Yahoo unveiled Tuesday its Fire Eagle location services platform. Most experts think that the so-called location-based services will become increasingly important, and Yahoo has managed to put together a promising solution, which simplifies interaction between users and applications, while being offered for free. Yahoo's strategy of releasing Fire Eagle free for all users and developers will certainly help in disseminating the company's newly unveiled technology.

Yahoo has made sure that the users' privacy is well protected. The user has complete control over what information is made available to which applications. Yahoo said that users can authorize Web, mobile or desktop applications to update their location automatically, or they can do it themselves manually on the Fire Eagle Web or mobile sites. The service even sends an email reminder, by default once a month, to remind users that their location is being shared.

Yahoo's Fire Eagle was launched in private beta in March this year, and over 50 third-party applications from partners like SixApart, which offers a blogging platform, and Pownce, a micro-blogging service, are already using Fire Eagle. Other partners include the blog platform Movable Type, the news and community site Outside.in, Dash, Doppir, Loki, Plazes, Outlot, Lightpole, Brightkite, Navizon, Spot, Dipity and Zkout.

For now, Yahoo will not make any money off Fire Eagle, but that may well change in the future. The one money making tool that comes to mind first is location-based advertising, but options are plentiful after the location services platform will hopefully be adopted by a large number of users and developers.

One thing is certain: the company will most probably be very careful not to infringe on its users' privacy, as only days ago announced it is to offer its customers the possibility of opting out of customized advertising. That decision came as a response to the recent inquiry on targeted advertising carried out by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Last month, Yahoo announced that it has opened some of its search technology to third parties, in an attempt to make the entrance of new search companies on the market easier. The platform, called BOSS (which stands for “Build your Own Search Service”) will allow users to build their own search tools on their sites using both Yahoo’s infrastructure, and the search algorithms that were developed by its engineers.