When it was first released, a lot of people said that it was the next best thing. Take a look at Robert Scoble's initial coverage. The only problem was that, since it was an app, I don't think they got the level of attention that they were due. If you used it back then, it really did feel magical.

Now that Apple acquired them, they can use their platform to really promote it and get it on everyone's device by default, which will help a lot more people to find and use it.