September 2nd, 2009
Do people want or need social location (SoLo) services?
Over the last couple of years, one of Nokia’s focusal points has been social location technology and services and I suppose it is a natural evolution in the usage of GPS technology. There have been a number of services from Nokia such as Vine, Friend View, enhanced Ovi Maps, and now Lifecasting and I have to honestly say I stopped using them after a few attempts because I personally found little value in them and never thought they were worth the hit in battery life to keep the connection and GPS receiver up or intermittently updating. I think the idea sounds great, but how many of us actually wander around the city looking for friends and people to meet up with? If I am going to meet someone then I just call them up and we work out the details of the meetup spot rather than fumble around on a phone (both parties would have to have supported services) trying to find their GPS coordinates on a map. Shoot, we could just use Twitter or text messaging too if I didn’t want to talk on the phone.
Am I being too cynical here when it comes to social location services? We see these great Nokia commercials, but I have yet to see anyone in Seattle using such services to meetup with someone. Are social location services more useful to those in Europe living in large cities without automobiles? Please respond in the Talkback section and let me know if these are useful services and I am just being an old fart who doesn’t get it.
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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