MMS to Replace Location Based Apps?

With MMS now live we could delve into all of the new features. Maybe the least known, but most worthwhile is the ability to send your exact location to a friend. It's extremely easy to do. Just launch maps, and then locate yourself. Once you've done that simply drop a pin at your location, and click the blue arrow for more info. On the next screen, the middle button in the bottom row is share location. Tap on that, and then you have the option to share using MMS. That's it, now you can let all of your buddies know where you are just using the stock google maps app. See the screenshots in the gallery showing the process in order. The major question though, is what does this do to location based apps, most notably Loopt? As we reported back at the beginning of Sepetmber, Loopt was the first to strike a deal with AT&T to have an always on location feature. Doesn't their service seem to be obsolete now? Now instead of always telling people where your location is, it's up to you. Just send an MMS with your location info when you want certain people to know where you are. Now it's definitely a question if you need any location based apps taking up space on your iPhone. Not only can you send your current location, but you can send any location you pin on google maps. There are tons of different location based apps: Limbo, Whrrl, Brightkite, and WhosHere to name a few. They all provide a different interface, and a slightly different feature set, but most importantly all of them provided a service that the iPhone didn't have. Now that has changed. Google maps is one of the most useful stock apps on the iPhone containing many services other apps enhance slightly. Google maps has it all in one place though, and now any location on earth can be sent instantly to your friends. Ultimately it's up to you. Are you going to use valuable iPhone screen space on location based apps? [gallery link="file"]

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