3 ms·

Part of this guy's argument is bogus. It is basically "Someone big is going to do this so why bother." That could be said of 99.99% of all businesses. "IBM i

by srn 18y ago

Part of this guy's argument is bogus. It is basically "Someone big is going to do this so why bother." That could be said of 99.99% of all businesses. "IBM is so big, why bother with Microsoft?" Part of the problem with any business with a localization aspect is that it takes more people to get buyin. Yelp in the bay area? Fabulous. Yelp in Louisiana? Not so great. Same goes for meetup.com, where I can find people in my area, as compared to plazes, where there was maybe 1 other person near me. Yes, people probably won't pay for services who tell them where their current friends are, but there's still value. I personally would be interested in knowing where my "facebook friends" are - for me that's people who I am acquainted with but necessarily socialize with unless it's convenient, like if I'm shopping and want to go see a movie in 10 minutes. Random people who might be interesting are also a way to pass the time if I'm bored waiting for a train.

martian 18y ago
My impression of the article is that the author was saying it's difficult to get into business selling only what or who is nearby, since both of those are close to becoming (if they're not already) commodities. The trick with location-based services is to provide novel interaction or functionality or customization on top of these commodities. Quoting the OP: "As a LBS start-up, you need to think about adding distinctive value for users; differentiating on location is an oxymoron." There are plenty of companies who will be hugely successful in the LBS space. Maybe Google, maybe Loopt, maybe Brightkite or Yahoo or CloudMade... If you think you can be the next company to track where everyone and everything is (massive infrastructure requirements!) -- this article is suggesting you are probably on the wrong track. (side note: Yahoo's FireEagle is also something to watch in this space, as are the recently launched developer products from CloudMade.)

by srn 18y ago

martian 18y ago

My impression of the article is that the author was saying it's difficult to get into business selling only what or who is nearby, since both of those are close to becoming (if they're not already) commodities. The trick with location-based services is to provide novel interaction or functionality or customization on top of these commodities. Quoting the OP: "As a LBS start-up, you need to think about adding distinctive value for users; differentiating on location is an oxymoron." There are plenty of companies who will be hugely successful in the LBS space. Maybe Google, maybe Loopt, maybe Brightkite or Yahoo or CloudMade... If you think you can be the next company to track where everyone and everything is (massive infrastructure requirements!) -- this article is suggesting you are probably on the wrong track. (side note: Yahoo's FireEagle is also something to watch in this space, as are the recently launched developer products from CloudMade.)