Google's acquisition of Jaiku, a small Finnish start-up active in the obscure field of microblogging - a word most often associated with the better-known company Twitter - might not appear to be an earth-shaking event.
But the deal, announced this month, has much of the tech-tracking blogosphere abuzz. Some claim it is the harbinger of a new, truly interconnected world, where a chunk of our existence will migrate online.
To begin with, the reasoning goes, Jaiku is not really about microblogging - those minimessages submitted by text or e-mail that made Twitter famous. Jaiku is "a mobile company in the business of creating smarter presence applications," and therefore "a leader in a category most people haven't fully grasped yet," Tim O'Reilly, a technology conference promoter credited with the phrase Web 2.0, wrote in his blog.
Petteri Koponen, one of the two founders of Jaiku, described the service as a "holistic view of a person's life," rather than just short posts. "We extract a lot of information automatically, especially from mobile phones," Mr. Koponen said from Mountain View, Calif., where the company is being integrated into Google. "This kind of information paints a picture of what a person is thinking or doing."
In practical terms, Jaiku's mobile application allows users to broadcast not only their whereabouts, but how the phone is being used, even what kind of music it is playing.
The information opens up a world of new mobile services for regular users, beyond the world of early adapters familiar with Jaiku.
Mr. O'Reilly's example is the Web 2.0 address book, where the old address book is made into a live diary, constantly updated so that we can see, on our cellphones, where our contacts are and what they are doing.
Chris Messina, an open-source entrepreneur and founder of the consulting firm Citizen Agency, takes it a step further. In a blog post after the Jaiku deal was announced, he said that he envisioned a world where all information had migrated online, where the address book "lives in Googleland," indicating presence in a way similar to the buddy lists on instant messaging programs, "and the data never grows old and never goes stale."
"Instead of just seeing someone's inert photo when you bring up their record in your address book," he wrote, "you see all manner of social and presence data."
One might, he suggested, "even get a picture of their current location."
Some industry analysts have speculated that the acquisition is part of a strategy in which Google will introduce its own phone, but most think the company will focus on advanced applications for its information services, like Google Maps.
All this opens serious questions about privacy, and about whether people are prepared to be constantly traceable, even if only by friends. Mr. Koponen said Jaiku was aware of this and was working hard to allow users to limit the information they share, without making the service too complicated.
"To date, many people still maintain their illusion of privacy," he said in an e-mail message.
Adapting will take time.
"For iPhone users who use the Google Maps application, it's already a pain to have to type in your current location," he said. "'Why doesn't my phone just tell Google where I am?' you invariably ask."
When the time is right and frustrations like this are unpalatable enough, Mr. Messina said, "Google will have a ready answer to the problem."
From Jaiku
While it's too soon to comment on specific plans, we look forward to working with our new friends at Google over the coming months to expand in ways we hope you'll find interesting and useful. Our engineers are excited to be working together and enthusiastic developers lead to great innovation. We look forward to accomplishing great things together. In order to focus on innovation instead of scaling, we have decided to close new user sign-ups for now.
But fear not, all our Jaiku services will stay running the way you are used to and you will be able to invite your friends to Jaiku. We have put together a quick Q&A about the acquisition.
Jyri Engeström and Petteri Koponen, Jaiku Founders
While it's too soon to comment on specific plans, we look forward to working with our new friends at Google over the coming months to expand in ways we hope you'll find interesting and useful. Our engineers are excited to be working together and enthusiastic developers lead to great innovation. We look forward to accomplishing great things together. In order to focus on innovation instead of scaling, we have decided to close new user sign-ups for now.
But fear not, all our Jaiku services will stay running the way you are used to and you will be able to invite your friends to Jaiku. We have put together a quick Q&A about the acquisition.
Jyri Engeström and Petteri Koponen, Jaiku Founders
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