Tagged with 'GPS'

With the recent release of iPhone 3G and the launch of Apple’s App Store, location-aware social networking applications will be making their way into the hands of more people than ever before.  The ease of use and simplicity in downloading new apps means that Apple has virtually removed the tech know-how barrier to participation.  Many of the launch day applications are free iPhone versions of popular social networking web sites.  Just about every major player has an app available for download either now or in the near future – Facebook (links open in iTunes if installed), MySpace, Twitter (via a third-party), Pownce, Flickr (via Exposure, by a third-party), and Loopt, who presented their app during Apple’s keynote announcement.  Most of these apps use your location in some way, opening up some exciting possibilities for extremely localized search, directions, and more applications hitherto unimagined.  All of these location-based apps are opt-in due to a restriction in Apple’s iPhone software development kit – the phone will prompt you if the application wants to gain access to your current location.

Of those mentioned above, Loopt has created a bit of a debacle and garnered a great deal of ill-will this week by broadcasting your phone number and current location to everyone in your contact list.

The point of Loopt is to be able to let your friends know where you are so you can get together (without having to actually communicate with anyone via text message, phone, or email).  I for one am a bit reluctant to constantly reveal my current location, even to friends, but by sending SMS text messages to everyone whose phone number you’ve ever added to your contact list, Loopt breaks a social contract by violating their users’ privacy.

Even without installing the Loopt app on my iPhone I’ve been barraged  by text messages from others who have installed it and unwittingly been sending out scores of SMSes without knowing it.  Aside from privacy concerns, sending and receiving text messages costs both the sender and recipient money.  I pay for a 200 text message plan, but after that texts are $.20 to send or receive – imagine the costs involved if you have a lot of contacts in your contact list!  Since contacts are one of the easiest things to sync to my iPhone, I have a lot of contact info for people that I don’t necessarily want to spam with text messages asking them to join a service so they can spam other people with costly SMSes.

Given the backlash on the Internet, it will likely be just a matter of time before Loopt corrects this issue, but in the meantime, be very, very careful which networks you trust with your sensitive information, including your current whereabouts.

UPDATE (16 July): Loopt has announced that they will disable the feature that automatically sends invites to everyone on your contact list in their next update.  No word yet on updates to their SMS service that will respond to the industry standard “STOP” message so non-subscribers can stop receiving spam from them.

Back in 2002, the engineers at IBM were already talking about location-based services on mobile phones. They envisioned scenarios where you could access information on the go, informing you if there was a traffic jam ahead, or helping you find the location of the nearest bakery. But they were working with WAP (wireless application protocol), which did not end up taking off as expected. Mobile web browsing was slow and the user interface was not ideal for displaying lots of information.

Last week, activation issues aside, the launch of the iPhone 3G and App Store breathed new life into location-based services. According to Matt Dickman at Fleishman-Hillard, the “single most important element of the new iPhone 3G” is GPS. “For the first time ever, GPS will be fully integrated on a user-friendly consumer device,” he wrote. Even more important, developers are also able to create applications using the GPS technology. (Note: old iPhone users can still download 2.0 firmware, but location-based services will use the less accurate tower-assisted AGPS - thanks Jough!)

What this means for social media:

• Mobile social networks may increase in popularity

When Twitter was first launched, I remember thinking it was both creepy and unnecessary for people to know what I was doing at that moment and vice versa. But over time, microblogging sites have evolved into useful communication devices. News stories sometimes break on Twitter before hitting the mainstream media, companies are using Twitter for customer service, and Twitter even helped a student when he was arrested in Egypt.

Similarly, while it may seem creepy to be asked “Where are you now?” the potential for location-based social interaction to take place may later have us wondering how we lived without it. Mobile social networks to check out: Loopt, Brightkite, and Whrrl.

What this means for marketing:

• Higher level of customer engagement with the ability to deliver more relevant, location-specific messages

Another dimension of customer segmentation is now available to marketers – exact current location. An obvious use of this information is to offer an opt-in program to receive coupons for a specific store when the mobile device is within close proximity to the store. Some Asian countries already have such programs in place.

The possibilities are endless. Someone at Duo suggested a store-specific Starbucks application that will alert the store when you are two blocks away. By the time you arrive at that Starbucks, your drink will be ready and waiting for you to pick it up and go.

With 1 million iPhone 3Gs sold in the first weekend and 10 million App Store downloads, it will be exciting to see how the implications of location-based services continue to grow.