Eric Pender » Mobile Search

Public Transportation Directions Now in Google Maps

Eric Pender — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 03:13:00 +0000

Earlier this week, I noticed a Google advertisement on the Red Line. The ad featured the iconic Google Maps pin, and said that Google now has public transportation directions in Google Maps.

When I got home, I went to the URL from the ad, www.maps.google.com/chicago. This took me to a landing page with a video specifically showing how Google had integrated public transit routes into directions derived from Google Maps.

I use Google Maps a lot on my iPhone. The capability to use public transportation in directions isn’t yet available for Google Maps on the iPhone, but my guess is that this functionality will be provided in the anticipated June update.

This added feature should have a promising future in mobile applications. I would anticipate that users will very soon be able to use this function to get public transportation directions while they are on the move. And as Chicago’s public transit system continues to be updated, I would imagine they will make available real time scheduled arrival times, much like Dublin, Ireland’s DART system. Google could then implement this real time information into their public transit database. Ideally, a mobile user would be able to search on Google Maps, and see that the nearest train is 15 minutes away, while the nearest bus may only be 5 minutes away, allowing users to more effectively plan their routes.

Best Quote from the Video: “Driving directions are great, but every time I can I like to use public transportation.” How very Googley of you. Especially since Google provides it’s employees free transportation from downtown San Francisco.

iPhone SDK download exceeds 100,000

Eric Pender — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:49:00 +0000

A press release from Apple is saying that the iPhone SDK has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since its release 4 days ago (that’s less than 100 hours folks).

So let’s say a mere 1% of those people who downloaded the SDK actually make an application. That’s 1,000 applications on DAY ONE. As I discussed in my last blog post, this is going to blow the doors off the way software and applications are distributed in the mobile marketplace. Sure, some of those applications aren’t going to pass Apple’s review process, and some of them are going to be crap. But that’s still going to be a huge selection compared to what is currently offered in the cell phone application market (read: nothing).

On John Battelle’s Searchblog, Matt Cutts griped in January ’07 that he had just bought a new cell phone and that he couldn’t set a preferred home page, he couldn’t send his geo coordinates to a site that he surfs to, and that he couldn’t download applications that weren’t approved by the carrier. A little over a year later, and the iPhone lets you set as many preferred home pages as you like, and save them to your “mobile desktop.” With the iPhone you can use the maps function to locate your present location and then search for business in your proximity. And in a few short months, you’ll be able to download from an entire marketplace of applications.

Power to the people my friends, power to the people.

Why iPhone Application Development Matters

Eric Pender — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 04:32:00 +0000

Apple is opening the iPhone up to 3rd party developers, so what? Why do you care? Because it will change the cell phone market, that’s why. Let’s look at some of the ways.

The Device Becomes the Object of Desire

Carriers are notoriously adverse to giving handset makers any leeway in making truly revolutionary applications for phones. They see handsets merely as a way to get people to sign multi-year service agreements. So they’re willing to subsidize the price of the phone, because they’ll make all that money back and more through the monthly contracts. That’s why you can get a phone for next to nothing, even smartphones.

Apple and AT&T took a risk. Apple risked developing a phone on their own terms, hoping they’d find a carrier interested enough to partner in order to provide service (Verizon was approached first and declined a partnership with Apple). AT&T took a risk on a phone that they hadn’t physically seen, just going off what Apple had told them. In the end, this allowed Apple to make a phone on their terms, with no meddling from a carrier and no compromises. The resulting success of the iPhone shows carriers and handset makers that handsets aren’t just pieces of machinery connecting users to the network. The handset can be THE value-added asset, bringing increased usability and functionality to the consumer. Instead of a handset merely connecting the user to the network, the product becomes the object of desire. The power shifts and now the network merely becomes a conduit for the full usability of the phone.

A New Market Around Applications

Another game-changing prediction that I expect the iPhone and the SDK to bring about is a robust community, and even marketplace, for mobile-specific applications. Apple’s forthcoming App Store, much like the current iTunes music store, will bring exciting and useful applications directly to the consumer in an easy-to-get interface. This widespread accessibility will commodify the applications to the point where downloading a new app will be analogous to simply downloading a song. These applications will also be able to open up new forms of mobile advertising, discussed below. Eventually, applications will be served with cross-platform functionality, so applications in Apple’s App Store can also be downloaded to the Android Platform as well (okay, that last one is a bit of a stretch.)

The Mobile Internet Access Point is now Mainstream

Open application development signifies that the mobile platform as an internet access point is no longer an early adopter novelty. It will no longer be acceptable to have a clunky interface to spew out a narrow selection of videos at astronomical rates. Content providers will be responsible for bringing their content to the mobile platform. No longer will it be the responsibility of the platform developer to bring all of the content onto their network. This is the way it should be.

Groundwork Established for Increase in Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising will now have the software and hardware it needs to reach critical mass. The iPhone will lay the groundwork, spurring rival competitors to bring more capable handsets to the market. Increased screen space (all of which is fully interactive on the iPhone) will help because it will provide enough area to allow content and advertising to exist side by side. Screen limitations will certainly still exist for mobile devices, and this should drive advertisers to be more innovative when it comes to developing advertising as content. In addition, 3rd party developers will be driven to monetize their applications, and some of those developments will certainly push the envelope in terms of monetization through advertising. I also expect significant development in regards to the blending of mobile search and local search, as mobile technology will allow for the geotargeting of users outside of the home.

Imagine this: you’re out on the town. You and your friends are looking for a place to eat. You pull up your mobile maps application and search “sushi.” The application pinpoints various sushi locations in your proximity, then asks you if you would like to view available coupons for those same restaurants. This is the kind of advertising that truly brings immediate value to both the user and the advertiser.

Mainstream mobile search, and thus mobile advertising, is still at least a year away. But the groundwork has been established, and there’s no way this stuff is going away any time soon.