Google Now introduces app integrations to connect with audiences in new ways

Google Now is one of Android’s most useful features, providing users real-time contextual information in the form of handy cards throughout their days. Today, Google announced that Google Now will support third-party integrations from apps like Lyft, Instacart, and Ebay, providing all-new ways to deliver information to users on Android.

Google Now is one of Android’s most useful features. Today, it also gives brands a new avenue to connect with users.

Like Notification Center widgets in iOS 8, Google Now integrations will allow apps to optionally offer data to the Now view in real time. This will give users up-to-the-moment information from the apps that matter to them, beyond the maps or calendar data that Now has traditionally pulled in from Gmail.

The addition is simply a new outlet for brands to make an impact on the world’s most prevalent platform. The best Android developers make use of widgets on the Android launcher screen or interactive notifications in more recent versions, but Google Now represents a new opportunity to leverage the latest Android features to engage users and provide actual value.

The addition offers a new outlet for brands to make an impact on the world’s most popular mobile platform.

Google Now already supports a markup for email messages that allows them to appear alongside other cards from Gmail, an integration currently employed by companies like airlines and rental services. Today’s announcement expands Google Now’s capabilities for native applications, and opens the door to new card types from third-party developers.

As Apple begins to broaden its developer opportunities with Extensibility, Google continues to double down on open features that enhance the user experience. With Google Now integrations, the company has thrown down the gauntlet for actionable data accessible from the system level. Now, if only Siri could learn a thing or two from apps.