Only a week after Mozilla released the Geode geolocation plug-in for Firefox 3.0, the company has released Firefox 3.1 beta 1 with the W3C Geolocation API built-in. What’s this mean? Basically that Geode is dead before it even got off the ground. It also poses a big problem for services like Yahoo Fire Eagle that offer geolocation functionality but have to receive that information from a 3rd party. With Firefox 3.1, you’ll be able to move beyond the web-based service provider geolocation information used by Geode and even have the option of using a peripheral device like a cellphone or portable GPS unit to pinpoint your location.
Firefox is also planning on incorporating the W3C Geolocation API into their upcoming mobile platform, meaning that any mobile phone that can access the web, even without integrated GPS, will still be able to sense location. Right now outside.in’s Radar news platform and Pownce, the social messaging service, have already integrated Firefox 3.1 into their services though it’ll be in beta for a while. I’m really excited to see how Mozilla’s brilliance will evolve. Is it possible that the popularity of mobile location-based applications is snuffed out by the potential of a location-aware web?
mozilla via venturebeat
