Evsion Lab

GOOG-411 Goes To Canada

Posted by Paul Glazowski under 1

It’s been several months since we’ve heard much of anything about Google’s 411 service. The company has kept somewhat mum about the project. As of December 2007, it was reportedly unprofitable. But hey, maybe that’s the cost of going free with information which used to cost callers when seeking phonebook listings.

It actually turns out Google has been active on the 411 front since we last spoke of it. What were they up to? Cataloguing Canada, according to Toronto’s Globe and Mail.

It is certainly unfortunate that Canadian consumers are often the people to get the short-ended stick for technology releases. Just look at the iPhone. It’s traveled all around America, and even hopped the Atlantic to travel Europe a bit, and Canada is only now getting some fair-and-balanced treatment with the advent of Apple’s 3G edition next month. So it’s too bad that Canada has belatedly received support for GOOG-411. Better late than never?

To best honest, as a borderline New Englander, I might say that I feel for Canadians who’ve long awaited free voice-activated business contacts. The service could prove useful for many people. But given the fact that more and more of us are likely to seek guidance through relatively thorough mapping software BlackBerries and such, GPS-enhanced or not, I’ll venture to think GOOG-411 isn’t like to be a first choice for consumers.

Then again, GOOG-411 costs the user nothing more than the time to make a phone call. And it is quite accurate in reading voice commands of a fairly wide register range. So if you’d like to have Google connect you to, say, a local pizza place, and you’re situated north of the American landscape, you now may.

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