So like many others, I am developing iphone applications. If it didn’t already seem perfectly clear to you that we technology people are just as lemming-like as say, commodities traders, or art collectors, well, I hate to break it to you.
Yeah, so I’ve gotten sucked into the iphone hype too. Frankly, I can’t wait to get my hands on one, even if lil’ ole Charlottesville lags piteously behind the rest of the world with no 3G network.
I’ve been noodling about what location really means, especially in a user-pull application environment like the iphone. (I’m with the crowd that says, “Thank God iphone apps won’t run in the background – and dry out my battery in 15 minutes flat.”)
Rather than trying to come up with some New New Thing by smooshing together social networks, location and a handwave at a business model that involves trying to convince businesses to advertise “on the spot” sales to iphone users (ummmm, nrme, anyone?)… I’m wondering instead, “What things are truly location dependent?” I guess I mean something beyond just “Where’s the closest Starbucks?”
A few things have come to mind:
- tides
- sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset
- stars’ locations in the skies
- cheapest, nearest gas
- local food (http://www.localharvest.org/)
Hmmmm…. more ruminating is called for.
I think about people being location dependent. The nice thing about the iphone is that lots of people have them, or lots of a given demographic. If apple can get their sh#% together and start treating their customers and developers (also customers) with dignity, I think the iphone could become a standard like the ipod. Then people can use their phones to find each other, connect up, date, etc.