If anyone were to say the Microsoft is not original then… well they would be right as Microsoft’s Bing Team has just outed its new Location sharing application for the Windows Phone 7 operating system called “We’re In”.
Yep, you are probably hearing the same as us, Facebook Places, and for our American cousins its very similar to Google Latitude but it’s pretty common for tech companies to offer their own spin on well used features.
The basic premise with “We’re in” is that you can create an invitation that will allow your friends to share their location for a specified amount of time which will then Expire and will close the Tracking element of the software.
For example if you are meeting a friend in a Pub you would share your location which would allow you to see where your three friends are for 1 hour whilst they find you. You would create and event with “We’re in” and then send it to the friends and once they accept their details will appear on your Bing maps .
Additionally you will be able to pot statuses on where you are and any issues so if the number 47 bus breaks down you can let your friends now via “We’re In”. The timed aspect is there to increase privacy on the system where once the allotted time is up the tracking will stop. SO no following you mate around town all night!
So to cover bases the Bing “We’re In” feature allows you to:
- Create a get-together invite for a group of friends
- See where your friends are
- Share your location with your friends in real time
- Control your privacy – your location is only shared with the group of invitees, only for a short time slot
The application is available in the Zune Marketplace now and Microsoft says it plans on delivering it to other platforms soon, too with no news on a UK release.