Google has rolled out a walking directions feature in its mapping product, previously available to few users in a limited rollout (as the company often tests new products or features). This was first offered by AskCity in 2006, but then…
Watching the rankings of free applications in the iTunes store (measured by download volume) over the past week, I've seen lots of ups and downs. In local apps, Yellowpages.com's local search application went from 21 yesterday to 26 today, while…
It is an awkward time for a company to be holding an affiliate meeting right after it has been sold. This week, ShopLocal was put in this position for its long planned meeting with 120 retail partners in Chicago (where…
Now that the 3G iPhone and App Store have arrived, the iPhone is decidedly more appealing and user friendly for both mainstream users, and for companies of all sizes to create and deliver mobile apps. The previous post explored how…
Social features have been a core element of many of the local search applications in the iPhone's AppStore, such as WHERE, Whrrl and Loopt (WHERE is in the top 20 downloaded free apps so far). Each of these not only…
While there were many well-documented incidents of crashing servers and glitches in getting 3G iPhones activated over the past few days, Apple announced today that it has already sold 1 million of the new devices. I've been having my own…
In case you've been in a cave for the past several weeks, the iPhone 3G launches tomorrow. Better yet, the App Store scheduled for tomorrow's launch is already available (latest version of iTunes required). Current iPhone users will be able…
Pegasus News is launching an iPhone App on July 11 to coincide with the launch of iPhone 3G. The app for the Dallas city guide will feature events, restaurants, drinks, Wi-Fi and garage sales, all searchable by the hour and…
The Google Mobile blog today announced that the company will bring voice search capability to mobile mapping queries. This will utilize the Goog411 voice search technology, and will be available initially on BlackBerry Pearl models (8110, 8120 & 8130). It…
There is lots of talk this week about the next generation browser, now that Firefox 3 has launched. On Friday I got the chance to meet with Ryan Sarver, Skyhook Wireless director of consumer products, who has some notable efforts…
Urbanspoon is one of the first companies to announce a local search iPhone app (others are here). The application acts almost like a local restaurant eight-ball that lets users define cuisine, price or other factors, before shaking the device to…
Lots of talk about the 3G iPhone this week. We'll see lots of local applications developed that make use of faster speeds and GPS capability, as speculated. The $199 price tag will also make it more mainstream friendly than before.…
Yellow Pages Group New Zealand has announced the debut of “Yellow mobile” on the Telecom and Vodafone Live! networks. According to New Zealand’s Business to Business magazine: "Yellow Pages Group Digital Media Director Blair Glubb said Yellow mobile will complement…
Om Malik reports that the hotly anticipated 3G iPhone, rumored to come out next month, will have GPS capability (by federal mandate). The provider is rumored to be Broadcom -- a big win for the chip maker, which only recently…
News.com provides screenshots of Google's Android operating system, straight from this week's Google I/O conference in San Francisco. It is a touch screen interface with a home screen that looks a lot like the iPhone. Like the iPhone, lots of…
Call Genie announced today that it will partner with speech recognition company Vlingo to enable natural language searches across the CG product suite. This falls under the category of enabling technology that will make mobile local search easier to use…
NearbyNow had a three-pronged announcement today including a $12 million series C round, a distribution partnership with TheFind.com and a new iPhone app. The funding was led by Norwest Ventures and will primarily be used to build infrastructure for traffic…
Today, I'm at ThinkPanmure's Think Tomorrow -- Today VC summit in Half Moon Bay, California. As Where 2.0 is happening as we speak on the other side of the hill, some attention to location awareness has been paid here as…
Skyhook Wireless announced a series of partnerships that bring location awareness to online applications. These include Krillion, Yahoo! Fire Eagle and CitySquares, to name a few. They'll each use the location awareness of PCs and laptops (via Wi-Fi signal) for…
Two consumer advocacy groups plan to file an FTC complaint about mobile marketing and its emerging practices. The advocacy group Digital Democracy filed its complaint in conjunction with U.S. Public Interest Research Group. According to an article in MediaPost, Jeff Chester, founder…
