Google Now has been expanding the range and variety of its Google Now cards, with 40 third-party partners unveiled in January. Seventy are being added to the Google app on Android today, bringing the total pool of Now partners up to 110.
Some marquee partners from the new group include Zipcar, which will now display upcoming end times for reservations so that you can remember to get it back to the designated spot in time to avoid a penalty; Spotify, which can now offer up playlists based on your recent listening trends and other contextual info, such as time of day; ABC News and Circa for breaking news; delivery reminders for food ordering service Eat24; and fitness progress reminders from apps like Runkeeper. OpenTable will even let you pay your restaurant bill directly from Now.
Cards from these new partners require that you have the latest version of the official Google app, and that you have the updated versions of each of the respective partner apps, too.You can get the full list here to see if your favorite app was included in this round.
Google seems happy to continue a staged rollout of third-party Now integration rather than flinging the doors open wide to everyone who might want to apply. This second group is much larger than the first, however, which might suggest that they’re accelerating the pace at which they’re bringing new partners on board.
Keep your eyes on Google I/O 2015, which happens late next month, and where we could learn more about the future of Google Now as it pertains to third-party applications.