The Location Based Services Battle Heats Up

Are the gloves off in the location enabled or aware services?

I have used Foursquare for the past month since I stumbled upon it one day when my body Cody checked in at Tipperary’s Pub in NW Calgary.  I have to say that I am actually pretty impressed with how Foursquare works and the friendly competition brewing between a few of my colleagues around Calgary.  However, the biggest challenge I see with Foursquare is with my remembering to check-in when I hit new locations in and around Calgary.  It is not so much the technology that is a flaw, more my memory.  I just need to remember to check-in when I travel.

The iphone makes it easy

The switch to my brand new iphone 3Gs from the Blackberry Bold makes using Fourquare easier.  I do understand Foursquare has an app on the Blackberry platform now but I can’t comment on how it compares to the application on the iphone platform.  Blackberry users please chime in with some feedback.

I understand Yelp.ca now offers location-based services similar to the services offered from Foursquare.  According to industry reports, the check-in feature on Yelp competes head to head with Foursquare.  My next task will be to put this application on my iphone and see how it works compared to Foursquare.

Will it be the same experience?  Will it be better? Different?

The battle lines, war cries and the gloves are now off when you read other blogs and industry reports.  As the location-based services market begin to heats up I believe that location-based services is a great new way for business owners to connect with their customers or even potential customers.  Now when asked if Calgary business should look at Foursquare, my answer is YES and sit down with an expert to see how you can use these new advanced social media services to connect your business with the flood of consumers out there.

Sportschek in Market Mall leverages Foursquare

Or at least someone connected with Foursquare gets the importance of location aware services

The other day I was in Market Mall actually just in to grab something at the Apple Store, when I checked in on Foursquare to tell the world that I was in Market Mall.  When I checked in, I received an offer to visit one of the local retailers inside the mall.  Now I only needing something from the Apple Store and not in the market for sporting good, however if I was, Sportschek got my attention the minute I walked into the mall.  I was actually on the other end of the mall and someone from this sporting good chain reached me first.

I would love to hear what you think about Foursquare, Yelp and location-based services in general.  I believe there are tremendous opportunities for businesses such as those in a shopping centres, restaurants close to major hotels and just general business who work with consumers daily.  As a Calgary Internet Consultant, the level of excited around how the Calgary retail, restaurant and hotel market will leverage these great new services and how competition heats up over the air is pretty exciting.

Techcrunch.com wrote a great article on the location aware services from Foursquare and Yelp, read it by clicking here.

I wonder how Yelp.ca or Foursquare will fit into your business.