Facebook Places has made the jump from 'US Only', to 'UK and US Only', and it’s given us a chance to have a look at the newest location-based game in town. And while it’s a nice first step, the ability to check in on devices and platforms other than the iPhone/iPad is going to be needed for a critical volume of users.

Right now you can browse Places and check ins using the the touch-browser version of Facebook (touch.facebook.com). The question is when Places will break out to the rest of the smartphone world, which it surely will. Of course, Nokia and Facebook are already working together, with the “Share Location” feature in Ovi Maps already allowing you to feed where you are to Facebook – but it currently doesn’t use the new Places system.

The smart money is that the next iteration of Ovi Maps available for download will tie in the Share Location function to the Places system. It’s in the interests of both Nokia and Facebook to make this happen (and the rumours are that Facebook offered Foursquare the ability to send their location data into Places – I wonder why Foursquare decided not to join in?)

Throw in the upcoming official Foursquare application for Symbian (previewed at Nokia World), the constant presence of Gravity, and a few other contenders,  and check-in fatigue is going to be a serious problem on a Symbian device by the end of October!

All I can think is - bring it on. With the major geo-location services finally getting involved, it’s another endorsement of Symbian as a platform that’s still living, breathing and innovating.

-- Ewan Spence, Sept 2010.