The new service allows sharing of one’s whereabouts with friends.
Ever wondered where your long-lost friend is? Google will now offer you the answer. Google, which accounts for nearly 80 per cent of all online searches, today launched a new service, Google Latitude, that lets cellphone users share their location with friends.
The service is part of Google Maps for Mobile, the company’s mapping software for mobile phones, but can also be used through a gadget loaded onto its iGoogle customised home page. It will work in 27 countries at launch.
Latitude can be downloaded on the mobile phone and invitations can be given to friends and family to join the service. The location-based service only works with prior permission from the other person. Privacy settings can be adjusted in Latitude so that you share as much or as little about your location as you want, with whom you want.
So for each person, you can choose to share your available location or your location when you travel to a different city, or you can be completely unavailable. Everything is under your control and, of course, you can sign out of Latitude at any time. The service also allows the user to communicate with friends through text messaging, instant messaging or a phone call.
The application is independent of mobile operators and can be downloaded free from the Google website. “The only cost that the consumer will have to pay is the data packet charges that are levied by the mobile operators. This has no revenue advantage for us since this it is not linked to sponsored advertising, we just want to promote the use of maps on phones,” said Vinay Goel, product chief, Google India.
Latitude will work on Research In Motion Ltd’s Blackberry. Devices running on Symbian S60 devices, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and some T-1 Mobile phones running on Google’s Android software will also support the service.
Latitude also helps you find the nearest eating joint, cinema hall or shopping mart near you or near the destination of your choice. It uses Google’s technology to judge a user’s location not just by Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, but also by proximity to mobile phone towers and wireless networks.
Companies like Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications, and Vodafone already offer a similar service called Loopt’s service. The service works on Apple’s iPhone.
“We are encouraging the use of internet on mobile phones through our compelling applications. However, now telecom operators need to provide cheaper data plans to push this movement,” said Goel.
“In China, it was seen that the overall mobile market has grown by leaps and bounds in the past couple of months, since the Chinese mobile operators dropped their data packet prices by over 70 per cent. In India about 15-20 million people use internet on mobile phones. The service has the potential to attract more users,” he added.
Google recently launched its Ocean application, through which not only surface maps but under-water images can also be viewed. The company has also come up with specific offerings for the Indian market. Google has features like SMS Channel where one can SMS a search query and get answers through messages. Queries can be on subjects like paddy rates, market movements and latest news.
“Of the over 300 million mobile users in India, around 20 million use SMS as a way of communication. Therefore, we launched our SMS Channel. We have also done a pilot launch for our Google Phone Search in Delhi and Hyderabad, which facilitates voice-based search, ” said Goel
The voice-based search programme has not been launched commercially since fine tuning of voice recognition is still required. Google also plans to launch this service in various local languages.
