A new service to publish your location to Facebook is among the news from Nokia World in Stuttgart, Germany, along with a variety of new handsets. Lifecasting is the name of the service, which will automatically transmit your position and status updates to the popular social-networking site.
Lifecasting “goes beyond just publishing your status,” Nokia said in a statement, adding that “it triggers new kinds of communication patterns,” which could include not only sending updates but navigating to a friend’s place. With your position known instantly, the friend can help guide you.
‘Aware of Privacy Concerns’
Brad Shimmin, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said he is “grateful” that vendors who are implementing location services like Lifecasting are “very aware of privacy concerns” because “the consequences of this sort of real-time detail on where someone is could be very dangerous.”
The vendors, he said, allow the user to “take themselves off the grid.” But he added that it remains to be seen how vendors deal with the threat of hacking users’ locations.
In any case, Shimmin said, he sees Lifecasting and similar services as being very popular with teenagers and other demographics that are highly tuned into social networking.
Nokia’s Lifecasting will first be available on its new N97 mini handset, which was also announced at the Stuttgart show. The company described the new device as a “companion” to its successful N97 model. The Lifecasting software, part of Nokia’s Ovi service, will be featured on the mini and available in the fall as a free download for the N97.
The mini has a tilting 3.2-inch touch display, a QWERTY keyboard, and a customizable keyboard. It also features a new Ovi Maps application with easier searching and navigating, and there is access to “premium content” from Lonely Planet, Michelin and Wcities.
‘More Hand-Friendly’
Current Analysis analyst Avi…