I hate listy blog posts, so the only time i resort to punchy point sorting is when i’m really stuck on the fence.  Yahoo’s Fire Eagle has been one of those mixed bag releases that i think has tons of potential, but also many reasons that the bird might burn….  the following is a glance at the main points of why both could happen at this point…

WIN

1. Focus on Privacy – Let’s face it, beyond technology variables the entire crux of the future LBS world is how we handle privacy. How accurate is too accurate, and in what context… Fire Eagle provides a great framework for deciding how you share the granular location data from varying location app inputs, a concept that’s going to bring users to the table.
2. Platform play – it’s a brilliant move, with sooo many LBS players flooding the marketplace why not play the platform card and help all those other potential players pull in location without having to develop it themselves. The concept is quite elegant and is the reason we will see thousands of developers flocking to it.
3. Developer focus – Provide an open platform with an elegant API and let the developers figure out what flavors of applications the market wants. Belly up to the bar, location is now on tap for everyone.
4. Granular levels of spatial accuracy – Early spatially-aware applications have courted lady location in a very monogamous manner. 1 method for assigning place, 1 result which the app uses. Fire Eagle is a departure from this relationship, in that there may be multiple levels of spatial status associated with a user at a single time. These levels of granularity further help apps appropriately provide context on a sliding scale.
5. Free from hardware dependencies – Dozens of LBS startups have stumbled trying to support the full array of hardware/device in the market today. Aligning yourself at the service tier is a very smart move,  and means FE isn’t stuck trying to configure to full spectrum of mobile platforms.

FAIL

1. What the hell does Fire Eagle do anyway? – This question has been repeated by hundreds over the past  couple days, and will continue to echo throughout the throngs of whiney comment logs. Most of the people asking these questions are end users and not developers, but a little clarity would go a long way.
2. Poor release management – Sure, it’s a developer product… But when you launch a product it really helps to have a couple sample apps to show how cool the platform really is. The lack of a native app was very confusing to many, particularly to the iPhone crowd. At the very least, the process for actually enabling LBS apps to work with FE has been very confusing. I can browse the list of 20+ applications in the gallery, but i can only figure out how to connect 3 of those (Dopplr, J2ME Mobile Updater, Outside.in) to FE. I’m perfectly happy with the apps i already have, and don’t really want to install another 10 to try and make it work, so please show me what’s supported, and not just who your’e fooling around with. FAIL…
3. Complicates LBS cross-use – Wow, seems like a serious cluster ehh? Which of my 10 current apps (on 3 different phones) are going to play well with FE? The description of FE as a “Location Wallet” for me falls a bit short, and definitely feels more like a “Huge Location Purse with way too many pockets”. Figuring out how these LBS apps can work together (or work apart) is going to be a challenge, one that could easily lose users along the way.
4. Innacuracies / Conflict of location – Let’s face it, when you rely on data sources ranging from broad travel itineraries all the way down to precision GPS devices, there’s likely to be disagreeance in just where the hell you are.  Travel plans get disrupted, manual entry relies on user remembering to do it, and GPS is not totally ubiquitous as of yet. Brightkite had me in Vegas 2 days after i departed because i forgot to manually check-in back in NYC. Dopplr had me back in NYC a day early because my first flight got canceled. As Fred Wilson observed, “That was a big realization for me. Using web services that rely on data input to update Fire Eagle makes no sense. It needs to be updated by my mobile devices.”
5. Keys to the LBS kingdom – This is a bright shiny key, one not likely to be just given away by those who have spent billions developing it.