Google+ iPhone/iPad “Plus” app is in Apple’s hands, says Google employee

For those wondering whether Google is planning to limit Google+ to being a mere tool for steering people toward its other services or whether it’s taking the social network seriously enough to market it to all users, you now have your answer: the official Google Plus app for iPhone is already in the hands of Apple and is in the cue for the iTunes App Store, according to Google employee Erica Joy who shared the news via her Google Plus account this afternoon.

There had been some fear that Google might limit Google+ to only having an app for Google’s own in-house Android operating system, which would have shut out a hundred million or more users of Apple’s iOS, which powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. It’s not immediately clear whether the Google+ app will be universal in that it’ll automatically scale up to take full advantage of the iPad’s larger screen, but either way it should run on the iPad without issues.

The original Google+ post from Erica: “For my iPhone using friends: the Google+ iPhone app has been submitted to the App store (no not today, sometime prior to today) and is awaiting approval.”

Apple hasn’t yet commented on when or if the Google+ app will appear in the App Store, but it does screen all apps before ultimately approving well over ninety percent of them. There’s little reason to believe the app won’t be approved shortly. While Apple and Google have become bitter rivals in the iPhone-Android battle, Google Plus does not appear to be a direct competitor to Apple, unless you count Apple’s iTunes Ping social network which launched last year to little mainstream effect. As it stands, Google has dozens of already-approved apps in the iTunes App Store. Here’s more on the Google+.