Continuing the theme of location and mobility that has been present on this blog recently, if you were still in any doubt about the importance of location in technology, then a quick look at what Google CEO Eric Schmidt had to say at the IFA trade show today will surely convince you:

“Ultimately, search is not just the web but literally all of your information – your email, the things you care about, with your permission – this is personal search, for you and only for you.

“The next step of search is doing this automatically. When I walk down the street, I want my smartphone to be doing searches constantly – ‘did you know?’, ‘did you know?’, ‘did you know?’, ‘did you know?’.

“This notion of autonomous search – to tell me things I didn’t know but am probably interested in, is the next great stage – in my view – of search.”

Facebook is already banking on this with the launch of Facebook Places. Apple and every smartphone manufacturer is very aware of this opportunity too (and don’t forget to include Google in this group).

Google is betting that if this trend does continue, search will remain vital. It would surely be foolish to bet against it!

photo credit: foxspain