Earlier today, we noted that an update to Google Maps for Mobile was the clearest sign yet of Google going directly after Yelp. But it’s actually even more interesting than we thought.
Key to the new Google Maps for Mobile is Places, the new establishment-centric area which Google has been building up for about the past year or so. Places is basically an evolution of Google Local, which had been around for some time to pull in the best content for various local businesses. Previously, with Google Local, Google was using content they licensed to populate their review excerpts area. But apparently, that’s no longer the case. Google doesn’t have such an agreement with Yelp and yet Yelp content is appearing in Google Places.
And not only that, Yelp data often constitutes a lot of the review content. → Read More
Mobile application service provider Lightpole has introduced a beta version of software that expands on its application’s geolocation capabilities using Yahoo’s Fire Eagle. Lightpole provides businesses with a way to distribute content to mobile phone users, mostly regarding information related to points of interest (POIs). Fire Eagle, which launched last month, is Yahoo’s geo-information platform, which allows users to update their current location from other applications through an API. Locations can be set by a number of devices, including computers and cell phones (through GPS and services like SkyHook). Lightpole, one of the first developers to integrate Fire Eagle, uses this location information to find a list of POIs in the proximity. These POIs are then downloaded to the Lightpole application, where users can browse for information including business hours and phone numbers. Lightpole’s white label application can also be used by external sites to facilitate mobile access to their databases. For example, the bar locator MappyHour has partnered with Lightpole to provide automatic lookup of local watering holes based on a user’s location. Other features in the release include support for geo-tagged RSS feeds and the ability for users to add and modify POI information in the company’s database from their phones. Lightpole was founded in January 2007. The company received $2 Million in Series A funding from Alloy Ventures and Stanford University in Febuary 2008. Competitors in this space include Google Local and uLocate. CrunchBase Information LightPole Fire Eagle Information provided by CrunchBase → Read More
The official Google Blog just announced the availability of a click-to-call feature in Google Local. This has been expected for some time, but it’s now official and it works well. Businesses you find in Google Local now have a call link included in search results. That link opens a javascript form to enter your phone number and calls both you and the business. I’ve been pestering businesses around my neighborhood this morning and though they don’t find it as fascinating as I do, I imagine this new feature will prove quite useful. I could call the listing on the right, for example and tell the business that its name is misspelled in Google Local. The calls are powered by Google Talk and Skype, more VOIP under the covers, via an agreement made this summer. They are free on both ends. That agreement also included discussion of interoperability between Skype and Google Talk, something we’re still waiting for. You might remember that this program was the subject of one of the bizarre hacked messages posted on the official Google blog. Persons unknown wrote on the Google Blog in October that “We finally consider click-to-call agreement with e-Bay a monopolistic aproach [sic] that would damage small companies in the CRM area.” Windows Live Local has offered click to call for some time. Local search is a potentially lucrative space that’s seeing a lot of innovation right now. Note also that the Google Local logo includes the outline of Africa, ironic given how awful that and other map search programs’ coverage of that continent is. → Read More
Google announced this morning that businesses will be able to add coupons to their listings on Google Local for free. The service is available for businesses in US, UK, Canada, China and Japan. Businesses can enter coupon offerings, expiration dates and participating locations through the Google Local site and Google will send them a confirmation and PIN number by snail mail. The system is being seeded with coupons from direct marketing company Valpak. Apparently users will print the coupons on paper. It would be nice if there was a mobile tie in like Cellfire offers. The primary problem with Cellfire is the relatively limited coupons available, presumably this won’t be an issue with Google. An Adsense tie in appears to be the next move on the way, with ads being sold that point to coupons. All of these are very logical ways for Google to leverage Google Local, almost predictable. I guess when you’re the market leader you don’t have to make what you do too exciting, it just has to keep on working. I know I use Google Local all the time, so this I don’t mean to sound like I don’t welcome this. It will be interesting to see if Yahoo or Ask follow suit and feel any imperative to do something really interesting. → Read More
