So Thursday afternoon, west coast US time saw the much hyped facebook announcement regarding their location product and third party location API's. As can be seen by the logo a little unfortunate that it is comprised of a four in a square. This product launch even generated press coverage on Radio One, so you know it must be important.As expected Facebook Places launched in the US yesterday http://awe.sm/59VYr iPhone only at this stage - A shame that the launch is iPhone and mobile site on HTML 5 devices only. Given Mr Zuckerburg apparently uses Android now I am surprised an initial launch was not also available on Android. Still I imagine it is not far behind
@gowalla Starting tomorrow, Gowalla check-ins you chose to post to Facebook will be shared as check-ins, not simply a status update. - The product also includes third party developer API's, as everyone expects an internet product to now have ;-). Gowalla and foursquare are among the initial launch partners. Check-ins on these services will now be posted to facebook as checks-ins on foursquare Places. Other launch partners include Yelp and Booyah. The trade off for providing access to third parties for facebook is that they get to embrace the cool of these early start ups while these companies get to embrace the facebook community for distribution. Following the launch of facebook places both foursquare and Gowalla announced their busiest weekends activity.
RT @mashable Privacy Group Voices Concerns About Facebook Places - http://mash.to/2rEfw That was quick ;-) - It didn't take long for the naysayers to jump on the privacy bandwagon! Seriously if you are concerned about this simply don't use the services. No-one is forcing you to use them. I agree that sharing location can be a sensitive issue and if you are concerned then understand the privacy limitations and work within them. Foursquare have clearly stated how they manage privacy and how users can control what information is displayed through use of their product. I still have concerns over Gowalla privacy and this impacts my usage of the service. If you have taken time to understand how the privacy works and still have issues with the service then don't use it. If you work in privacy group in a large German company, or any German company for that matter, .... well probably best not use these services either ;-)
As hoped @foursquare and @gowalla partner with Facebook Places http://awe.sm/59VZQ Great for distribution! - as mentioned above, facebook places allows 3rd parties to integrate with the Places product. A great move for all involved. The new start-up community of check-in services gets to embrace many millions of facebook users, thus benefitting from increased distribution. Facebook hopes to get a bit of the cool factor of these services to rub off on its now old school product ;-). I do wonder though if facebook might end up smother these infant startup services with kindness though. Is anybody else a little worried that foursquare servers might not be able to cope with a massive spike in users?
RT @mashable Location-Based Text Message Ads Get a Major Boon - http://mash.to/2rAkc -> SMS Not dead - for the many billions of users of mobile users that do not own a smart phone SMS is not dead. Billions of SMS messages are still sent daily and it is a communication mechanism that is understood by almost every mobile user. Not everyone has a browser and a facebook app. Precisely why I like the twitter SMS services that are available. SMS is not a dead medium and this is a novel use for it, assuming that you have opted in to receive messages. Again Pricacy crusaders should probably avoid opting into this one as your brains might melt with concern.
Ofcom research about media consumption in the UK http://awe.sm/59VbU Smart phone ownership now 26.5%. Fbook consumes 45% mob net time - OK so smartphone usage might not be universal and SMS might be a means to communicate, but in the UK smart phones will be sold with breakfast cereal next year! The growth in smart phone usage is driving a surge in media consumption. At the moment your average UK resident consumes 25 hours of media a day! This is as most now have 2 smart phones ;-) Well OK this is not quite true, but if you are looking for the headline .... well probably don't use the one above ;-). Still smartphone usage and media consumption do flwo hand in hand.
RT @TechCrunch The Paranoid (and Germany) Can Relax, Facebook Dials Up Privacy With Places - http://tcrn.ch/ddqgEC by @evelynrusli - more privacy concerns about check-in services? Here's an explanation of how facebook handle it. Have a read. See if you are happy with it. If not then please don't use the service. The last time I checked facebook were not forcing you to do so?
RT @IntoMobile Leak: Photos: Nokia N9 [MeeGo, QWERTY, Finland's next flagship?] http://bit.ly/9cdhvV - Nokia's next flagship device. Fingers crossed it doesn't behave like a massive ship unable to change course to avert an impending disaster. One must reserve judgement until the device is launched.
RT @mashable Foursquare Experiences Record Signups After Launch of Facebook Places - http://mash.to/2sfre - As mentioned above. Will facebook inadvertently kill with kindness? Can foursquare cope with the load. Gowalla also commented about the massive spike in usage over the weekend on twitter.
More than 100 million people a month now use Google Maps for Mobile http://awe.sm/59XYR thats quite a few ;-) - Google know how to kill a party don't they. The day of launch of facebooks fledgling Places API's with the many fledgling companies integrating with it, Google drop a 100 million monthly users of Google Maps bomb on them. Nice timing Google ;-) Seriously impressive figures though. I think someone should let Google know that 2010 is the year of mobile! Or do you think they already know that ;-)
Providing the tools to allow your customer to have a sense of ownership of the product they use is essential http://goo.gl/b/v2CN - a blog entry I wrote about the benefit of talking to your Customers and how if you actually take the time to listen to them that in general the world will be a happier place! Sometimes it astonishes me that people forget that the Customer is actually an important piece of the product lifecycle. Some might suggest that without Customers there is no real point in making products.
Working with location-based apps will help prepare your business for the day when checkin apps are mainstream - http://awe.sm/59cVD - I touched on this in a previous post. Check-in services and other LBS services are not going to be going away any time soon. Companies that learn to embrace them and find out how to engage Customers within them are going to benefit hugely in the long run. They are not a passing fad. Imagine if you had access to millions of Customers and their location and didn't make something of it! Seriously! Are you mad??
Mobile operators expect voice revenues to be overtaken by app downloads in 2013 http://bit.ly/bVzdeb Really? Really? How? via @feebeyer - again. Seriously! Are you mad? I do note that there is no source of the information in this article that says carriers are going to make more money from app downloads then they will from voice by 2013. Whoever actually said this can you please put your hand up? I will submit your name for the optimist of the decade award. Is it the WAC application store that is going to drive this carrier revenue? Maybe if you add up all access revenue and start charging content providers for content distribution, i.e. remove net neutrality, then maybe you might get a dent into that falling voice revenue! But if you charge for content distribution do you think some other players might get into the market and deliver free content based on an advertising model? I am not going to name names but when you think about it I am sure you could come up with one. Hey carriers have to make money, and there is still plenty to be made in content, access and distribution. I just have serious doubts about the statement that carriers will make more money from app downloads than voice within the next 3 years. There are other ways to make money though which I would be happy to discuss! We could even make money from access! ;-)
Cheers
M
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