It's all fun and apps until consumers get a look at their data usage on a phone bill--but Google may be changing that.
Last week the company announced a free feature in its Chrome mobile browser that will allow users to compress data and obtain potentially significant savings on their wireless data bill. The browser's new update will also include Chrome's Safe Browsing technology to protect against malicious webpages. Google said the features will roll out via app updates on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store shortly.
Overall, developers on Twitter seemed to think it was a great time to be in a camp other than Apple's iOS:
Androids have it good! RT: #Google Adds Optional Data Compression Feature, Reducing Your Data Usage By Up To 50% http://t.co/LJ5LULP6mm
— sapsonic (@saptarshinath) January 16, 2014
Compress data on chrome mobile to save on your wilress data. This is super useful. http://t.co/JjjKVq86Za
— Sudhir Navalapakam (@nrsudhir) January 15, 2014
Limited data getting you down? New @googlechrome is bringing data compression to #mobile with hopes of BIG savings. http://t.co/ge6HCMkMfT
— Crittercism (@crittercism) January 15, 2014
Though Google is trumpeting its data compression feature as a breakthrough, some developers suggested the Android maker is merely playing catch-up.
Finally. Opera had that ages ago. Datacompression for mobile Chrome. http://t.co/eBSR9y5qnV via @googlechrome
— Marvin R. (@therealmarv) January 16, 2014
And while most users will no doubt be happy to save any money they can on data usage, some wondered what the long-term privacy trade-offs might be.
Does this mean every request from chrome routes through Google proxies for compression? http://t.co/U9vK9eazxW
— Chris Schnyder (@chris_schnyder) January 16, 2014