There is no doubt that location-based-services are a EXPLOSIVE trend. It doesn't take a genius to predict that it's growth over the next 12 months will be immeasurable. The company at the center of it all, that EVERY developer needs to pay attention to is SimpleGeo. It is no surprise to this humble iOS developer that SimpleGeo was named the most promising company of 2011.
*Disclaimer - I am using SimpleGeo for a project I am working on, but not paid by SimpleGeo in anyway for this endorsement. </Legal bullshit out of the way>
There are many technical reasons why you should use their service:
- Outstanding infrastructure
- Official and community libraries for any platform - browser and mobile
- Product Offerings
- Ease of integration into any of your existing products/services
- Transparency of technology
However, no matter great a company's product/service is, when "in the wild" developers and users will inevitable find flaws. What sets SimpleGeo apart from any other framework/service that I have used is their OUTSTANDING support.
When I first started using SimpleGeo I ran into a road block and couldn't tell if it was something incorrect that I was doing or a bug. Within four hours of submitting my trouble ticket (this was free support) I got a detailed answer, in addition to a request for how they could improve their documentation so that someone wouldn't have the same misunderstanding. To have a company take that kind of pride in the product and literally doing everything they can to improve themselves is bound for great success. Over the past few months I have sent a few more tickets and requests and each one has been responded to in a timely manner, the utmost professionalism, and with enthusiasm. To my delightful surprise SimpleGeo is offering office hours for even more personal support, which I signed up for immediately. Doesn't matter if you are not located in SF, they'll meet you on Skype.
Simply put, SimpleGeo knows that their continued success is dependent on not only their technical superiority to other LBS platforms, but the experience that the client will have while developing and using it. Regardless, if it is a solo developer or fortune 500 company.
They are passionate about what they do. It is so simple everyone should do it.