E-CONSULTANCY.COM — As a big fan of location-based applications (I'm currently 'checking in' at various locations on five different apps...!) I have of course been watching the launch and subsequent spread of Facebook Places with great interest. Now that the first batch of dust has had a chance to settle, I wanted to look in a bit more detail at some of the hurdles 'Places' may face in the coming months, if past experience is to be believed. Applications like FourSquare, Gowalla, Yelp and SCVNGR have all gone through (or are going through) teething troubles and often come out the other side much stronger. Most commentators have speculated that Facebook's massive userbase alone will be enough for them to trounce all other applications with very little effort...