Niklas' blog

Thanks to a recent list of “the 50 coolest sites” courtesy of Time, I discovered Dodgeball. No, not the game, the social networking-site! It’s owned by Google, who bought it a year ago.

What it is: a site built around using your mobile phone to see where your friends are and announce your availability. Check this info to simply see how it’s used. Sounds terrific, right? And the service is free – all you pay is your regular fee for texting.

So why has this service not launched in Sweden? I can think of three possible answers:

1. Google own the concept. They simply have not kicked this into gear simply because a) Google Maps, which probably is what feeds the service information on all things geographic, isn’t available in full scale in Sweden (as it currently is in the USA) and b) they won’t budge to any other companies that want in on this.

2. It’s a great idea but difficult to implement if you haven’t got enough capital and time. Keep in mind that Google has only implemented this in 22 of the 50 American states, and you might start wondering how difficult it can be. Although the technology may be simple (c’mon! it’s about interpreting an SMS that’s sent to a server, not tearing down the WTC’s!) I suppose it’s a matter of getting it to work regionally…or something. Anyway, answer #1 is more probable.

OK, so Google won’t give it to anybody else? I guess so, as this sounds like a genuine win-win-situation where the phone-companies would reap profits, advertisers would line up to get in and every person who has a social life and a mobile phone would rejoice (c’mon! I’ll even use it as a beta for three years!). Google, please, get this working. Pleeease.

However, seeing how a lot of people still refuse to call for free using one or two of the excellent services available for most major operating-systems out there, I’m saying this is the third, possible answer to why Google et al are treading water. C’mon, kids!