Firefox 3.5 brings location to browser

Location awareness is one of the killer features in the new iPhone. Especially in real estate apps, like Zillow's app, which recently broke half a million downloads.

We all know the old axiom with property, right? Location, location, location.

Now that can be translated to your desktop, in addition to your phone. The new version of Firefox (3.5) has added location awareness as one of the new features in this release.

From the Firefox Web site: "Now Firefox can tell Web sites where you're located so you can find info that's more relevant and more useful (for example, getting directions or finding restaurants near you). It's all optional -- Firefox doesn’t share your location without your permission -- and is done with the utmost respect for your privacy."

This is potentially huge for online real estate sites, which in the near future could query their visitors, ask for their location, and return the most relevant results quickly and seamlessly to their desktop.

Granted, if you are searching from home, you (hopefully) already know where you are. But if you were house-hunting in a city in an unfamiliar state or pulling out a 3G-enabled netbook in a coffee shop on a Sunday morning open-house tour, this could be a killer feature.

So the race is on. Which will be the first site to implement this feature? Any bets?

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Future of Real Estate Marketing is a part of Inman News.

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