Google+ just announced that feature phone users can now create a Google account. Googler Mohamed Fouad describes this as an effort to enable the hundreds of millions of people with feature phones but no computer access to create an account.
By visiting plus.google.com from a feature phone browser, users can now create a Gmail and Google+ account. This month, Google has extended features of the Web versions of Gmail and Google+ to allow free voice calls to any phone number. Building features for basic mobile phones helps Google extend its reach to a huge, untapped market for Web services.
It looks from Google’s screenshots like there will be basic functionality available from feature phones, not just the ability to sign up. It’s hard to imagine using Gmail or Google+ in any meaningful way on a feature phone. But it’s clear why Google wants to make it possible. Just like with free voice calling from Gmail and Google+ to any phone number, now millions more people are within Google’s reach.
See more feature phone screenshots from Mohamed Fouad on Google+.
