THE BATTLE OF THE MOBILE APPS

THE BATTLE OF THE MOBILE APPS Location based services are hip, so hip in fact that not many people actually know what they are yet. But do not fear, The Lounge is here to guide you through the veritable minefield of services on offer. In short, Location-Based Services are information & entertainment applications, accessible on mobiles that can be tracked with GPS.
First up we have foursquare (which we looked at last time). It is essentially the most popular LBS app around, where users earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things. London has recently become foursquare’s fastest growing city, and having secured brand tie-ups with Debenhams and Dominos they are the app to beat. Gowalla is the new kid on the block – a sort of Apple to foursquare’s PC – a slick app that turns travelling into a game, rewarding players for visiting almost anywhere. And while there isn’t much discernable difference between Gowalla and foursquare, Gowalla has a trump card; availability in 7500 cities worldwide verses foursquare’s 100. Next up is Yelp, a long-established social network now featuring a ‘checking-in’ function. Despite lacking the game-like charm of foursquare and Gowalla, Yelp is pitching itself as the go-to for reviews by ‘real people’. While all of these apps offer marketers a super-targeted, localised marketing channel, one brand is trying its own hand…
True City, created by Nike, is the latest LBS to generate a media frenzy. In short, it gives users unique insights into 6 European cities - London, Berlin, Amsterdam, Milan, Paris and Barcelona – through the eyes of local opinion formers (hand-picked by Nike) and using the combination of geo-tagged content and social media integration. And if all these weren’t enough, rumour has it Facebook are developing their own app. It may not be too hip to be foursquare for long…