Google launches 'Latitude' for mobile phones

Published on Feb 5, 2009

The 'Google Latitude' service launched by the search engine major would help mobile phone users to locate their near and dear ones

Published on Mar 17, 2011

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Search engine major Google launched a new service on Wednesday called Google Latitude for mobile phones which would help mobile phone users to locate their near and dear ones. Currently the application will work on 27 countries including India. Using a combination of Global Positioning System, WiFi, and cell tower location data, the service, an extension of Google Maps, Latitude can determine where you are in the world via your mobile device depending on which of those technologies the device can use. The application will work on most color Blackberries, most Windows Mobile 5.0 devices, most Symbian S60 devices, and phones powered by Google’s Android mobile software, such as the T-Mobile G1. However, the iPhone or iPod Touch have been left out from this previlege for now, but Google says that’s coming very soon. Here’s how it works: You download a new version of Google Maps onto your mobile device, then invite friends via an email to join. Once they accept, and if they have a Google account with a profile picture, you’ll see that on a map. Then you can send them an email or text message or call them, and of course get directions to their location. You can also view locations of your friends from your desktop through iGoogle, the company’s personalized home page. The application is independent of mobile operators and can be downloaded free from the Google website. “The only cost that the consumer will have to pay is the data packet charges that are levied by the mobile operators. This has no revenue advantage for us since this it is not linked to sponsored advertising, we just want to promote the use of maps on phones,” said Vinay Goel, product chief, Google India. With this service, also questions regarding to privacy has been raised. However, Google has the solution for it. The service is completely an opt-in process where the mobile users can choose whom to share their information with.   

 

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