Google has announced that its popular Places application — already released for devices running Android 1.6 and higher — is now available for iOS. Google Places with Hotpot allows users to easily locate retail and service locations within their proximity. The Hotpot feature, as Google explains, brings a social component to local search:
If you want to make things even tastier, just visit google.com/hotpot from your desktop computer. Here you can add friends to the mix and quickly rate all the places you already know. Once you’ve added friends, you’ll find your results seasoned not just with reviews from around the web and recommendations based on your own personal taste, but also with your friends’ opinions too.
The initial release is available in English only and is sitting in the App Store as we speak. Enjoy.
