Google’s ascension among web users came out with the introduction of Gmail which changed the way in which users interacted with their kludgy Inboxes of yore. They mainstreamed AJAX through cool intuitive user interactions & quickly became the most coveted Beta trial to be a part of (remember the limited invites?).  Of course, Google Maps blew us over once more. Now, they’ve harnessed this ever growing Gmail user base into one large hereto un-connected social network by encouraging us to share our status, phone numbers &, today, our location with our contacts.

But are we ready to share our location with a corporate entity & for that matter with the rest of the world? Here’s where the extent of privacy controls plays a large part. Recently I argued why users have to be put in charge of their privacy controls may it be on social networks or via location aware apps like Loopt & now Google Latitude.

1. Google Latitude has somewhat gotten this right – they automatically turn on location sharing rather than leaving it turned off  after signing in with a Google account.

2. Another limitation comes from an inherent feature of Gmail – the habit of adding any & all emails to the contact list even if they’re one time recipients. It’s great when you’re using Gmail when it performs a lookup in the To/CC/BCC field but do we need those Citibank customer service emails showing up in our friend’s list in Google Latitude? What if one accidentally sends a sharing request to this unintended recipient? How does one revoke this? After having searched around on the mobile app as well as obvious Google account settings I couldn’t figure out which of my friends had access to my location info. The only way to deselect seemed to be to turn off location sharing altogether.

But I digress, any such limitation can be easily addressed via a software recode. The question really is who’d use this type of service & what for?

• As a device professional I’m concerned that this would drain the battery with a constant data connection that’s streaming GPS data back to the mothership! 
• Personally, I don’t see any reason to be sharing my location info on a daily basis. The utility of this service becomes clear when used for plotting a real time route possibly during a hike that gets posted to a Google Maps mashup service. 
• It’d also be helpful in case of an emergency to determine the last known whereabouts of a person. But wouldn’t it be better in this case to simply conserve battery life in order to make a 911 call?

What other applications do you think Google Latitude is good for?

The original Wired article provides for the basis of LBS applications in today’s socially networked world.

=======

1] LBS apps:

We have to really give credit to the iPhone for the way in which LBS apps have taken off within the consumer space. No doubt it has to do with the popularity of the phone. Kudos to the Apple marketing machine. 

But even before the iPhone we had some consumer apps like Loopt that ran on iDEN devices that broke away from the typical navigational type of apps. So, why didn’t we see many more such apps even though the iDEN SDK was as open as the one for the iPhone? It’s simply the popularity of the device & the uniform experience across any of the GSM carriers. This will be the sole reason why developers will 1st & foremost develop to the iPhone. 

Similarly whenever a CDMA variant of the iPhone makes its way to Sprint (hey we can all dream right? )  the challenge to the device development team at Apple will be to make sure the SDK continues to accommodate the same apps that were developed for the GSM variant. The onus of responsibility in making sure this development experience stays consistent can only lie with a device manufacturer & not the carrier. It also makes sense then for the carrier to get out of approving apps for individual developers but work closely with OEMs in establishing testing guidelines for apps that will get launched via the device’s app store.

B] Autonomous, Assisted & Other location techniques:

In the entire chain from device chip manufacturer to network infrastructure providers to carriers, the 1st & foremost thought was how to make money & not how do we make it a better user experience. Hence, techniques that compelled a network assisted location lookup. The reason why we saw more of the navigational apps on the iDEN devices in the past was because developers were given access to the GPS on the device. Similarly, the reason why WiFi enabled devices (iPhone, Blackberries, some HTC devices etc.) see more apps & services being developed for them is because of the ease with which location data can be tapped into by simplying hooking into an API like that from SkyHook Wireless.

Once again the carriers have to get out of the app chain & limit their ownership to areas which affect the security of the individual & the ability of first responders to reach them in an emergency. The decision by Sprint to open up their LBS platform through sanctioned mediators – Wavemarket & Where is a step in the right direction. 

C] Social Network Effects:

SNs are a great way to get back in touch with old buddies, colleagues etc. But human nature is such that we open up to a few & keep others at a distance. So, while SNs offer several privacy options very few folks actually make the conscious choice to exercise which new connection can follow which of their activities – in most cases they go with the broader “Allow all” setting. 

To say that a carrier should protect the privacy of their subscribers by limiting the location info that can be published to any service is akin to saying that ISPs should control the privacy settings on a SN site. At the end of the day a user should be in complete control of their location data yet app developers should effectively educate the user prior to encouraging them to use the service. A user should realize the implications of using a location aware app especially in the context of broadcasting their information to their SN networks.

A Push approach to socially networked LBS apps would give seem to give the user more control as compared to a Pull method – the user closes the app when he doesn’t want to broadcast his location. Of course, any Pull techniques can also be designed to give complete control to the user as well. The point here is that the user controls this & not a carrier.

In conclusion, carriers can continue to be enablers in consumer services to come but they have to realize that it’s the devices that the user’s experience 1st hand. By making their networks more open they stand a better chance of attracting more advanced devices & in turn more subs. The relationship that users have had with their carriers has changed dramatically, it’s best for them to focus where they’re absolutely needed – in managing a kick ass network!