Google Hotpot stickers are location aware and talk to your cell phone

Last month, Google announced project “Hotpot” which is their new “recommendation engine that helps you discover places you’ll love based on opinions from you and your friends.” Users can rate places and get personalized recommendations on the go. Although Google’s acquisition of couponing site Groupon did not go through, it appears that Google may not need them after all.

Hotpot has now officially launched in its first city, Portland, which makes sense given the tech culture and high adoption rate amongst consumers. Google will be handing out business kits and window decals to businesses across the city that have their Google Place Page (example here) set up and request a kit.

We predict kit requests will be high because Google is making window decals cool again. Say what? You heard me- cool. Again. I’m talking Trapper Keeper cool.

Why is this sticker so different and why should real estate agents’ ears perk up?

The stickers in the Hotpot kit Google will be sending out are interactive and have Near Field Communications (NFC) technology inside each sticker so that people with modern phones (Google cites the Nexus S as an example) can touch their phones to the sticker to find out more info on the business.

This isn’t Minority Report, you guys, this is the future and it is real and it is here. Imagine a location sensitive sticker on the window of your listing that someone who is touring that has a modern phone can already get information. No scanning, no downloading, just opening the app that knows where you are and the sticker tells them the list price and links about the area all on the Google Place page. It’s not the only tool I would recommend using (getting traffic to your own site is ideal), but you should be prepared to put this in your tool belt when it comes to your city!