Google's mobile friend-tracker Latitude has more than 1 million users already in its first week, according to Vic Gundotra, the search giant's vice president of engineering, speaking at the Mobile
World Congress in Barcelona.
As reported by the FierceMobileContent newsletter, Gundotra told conference-goers "2008 was the year mobile Internet took off," citing flat-rate data
plans, full Web browsers and improved user interfaces as causes for increased adoption.
Gundotra pointed to Latitude as one of the new kinds of mobile applications enabled by more powerful Web
browsers and new wireless technologies. The GPS-powered app, however, has also triggered privacy concerns. The watchdog group Privacy International warned that someone could change a mobile user's
settings to surreptitiously track their movements via Latitude.
The group suggested Google send regular messages to users telling them that their phones are Latitude-enabled.--Mark Walsh