Thursday, May 20, 2010

Google and MG - LBS Evangelists

Yesterday, MG Siegler wrote a great piece on Google's Latitude API. I can't compliment enough anyone who helps evangelize the power of remotely locating mobile phones.

Remote, cloud-based location of mobile phones is an area of the LBS market that is just starting to heat up. Most people, when they think of "location", immediately think about apps, apps, apps for iPhone and Android phones. But, Google's Latitude API will hopefully bring well-deserved attention to a new class of apps that, IMHO, have as much (more?) upside as downloadable smartphone apps.

OK, so Google Latitude has 3 million active users. That's pretty impressive, but its not exactly mass market. What if I told you that today, with RESTful APIs, you could locate over 150 MILLION mobile phones? That's 50x what the Google Latitude API promises on a good day. And, you can access this location info without your end user having to download a client (Google Maps or otherwise). LISTEN UP, DEVELOPERS – no, I am not kidding, you can do this today with the Veriplace® Platform.

Already, there are folks building fraud detection apps (phone confirms that user was where financial transaction happened), mobile betting apps with built-in compliance (confirming you're in Vegas), and apps that auto-update your location to your twitter feed (check out mine @locationjason or Tasso’s @tassor). Remote cloud-based location access will also mean that roadside assistance calls will be auto-located so callers don't need to describe where they are to the dispatcher. In fact, 1,000+ developers are building these kinds of services right now.

Maybe someone should build an SMS check-in service that let's end users with feature phones get into the check-in game? We have some ideas on this... developers, take this idea and run with it. Just let us know how we can help you get this done.

In both cases, Google and Veriplace APIs, end user permission is required. This is critical. As an end user, you need total transparency about how your location information is being used. While there are some tradeoffs between privacy and UX, a straight forward SMS-based opt-in model should do the trick and not interfere. Veriplace has given lots of thought to this and continues to make improvements.

Thanks again, Google and MG!

@locationjason

1 comment:

  1. Hi, some good info. Thanx! Keep up the good work and Happy New Year!

    ReplyDelete