I have TEN Fire Eagle invites to give out to the hot new location-based application from Yahoo’s Brickhouse ’skunk works’. To get one, comment on this post with a decent explanation of why you think location-aware web applications are going to be big (I’ll pick the best). These are also one-time invitation codes and can’t be reused. To find out more about FireEagle check out Michael Arrington’s story and the longer review, but essentially FireEagle is a platform for controlling people’s location information. Tell it (directly or via a third party application built on FireEagle’s APIs) where you are (give it specific lat/long, or a city name, or a zip code, etc.) and it will note your location. Users with GPS phones could some day set it to periodically update FireEagle with their location information. Right now the Fire Eagle beta has next to no functionality – it’s waiting for an eco-system of applications to be developed around it. So for example, Movable Type users were recently offered a plugin which uses FireEagle, which makes their profile “location-aware”.
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20 comments
Location combined with the mobile web is going to help us get more connected in the real world… get us away from the PC and get really social.
Its going to be all about the mobile web this year, combine this with location aware services and we can all get connected! No more anonymous faceless social connections, anonymous photos and messages… bring the connections to life
the idea of overlaying information on top of the real world by tagging and noting real places while still being connected to a social tissue is what it’s all about.
Advertising revenues are pivotally linked to relevance- when the screen is small that’s particularly critical as real-estate is very precious. Getting the balance between favouring the consumer vs. the paying advertiser will be critical. (Sanoodi.com’s approach is interesting in this regard)
Advertisers alone need to think of new ways to get their message across – television ad revenues are dead and dying, banner ads are old, the mobile advertising practices of right now are all failing – as consumers, we certainly don’t respond well to sms spamming.
However, mobile devices are personal devices, so for advertising to be personalised based upon your locale is surely the next logical step. Fireeagle could play a pivotal role in setting the standard for location-based advertising, for as long as it’s relevant, users will see its value; an incredibly important factor for success.
I think the main main reason location-aware web applications will be big is because they will facilitate highly targeted location aware adverts.
Imagine looking some mobile restaurant review site and its showing you ads for places to eat right beside you.
For advertisers, geographic location is one of the hottest pieces of demographic information they can get their hands on. Location specific targeting for ads, emails etc means more relevancy to the recipient, thus works towards improving things such as CTR. All this lends to happier advertisers due to better returns, and a happier audience due to more targeted relevant content.
Because they bring us – internet people – back to reality! They connects us with real life. Look around you! It’s beautiful here and there’re a lot of nice people to meet! Location-aware APPs unveil this.
Location aware services provide a load of technical and usability improvements for the user in a transparent way. Knowing where someone is means that an application developer can accommodate many of the usage assumptions that usually require a mode change: lower impact interfaces in busier environments and so on.
Location is just the first part in a much richer tapestry of context and the ultimate vision of the ubiquitous computing environment.
It’s the first tangible step for the ubiquitous web. That’s what it is.
Location Awareness is the missing ingredient to the web’s digital intelligence. There are large number of social networks, directories and services that offer geo related data/products. Being able to leverage a location aware service should open up the doors for developers to build applications that can interact with several different API’s or web services which will allow for a much richer internet experience, giving rise to contextual feedback and reporting.
Advertising is one revenue stream that can help pay for the development of these apps, huge as it is for advertisers, it will also allow another layer of creativity and development to flow from within the internet community. It should usher in a progression in the way we interact with our digital lifestyle and provide many practical applications, that could see a change in the way we use computing. Journalism, commerce, social interaction. Everyone will benefit.
There will no doubt be a lot of discussion over the privacy of tracking, applications should be developed with sensible and proper controls. And give the control and storage of sensitive data firmly to the users.
I’m very excited about it.
Hey see it wasn’t sooooh hard to get intelligent comments
and as usual I’m the 11th
One thing that I thought about a few days ago is that this kind of “Location Intelligence” may help with is putting you in touch in the Digital World with people that you may pass by in the Real World. People who are attending the same events as you or even just drinking in the same pub.
Despite the optimism of the flat world believers where you are in the world really does matter. What is needed is an easy way for applications to get a good guess where the user is located without making the user go to great trouble to specify this.
I am hoping that Fireeacgle can solve this problem.
Location based services start to bridge the gap between our digital life and our real life. Activities in the real world will impact the our applications and vice versa.
Advertising in applications and service will become more targeted, which is better for customers too.
I can foresee this being the start of augmented reality, where your location-aware device will provide a digital overlay as you navigate the real-world.
Exciting times!
P.S. Please can I get a FireEagle invite!!
All the invites have now gone. Apologies to those who didn’t get one – if I get any more I’ll let you know.