Google has launched new versions of its developer tools, Google Gears and the Google Web Toolkit (GWT), promising improved performance and deployment options.

The Google Web Toolkit 1.4 is a web app development tool for Java developers, which now features functionality that could make applications 30 percent smaller and 20 to 50 percent faster, according to a posting on the GWT blog.

Google Gears, which allows users to access their online applications even when not connected to the internet, now includes cross-origin API support and a new HttpRequest module.

David Bradshaw of analyst Ovum said the new upgrades to these tools are important steps in Google's aim to dominate not just the search space but " advance the business model into new areas".

"It looks like they're trying to just get the [technology] out there and decide later how to monetise it," Bradshaw argued. "These are still a work in progress but it's an important thing for them to do to move forward in the web applications space."