Google Latitude shows what’s wrong with Nokia’s social location (SoLo) strategy

Last 100 by Steve O'Hear: "If the next frontier is mobile, a key battle ground is going to be location-based services. And, drilling down further, location-based social networking, such as the ability to share your current location with friends. Yesterday, Google went head-to-head with Nokia and a plethora of startups with such an application. Called Latitude, the Google Map-powered software enables users to keep track of where their friends are and what they're up to. Sort of like Twitter, IM and GPS rolled into one.

And I'll show what's wrong with both of these "things"

I'm scared. Scared for my privacy, scared for the simple act of doing something without anyone knowing. Scared that I will no longer be able to tell my real life friends "Hey, guess what I did today?", because they'll know because they would have looked at my Facebook profile and seen what I was doing that day.

Shit scared.

This is too much, we're getting too connected in the bad way. The potential-for-stalking way.

This thing does have a place, and it's got to do with buying shite:

Step 1: You sign up to a list which tells you when/where you get discounts

Step 2: You choose your interests and preferences for categories that you want discounts for

Step 3: When you're out, the discount site uses the GPS in your phone to tell you "hey dood, there is a discount for chocolate salty balls 25m from where your standing right now. Show them this barcode to receive 15% off"

Step 4: And if credit card providers are smart, they'll jump on now, create alliances with certain stores and if you are a holder of credit card X, you are eligible to receive discounts from all of X's partners which X coordinates. Sweet, hey?