It has been in the works for a while but now Google officially released the “Near Me Now” feature for mobile search. If you have the “Location” function enabled for your phone, the new feature automatically grabs your location and offers you more information about businesses like bars, restaurants, coffee shops, or dry cleaners, on your exact location. It also displays different places that are nearby- if you don’t like that cafe here, go to the next one just around the corner.
The business information and details you’ll be able to see include address and user generated ratings to help your decision-making. Wait, user-generated ratings? Some may remember that a possible Yelp! acquisition by Google made headlines all of a sudden in December. Shortly before Christmas, the $550 Billion deal apparently busted. Yelp! will remain the largest site for independent user generated reviews, while Google relies on the data that’s already available for Google Maps. If the deal is completely blown off or just postponed remains unclear at this point.
“Near Me Now” is available in the US only, but I’m pretty sure it’s only a matter of time until it reaches the UK and the continental European market.
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