How simple can an open, mobile location service be?
Was at the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab meeting tonight on "Gadget Envy". Sad to see that despite the efforts, the US lags hopelessly behind in making the mobile internet accessable and fun for the mass population. Enterprise deals seem to be the only place one can make money in this space.
One person in the audience asked about location based services, but didn't get much of an interesting response. Reminded me that Docomo i-mode has an open GPS sort of service called i-area that any mobile html site could access.
How it works. Simple. Let's say you want to deliver some location specific content. Just add a link on your html i-mode web site that points to a special servlet on one of Docomo's servers, and attach some parameters to that URL, including the final web url you'd like to present. The Docomo "servlet" runs then redirects the browser to your final requested url, and attaches some parameter that contains the location docomo's network figured out, something finer than a zip code gets you.
Keitai-L, an English discussion forum on i-mode and mobile computing development for Japan and Europe had some good links and comments on the service. The servlet URL and English translation of the i-area guidelines. I suppose now, they may be returning lat and long to your designated url.
I just read this too: "Users can also let others know their location by inputting the URL of their position into an e-mail, which can be sent to any i-mode compatible handset. In addition, a memo function allows users to store location information, including maps, telephone numbers and addresses, for easy access at a later date." With platforms like this, Japan will continue to have a huge lead when it comes to making useful mobile applications.
Someone asked about embedding Outlook into the phone. Puleez. I-mode has been using Access NetFront as the html browser AND a version of that for it's email client. Works great. Everyday, I email with friends in Japan who have this simple embedded email client. Access's has the largest embedded browser deployment in the world, mostly on phones in Japan of course. Imagine the nice footprint you get when the browser=email client.
There were a few Tiqit computers in the audience. Very interesting value proposition. They run Windows XP.. so no need to have a slimmed down version of your desktop app to run on your near-pda size PC. I suggested they try loading Userland Radio on one of them.
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