Tag: Lbs »

It seems that everyone theses days is checking into every location that they go near, whether they enter or not. While I understand that getting people into stores is a store owners dream, the real goal, which is what MyTown would like to exploit, is to have them pick up and buy products.

“Location is just a way to drive them to the store, but ultimately people want to actually be able to sell products, so this is one step away, getting closer to the finish line to point of sale.” Booyah’s founder Keith Lee says. “And that’s really where we want to go in terms of validating activities that you do in the real world.”

To validate products, the new update makes MyTown the first location based check-in app that includes a barcode scanner like the one that you see in RedLaser. Using the iPhone's camera, users can scan codes and instantly unlock any points or promotions that the item has stored.

Ultimately, Keith Lee wants users to be able to walk into places like Wal-Mart and see various coupons that the store offers. The company doesn't have a full set of retail partners involved yet, but a few have jumped on, as well as a "very large mystery consumer products company" that will be announced in August.

Someday, Lee envisions companies starting scavenger hunts and treasure finds to drive the MyTown gameplay even further. With 2.5 million users, there probably won't be any shortage of companies that will be looking to MyTown to drive their products of the future.

There is no release date set for this update, but I'm hoping that it comes out fairly soon. The release is out now, so go get it, it's free!

[Source: TechCrunch]

The location based app market has been popular for quite some time now, with its major players becoming household names. Foursquare, Gowalla, and upstarts like Booyah's MyTown are showing impressive user numbers and gaining traction among mobile users. Yet at TechCrunch Disrupt last week, two new startups showed promising twists on location-based services (LBS). DeHood aims to create a new community vibe through its iPhone app and website, each of which pulls in information about their local area. Yet possibly more disruptive is SCVNGR, which takes the game dynamics present in Foursquare and makes them the center of the service, instead of placing them on the periphery as Foursquare does.

Making Checking in Fun Again
Foursquare is designed to one day become a social and local utility, with social gaming mechanics designed to encourage checkins and to get people to use the platform more frequently. With SCVNGR, going to somewhere and checking in isn't enough. Instead, they make the entire world a scavenger hunt. At Disrupt, challenges included "Double Down," with users suggesting companies for venture capitalists to invest in, or "Give me a 'T'," wherein users had to spell out TCD with random scraps they found at the conference.

SCVNGR has spent the past couple of months working with institutions like colleges and museums to build "treks," which are essentially scavenger hunts. These are designed to drive more traffic and interactivity with the institutions. One could theoretically travel through the Metropolitan Museum of Art doing a trek, a highlights tour of sorts that was designed with SVNGR. The app includes social features as well, allowing users to see where they rank against their friends and the treks their friends had previously completed.

[caption id="attachment_38198" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="SCVNGR\'s Disrupt Tasks"]

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SCVNGR has clearly caught on. After the launch of their 3.0 iPhone app at Disrupt, they've seen a steep increase in traffic and use of their app. Download their iPhone app today to get in on the fun!