iPhone GPS, Yelp and local mobile

Cory Bergman June 4th, 2008

OK, so you’ve been following all these iPhone rumors. Suffice it to say, a new 3G iPhone will be unveiled next week, and odds are that it will have built-in GPS. Think about that for a moment. There are a variety of sites out there that are playing in the location-awareness space — Whrrl, Brightkite and Loopt, for example — which are all variations of a cool and powerful concept. But take a 3G iPhone with a GPS chip, allow developers to tap into it, and stand by for the explosion of local mobile. A classic example is Yelp, a very popular social city guide which is now working on a location-awareness feature. Standing on the corner of 2nd and Wall in Seattle and hungry for sushi? Do a Yelp search and you’ll learn you’re standing one street down from Shiro’s, rated 4 stars, one of the best sushi joints in the city. Two blocks away is Wasabi Bistro, rated 3.5 stars, a less traditional but trendy sushi hangout. The closest results become the most relevant. Of course, this grows progressively more interesting as local businesses are able to serve up coupons, alert you of sales, etc., as you pass within a couple blocks of them. Very, very powerful stuff, and the iPhone’s popularity especially among the tech-savvy set — if it indeed has built-in GPS — will launch a location-awareness frenzy.