google local for mobile

i recall excited conversation a couple of years back about the fantastic consumer, service provider and advertiser promise of mobile location-based services. much of the hoopla was more about technology than services, e.g. focused on handset-based (e.g. gps), network based (e.g. tdoa), or some combination of the two. as the vision went, mobiles would know/discover where they are and networks would pipe location-dependent services and/or ads to users poised to consume on the fly.

reality is, gps is not yet widely-deployed in handsets, and carriers/service providers have yet to otherwise deliver mainstream location-based services of any compelling value. and, it's unclear whether "discovering where you are" really adds all that much value (unless you're really, really lost). and, moreover, the potenially intrusive nature of "always or mostly-always on" location techs - e.g. in terms of pushed advertising - has it's downside as well...

...so, if i know where i am, and know what i want (and/or don't want) in terms of service or information, why wouldn't a web-based service like google local for mobile (linked) be enough?

for me, lacking some compelling alternative that negates the comments above, i think it might do just fine - indeed, i like the level of personal control it affords.

i've been playing with the beta. screenshot from the nokia n70 above. there are some natural bugs - e.g. the address database is a bit dated - but nothing unlike what one regularly experiences with any online mapping or directory tool. truth be told, biggest issue i've got so far is rendering/loading times, and those are factors dictated by wireless network speed/throughput which should become of less concern as the networks are further upgraded to 3g.

yeah, for me this is fine. not bad at all. another indication, incidentally, that content is content, services are services, and brands are brands - regardless whether fixed, mobile, nomadic or whatever.

weekend. later.