When Google invited a group of British tech reporters to a briefing, those journalists got pretty excited. The event involved “a product for mobiles,” you see, and the reporters were hoping to find out about the Google phone. They didn’t. But Google did release a full, UK-specific version of Google Mobile Maps, which is kinda nifty, too.
Google Maps For Mobiles Finds Way Into UK
“The service, integrated with Google Earth for showing satellite images, has been available as a Java application for a while,” reports The Register’s Bill Ray. “But with the UK launch Google has enhanced the route-planning capability, as well as adding searches for local businesses and traffic information.”
Ray then points out that using the service could, given “the amount of data sent and received,” become an expensive proposition for mobile users without a forgiving plan, or as he puts it, “unlimited tariff.”
Want to learn another British-ism? Tech.co.uk’s Anna Lagerkvist, who was among the reporters anticipating Google’s mysterious “product for mobiles,” refers to a fast food place as a “take-away” in her article. Lagerkvist, like Ray, also mentions those “data tariffs.”
Other complaints were fairly limited, however. In fact, the only issue appears to be how slow Google was in releasing this UK-specific version of its mapping service; the US, Canada, Australia, and several European companies got their Mobile Maps first.
On the other hand, Google’s timing is pretty good – a screenshot on the service’s home page would lead users to 10 Downing Street, where they can try to give Tony Blair a fond farewell (or a piece of their mind) before he leaves office on June 27.
