties entering text, etc.  "So you can imagine how excited I was when the iPhone launched with a large touchscreen, Wi-Fi and a full-blown Safari Web browser," wrote Kanefsky. "I set out to create an application that would preload my favorite Google products and allow me to switch between them instantly. I wanted Web results as well as image, local and news results without having to repeat my search. I wanted to check Gmail and my news feeds in Google Reader without having to load a new page every time. I also wanted Google Suggest to save me time typing queries on the virtual keyboard."

The application is available now, for free on Google.com.