Location-Based Service Locates Business Model
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 23, 2008 at 9:49 AM PT
Soon Nokia mobile phone users will be able to tell people who don’t particularly care what they’re doing, where they’re doing it — not that they cared in the first place.
This morning Nokia (NOK) acquired location-based services venture Plazes, which has developed a sort of social GPS that allows users to tell one another where they are and what they’re doing. For Nokia, the acquisition is a way to add the elements of place and time to its Mosh social network. And for Plazes, which has no business model of which to speak, it’s a quick and easy way to get one.
“If all goes well, in the near future Plazes will be made available to millions of Nokia customers both online and on millions of mobile devices,” Plazes CEO Felix Petersen said in a post on the company’s blog. “Nokia is a perfect partner for us because they share our product vision and have the muscle to bring locative presence to hundreds of millions of people all over the world.”
Presumably the “They were actually willing to buy us” is implied.
