This is good for everyone. Businesses will realize that more and more people are doing initial research online, which will cause them to 1) improve overall service 2) make more information available online 3) keep their business as tidy as possible!
It's interesting if you check the link for where they're offering the service; there are only five US cities, but nine areas (some prefectures) in Japan. I wonder why the coverage is so large in Japan?
They probably want to use this service to try streighten their position in areas where Google is comparatively weaker.
Therefore, Korea, Japan.
If I'm right, we shouldn't expect Europe to be their priority (for example), because Google is already very strong there, no real competition. Expect to be closer to the bottom of the list.
