A Google search results page fit for an iPhone

It’s been well established that browsing the web on mobile devices is exploding thanks to smartphones. None are propelling mobile web usage forward as much as Apple’s iPhone, and Google acknowledged that today by launching a new search results page tailored specifically for the device.

The page neatly organizes results so they are easily viewable on the iPhone’s screen. Previously, when you did a search, you would get a results page that looked just like the one you get on the web. Unfortunately, those often have huge amounts of white space on the right side, which means you have to zoom in to see anything on the iPhone. This new page eliminates all that white space and adds features like a one-touch calling if you search for a place with a listed phone number, and one-touch directions if the place has an address in Google’s listing.

The “Images” search area is also laid out better, as is “Local” and “News.” The News area is particularly nice because it not only bundles all of the coverage together under the main headline, it bundles the images in the “More coverage” area, making finding news items even quicker.

One thing to note is that this page actually does not come up if you use the Safari web browser’s built-in Google search. It’s kind of silly, but to get this new page you have to do a search on the actual google.com optimized for the iPhone. Hopefully Apple can hurry to rush this into the iPhone 2.2 software update — which is said to be coming out in 10 days.

This new results page is also only available in the U.S. for the time being on iPhones and iPod touches with version 2.0 and greater of the firmware. Google promises to add this feature to other countries going forward.

It’s good to see Google acknowledging the iPhone’s dominance and supporting it even after the first entry using its own Android software is out on the market, the G1. Now if only Google would swallow its pride and build native Gmail, Calendar and Google Talk apps for the App Store…

See a video of the new results in action below.