The PHONE Mag team have a soft-spot for Helio: they’re unashamedly all about packing the latest functionality and making use of the latest services into their handsets, and that pleases our tech-loving parts.  Features like Buddy Beacon- which plots the position of you and your friends on a map, located via the GPS in your handset - are great; in fact the only real drawback has been that up until now your contacts all had to be using Helio in order for it to display them.  Thankfully that’s changing: Helio sold Buddy Beacon to uLocate Communications in January, who have opened it up to multiple carriers as well as the iPhone and a Facebook application. 

Apparently Sprint, Boost, Alltel and Metro PCS will all be offering the Buddy Beacon service soon, as well as Helio of course, and since you can choose when your location is updated and who gets to see it, the privacy concerns are minimal.

Pricing for the application will be set by each carrier; for instance, Helio offer free unlimited use of the Buddy Beacon service in their all-in-one plans, but charge for data transfer in their a-la-carte plans.

You can see a video demo of the Buddy Beacon service on one of Helio’s handsets over at SlashPhone.

Press Release:

uLocate Communications Enhances and Extends Buddy Beacon™ FunctionalityRevolutionary friend finding service offers cross-carrier interoperability on five mobile carriers, as well as applications on iPhone and Facebook  

Boston, MA - February 13, 2008– Today, with the release of a new version of Buddy Beacon™, uLocate Communications introduced the world’s most advanced location enabled mobile friend finding service. With Buddy Beacon, users can choose when to share their location, and what they are up to, with their friends. Buddy Beacon is the first location enabled friend finding application that is interoperable between multiple carriers.  

In addition to cross-carrier interoperability, the Buddy Beacon platform allows users to update their location and status on leading online social networking sites, including Facebook. As a compliment to this feature, uLocate has also unveiled a Buddy Beacon application on Facebook. This functionality extends the Buddy Beacon user experience beyond mobile devices. 

“Historically, consumers who use mobile friend finding applications have been limited to interacting only with other users who share their same carrier,” said Scott Ellison, VP of Mobile and Wireless Communications at IDC. “With Buddy Beacon, uLocate has removed this limitation by providing a friend finding product that transcends the single carrier barrier. Additionally, the introduction of cross-platform functionality with online services, such as Facebook, provides the potential for viral adoption of the application. uLocate has clearly emerged as a leader in the mobile friend finding space.” 

“Helio has always been committed to providing our members with innovative ways to communicate with their trusted circle of friends,” said Greg Hayes, Head of Convergence at Helio. “The new Buddy Beacon experience provides better context for location sharing, enhances ease of use and creates new occasions to publish location as a social networking activity.  We know that our members will benefit from the enhanced capabilities that we have developed in conjunction with uLocate.” 

“Consumer adoption of Buddy Beacon has been remarkable. We are delighted to now offer the service across numerous carriers and the iPhone, as well as extend the service functionality to the web,” said Walt Doyle, CEO of uLocate Communications. “Buddy Beacon is a revolutionary application that offers a new way to interact with your friends and keep them updated on where you are and what you are up to. We plan to continually advance the functionality and availability of the service in the months ahead.” 

For more information, or to get Buddy Beacon on your phone, please visit www.where.com/buddybeacon. 

About uLocate Communications Inc.uLocate Communicationsis the market leading developer of location based applications. In addition to developing location based applications for strategic partners, uLocate markets and operates WHERE™ and Buddy Beacon™. WHERE is the leading location based application platform that offers consumers access to a library of over 60 location based widgets on multiple operators in North America. Buddy Beacon is the world’s largest mobile friend finding solution that lets consumers leverage the power of location based technology to connect with their friends.  For more information, please visit: www.ulocate.com.