Not quite the whole truth. The focus is shifting to Web run time engines. These require that you build a mobile widget which can then access the device location capability. These run outside the browser and are essentially one off’s. The web run time engine will always control what you can and cannot access. I don’t want that. I want to be able to access ANY device side API and then share that data e.g. A bio fingerprint reader or a wireless sensor that can detect pathogens with ANY web service. I also want the ability to encrypt that data on the fly for privacy and then when it reaches the server share it with any other data silo.

>> I believe that location-awareness should be as seamless and transparent as our network connectivity

Preaching to the choir. It’s exactly what I was talking about (and looking at) in my post above. What you’re describing (not to put words in your mouth) is that the Internet protocol now supports “new headers” which contain my location data… i.e HTTP_X_LATITUDE (or ANY other data for that matter) – now all the web app has to do is simply read what’s on the wire. That’s how it currently works, you just need a way to add more data to the existing protocol.

>> On ME….

Don’t give up just yet. The future is personalization – what needs to be figured out is the following.

The consumer wants three things:

1. Convenience
2. Privacy
3. Control

The Enterprise wants one thing

1. To Make Money

These entities now have to come into alignment. Nobody wants to really learn anything new, they just want it all to work seamlessly as you say. The Internet is client – tone – server. So any solution has to involve all three elements for it to succeed. Web 2.0 has laid the infrastructure for programmers to mash out to just about anything. They can aggregate, collate and socialize just about anything. The next step is to extend that to mobile. There are two approaches – Mobile apps or Web services in the browser. One scales across all devices (the browser) one doesn’t (unless you have lots of money to spend on building apps)

Personally I think the future of the web is that it will recognize me, my device and my location and that content will be personalized on the fly from multiple data sources.

Cheers,

Peter

I am told that the next generation of Webkit browser will have these capabilities built into it, so browsers can leverage the “location” features of the phones.

On the furthest along comment: I believe that location-awareness should be as seamless and transparent as our network connectivity. And that is when apps can totally realize their full potential. Where(uLocate) seems to be preparing/positioning itself for precisely that kind of a future and I am sure they are going to evolve from the current “portal” into a smart starting point for mobile services.

On ME…. well the problem is that Web 2.0 is Web 2.No when it comes to personalizing things. It was a massive step backward in my opinion, as we started using cheap-way-to-build as an excuse. Okay, I shouldn’t totally rant in the morning and it is not good for my health. :-)

Of course I beg to differ ;-) but then I’m looking at a solution on my Blackberry that does everything that I talked about in my post above.

Here’s the problem – Web 2.0 is all about the browser and web services. It works. What I want to do is extend it to mobile and remain in the browser. If this can be done then you can use one set of business logic for basically every device that connects to your service. The issue to overcome is how to safely share my “ME” data (Who I am, What my device is capable of, and Where I am) all in real time with ANY service. One approach would to think about how you can get this data and send it to a web server using the HTTP protocol. The next piece of the puzzle is to solve the problem of integrating this into the back end web service. Simple scripting and CGI would be the ticket here because there would be nothing new to learn.

Everybody wants to leverage location data – what I want to do is enable that to happen with ANY web service vs. just single services. That way it also becomes available for the Enterprise.

Cheers,

Peter

I am glad you brought that up. I think the company is moving in that direction. In my opinion, it is not a question of if, but when and every single LBS-based app maker will have to go down that route. I think Where is furthest along the way on this one.

Where is really powerful – but is only one leg of the stool. To complete it you need Who and What and When. With that data in real time the web becomes Personal. You just need to figure out the privacy issues and that should always remain under the control of the consumer.

Peter