Bing just released a helpful app called We’re In for Windows Phone, which helps organize get-togethers by creating an event at a location that contacts can join. You create a title, location and timeframe and send an invitation to people in your contact list. Users without Windows Phones can join via a Web link.

The app allows participants to post status updates, and it displays their locations on a map, though they can tap ‘leave’ at any time and stop sharing their location. When the event expires, everything gets automatically cleaned up, and location sharing stops. It’s kind of like Glympse but with group messaging features. We’re In is currently only available for Windows Phone users in the U.S., but the post says the team is “working on bringing this app to more devices.”
Bing’s location offerings may not grab the headlines that Google Maps and services like Foursquare get, but it has been rolling out some helpful mobile services lately. Earlier this month, Bing added detailed mall maps to its mobile map site, and We’re In addresses another existing gap between events, locations, and group messaging.
Google could integrate its calendars, maps and Huddle group messaging into a service like this. Facebook could combine events, Facebook Places, and its new Messenger app, which already has the location-sharing features. But neither of those Web giants could close the loop before Microsoft stepped in today.
As far as the platform, while Windows Phone 7 does not currently have much market share, an upcoming new OS version and new hardware from Nokia has the potential to stand out starkly from Android and iOS.
What do you think? Does We’re In sound useful?