Although it would take some skill, who wants their neighbors being able to listen in? I could see where some may want their business contact information available, say for new business development opportunities or recruitment. Most gamer-level PCs should do nicely, but it's also a bit more than most people would have needed when running Windows XP for business apps.
Both markets are leaning more toward multitasking devices with better security.
That's the gravy for both the developers and the consumers. Then, by presenting that information within Google Maps, they provided a simple but very effective graphical interface to display towers within the area.
For instance, is the data or a service truly open for anyone to mash it up with another service? But it could make it that much harder for someone to eavesdrop, which is both a deterrent and an incentive to go after easier targets. One reason is wider compatibility with the plethora of web sites and their embedded multimedia. I can imagine them eavesdropping on bankers, looking for inside information with which to make stock purchases.
I see their services having more immediate appeal to small to mid-sized companies.
While effective for use with a small number of people willing to configure and learn it, it was just too burdensome for many others.
They're also nicely categorized for quick skimming. One can only annotate it, and that's a big difference. The main idea has merit: Lots of people contributing their individual knowledge to the whole to create something bigger and more useful than just the sum of its parts. This week, Google released Google Apps for Your Domain, a group of free, hosted communication and collaboration tools such as email, instant messaging and Web authoring tools. One could also dive into a discussion about the business ethics and why an "end justifies the means" rational is usually a slippery slope. Cost savings alone may not be enough, although it's effective at times.
In short, I can imagine them doing all the things they could never have done with the traditional telephone network.
Public opinion, particularly in the blogosphere, can make or break a startup, and it would be unwise for them to ignore this reality, even if this generates a "buzz".
Then, by presenting that information within Google Maps, they provided a simple but very effective graphical interface to display towers within the area. However, I think stealthier, and thus perhaps more persistent, system level intrusions will be the norm for awhile, as remote manipulations provide very powerful and useful tools.
But it could make it that much harder for someone to eavesdrop, which is both a deterrent and an incentive to go after easier targets. I can imagine them stealing account information, hijacking telephone calls, committing identity theft.
I remember reading about this on Wired.
Keep an eye out for more mobile applications geared towards Windows Mobile and Symbian platforms. Again, the defining feature is the real-time concurrent collaboration.
The Palm OS lacks native Java, which is required for some new mobile applications. They took that information and compiled it into a searchable database.