Here is an interesting interview with Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare. While the interview is short, Dan asks Dennis a few direct and interesting questions, including this one:
What real business value does foursquare have? Have any big companies take advantage of it yet?
Not yet, but we’re having conversations with all sorts of folks - everything from big brands to mom-and-pop coffee shops. Look for some of this early next year!
While I’m curious as to what Foursquare has in store for small business, I guess we will be waiting until next year to find out exactly what it is.
Google has announced a plan to distribute barcodes that businesses can put in their windows. The sticker would be scanned by a phone (using the camera) and would provide information to the user, as well as let them save them to the Favorite Places catalog online. Why is this important? Well, watch the video to learn a little more:
I bet you’re starting to get it now. My guess is Foursquare does not have the current resources to roll out something similar. Can the combination of Google Favorite Locations + Google Maps + Google Latitude kill Foursquare? Maybe. Will it? Most likely not. Foursquare has the game element that has the potential of making a generic Google product seem dull and boring. Google’s favorite places does not have your friends competing to be the mayor of your favorite bar, there are no rewards (besides a coupon maybe) for using Google Favorite Places and, of course, no badges! The promise of Foursquare still beats the promise of Google Favorite Places. I do however think the combination of the two would be a huge win for everyone!
While the iPhone and Android Foursquare applications are out, the Blackberry Foursquare experience suffers by giving users a pretty icon that links to their mobile website. Luckily the team at Foursquare is working on bringing a much better experience shortly:
The FourSquare app is coming to the BlackBerry platform soon. New
York-based FourSquare, which has raised $1.35 million in funding, is
working on a beta version of the application. The company recently
provided access to its beta version to a handful of people. Soon, it
will be rolling out 500 beta invites in batches. You can still sign up for the app. And if my first impression is any indication, it is totally worth the wait.
As a current Blackberry owner I’m anxious to get my hands on this before I make the switch to Android. Wonder what will come first, the Foursquare Blackberry app or a powerful, keyboardless Android phone?
