As you may know, I’m a smartphone enthusiast. I have owned a few Blackberries and have lusted after the iPhone every time I’m at the Apple store.
In reading the Google Maps for Mobile discussion groups, it’s apparent that people use many different types of smartphones, from Windows Mobile devices, to Blackberries, Nokias, and iPhones. As smartphones go even more mainstream, I don’t believe any one company will dominate in providing the devices. The technology and market will become more sophisticated, allowing more businesses and projects to flourish. Multiple hardware and software options will be available and a diverse ecosystem will emerge. That’s why I like Google’s approach. They are busy creating great software that can be used on the mobile web or through various applications developed for every platform. For example, Google has a version of Google Maps and YouTube developed especially for the iPhone. Similarly, they have created special downloadable versions of Google Maps and Gmail for the Blackberry. Everything they do for the handset manufacturers ties back in to their wonderful data services. They are the octopus sitting in the middle of everything busily collecting more data.
With the advent of the Google-led Open Handset Alliance, even more innovation should emerge, especially in the field of location-based services. The people working with Android™ have demoed some interesting location-based applications that show your friends where you are, or alert them when you are nearby. There are endless possibilities, especially when it comes to collecting location data, which is the big payoff for Google. I’ve noticed that in using Google Maps for Mobile version 2.01 that it keeps running even after you return to the home screen. Past versions without “My Location” did not do this. My guess is the map application stays running in the background in order to keep pushing data back to Google. Google says it uses the My Location data to improve the service and does not report back user information, but one could imagine other interesting uses such as traffic data, behavioral data (what stores do people go to), etc. It could then build a nice service based on this data. This could be used to fine tune their location-based advertising if tied to demographics. Advertisers would certainly like to know more about the habits of their most desirable customers and would love to have better ways to reach their audience.
Great site and I look forward to checking out your updates!