Full disclosure: I’ve been a Google fan since Altavista took the Compaq plunge into obscurity back in the day. Google’s stroke of genius has been either inventing disruptive applications or acquiring disruptive applications. I’ve often thought that Google has the power and the ability to completely dissolve traditional behemoths (TV, Phone/Cell, GPS), but has restrained because the world has never encountered an entity like Google. I’m not sure courts, congress, etc, would really know how to deal with Google.
Anyway, back to buzz.
A few years ago, when 3G was brand spanking new in Denver, the Helio phone (remember them?) peaked my interest, simply because of a one of its features: a GPS-find-your-friends-on-Google-Maps. This only worked if your friends were using a Helio phone. Helio never could gain traction, Cricket and Boost taking most of their low priced all inclusive features.
Fast forward a couple of years, what has happened in the mainstream? Iphones and Android based devices are gaining market share (with GPS and data becoming ubiquitous). Now there’s a need for location based services!
Latitude was the first salvo. Where where the privacy pundits when this came out? Oh, it uses a term that probably most people couldn’t define, so it gets unnoticed. Using Latitude (on the iPod), I noticed how it it quickly replaced my use of the Google Maps app. It was snappy, useful, and took advantage of the WebUI development platform. Latitude allowed me to integrate geobased info into my other Google services very easily.
Which brings us back to Buzz. Sure, Buzz didn’t seem like that big of a deal when I first tried it this past week. There was an additional label within Gmail (yawn). Big deal. Then I saw the light (the mobile light).
The Buzz mobile interface is quite nice. I clicked on the buzz around me, then I noticed a dozens of buzz (or tweets, etc..) geo-based in my neighborhood! Buzz is not a twitter-killer. Its another piece of the puzzle.
What’s more likely to happen? Users leaving facebook and twitter or leaving Gmail? Yup.
This isn’t a US thing, either. Google’s eye is on the world. I know this because my neighbor works for GeoEye (Google’s satellite mapping partner). Google has a huge (saturated) pipeline to GeoEye where they are continuously collecting detailed. It was another a matter of time before the GPS industry got rocked by Google’s disruptive business model (less than free).
Google owns their own map of the world; we’re connecting the dots.
I still have my Helio phone…. Will you be my buddy?
Awesome! I was so close to buying a Helio, but the OS was so clunky. If they had had Android back then, the Helio coulda been a contender!
And yes, Mike I’ll friend you, but you gotta find me on latitude: ryangarrett@gmail.com