The Google Calendar Application Program Interface has just been released. And what does this mean to the ordinary Google user? Well, nothing exciting, for now at least. But for developers, this opens up an opportunity to a whole plethora of possibilities. For instance, aside from only being able to synchronize with Apple iCal, Google Calendar will theoretically be able to synchronize with other applications as well, including Microsoft Outlook, PDAs, Smartphones, BlackBerries, and others.

In fact, as soon as the API was announced, a handful of resourceful coders have begun working on creating a system to sync with various systems, such as:

• Syncing with an iPod
• Sync with Microsoft Outlook
• Google Desktop
• Google Homepage
• Subscribing to a Google Calendar via iCal
• Sending Google Calendar reminders via SMS to Verizon subscribers

According to Google, the API uses the GData model, which uses similar principles as the ATOM and RSS 2.0 XML standards. This simply means, among others, ease-of-control by programmers and developers over how their programs or sync applications communicate over the Web to Google Calendar. And as all tools and applications are to be fully documented online, it will be easy for developers to build on existing libraries and tools to develop newer ones.