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The Google Mobile Team released a new Geolocation API today that will run on Google Gears on mobile.

Many say that the mobile market is the next frontier of the web. Many of the big companies on the interwebz are already investing in the likelihood that people will be using their mobiles for a lot of web based activities in the future. The biggest market they see now in mobile is Geolocation. It makes perfect sense since the mobile phone / device was made for people on the move.

Exploiting this fact, Google has released a new Geolocation API that will allow Google to determine a mobile user's location with or without GPS. The API is designed for location-based applications and websites that developers can use to return relevant information to users.

Examples of these applications are also introduced by Google. There are two services already using the Google Mobile Geolocation API, lastminute.com and rummble.com. Both are European startups that provide users with information relevant to their positions.

"The API can determine your location using nearby cell-towers or GPS for your mobile device or your computer's IP address for your laptop. Google provides this service for free to both developers and users." [Google Mobile Blog]

The API is built for Google Gears, for now, and so far, only IE enabled Windows Mobile devices are capable of using the API. However, Google Mobile is working this out to work out.

"We are working hard to bring Gears to more mobile platforms, such as Android and others."

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