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Blogvent Day 4 – Foursquare and the Future of Location Based Apps

Business | Technology

“Location based services such as Foursquare and Facebook Places are the single most exciting development in marketing right now.” That’s a rough interpretation of words spoken at one of the many Social Media seminars at the MediaPro expo at the beginning of November, and they are words not to be dismissed lightly.

As 2010 draws to a close, it is inevitable that marketing websites will be awash with deliberations on what the next big marketing tool will be in 2011. Location-based services, like Foursquare, are certain to be near the top of the pile.

According to estimations, the number of smartphone users is set to quadruple by 2014, reaching in excess of 1 billion people. The ‘can’t live without’ nature of smartphones plays a crucial role in the rise of location based services, but there is still some way to go before there is a clear-cut use for them beyond ‘checking in’ and attaining ‘Mayorship’ of places.

Dave Snyder of NYC agency Firstborn has an interesting take on the future of location-based services: “LBS will continue to be huge. It's just that, in 2011, everyone realizes how NOT exciting Foursquare and Gowalla were and are. Keep your badge; people are cheap and just want coupons. As I predicted last year, the current Location Based Services (the ones that survive) will become little more than the modern day equivalent of a coupon book. And guess what Foursquare, Gowalla and the rest, you don't have the numbers to make marketers care: Facebook Places has rendered you impotent.”

When Facebook got in on the location-based act with Places, there was the inevitable expectation that existing services would be phased out, but that won’t happen while everyone is still finding their way. Gowalla has already taken steps to integrate foursquare and Places into its smartphone app, trying no doubt to stay ahead of the curve in a closely watched space.

Gowalla CEO Josh Williams: “The aim was to create a solution that allows people to connect with all these services without having to launch four different apps. We're still early enough in the space that everyone has a different flavor (sic) and take on it. Different people are going to migrate to different services."

What they do when they get there is another discussion and that is what will truly define the future of Foursquare and their rivals.

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