Flickr, the big daddy of on-line photo sharing services, is pushing a little harder onto the mobile web. The service recently launched a mobile discovery tool based on location-based services for certain devices.
The service, called Mobile Nearby, works by displaying pictures taken nearby on a map:
This way you can see what other flicr users have found interesting nearby. The mobile web app is currently only usable by Android users, and people with an iPhone 3G S or iPhone 3.0 device.
Via Pocket Lint
From the blog:
“For those devices that support it (currently Android and the iPhone with the new 3.0 software), the Mobile Nearby page will figure out where you are in the world and show you photos that have been taken in the same area.”
What we think?
I don’t know… this doesn’t seem hugely competitive. Considering the sheer number of mobile photo sharing apps that have been springing up, I would fancy that flickr should be pushing harder at the mobile angle.
I think the kicker is the sheer volume of content Flickr *already has*. They don’t have to build up a new database of geo-tagged photos that have been “rated.” And they have first-hand access to it, no going through slow and flaky APIs. Competitors have to go through APIs that are slow impacting on their user experience.
But yes, nothing very innovative in Flickr’s approach.