Gowalla. Gowalla mobile. Arnhem Station DT: Trip:Moonlight Towers. This is a story about how we accidently built a social network b. Ricky Heijnen on Gowalla. PackRat Recipe Wiki. Gowalla Gets $8.4 Million Series B For Geo-Networking. Attracts. Geo-networking apps on mobile phones are scorching right now as everyone is trying draft off FourSquare. Today, Foursquare competitor Gowalla raised an $8.4 million Series B round, led by Greylock Partners. Reid Hoffman, who is now a partner at Greylock, will take an observer seat on Gowalla’s board. Another Greylock partner, David Thacker (an Austin, TX-native like Gowalla itself) is joining their board of directors. Other new investors include Shasta Ventures, Maples Investments, Ron Conway, Kevin Rose, Gary Vaynerchuk, Shervin Pishevar, Jason Calacanis and Chris Sacca.
Previous investors the Founders Fund and Alsop-Louie Partners put in more money as well. The Austin-based startup has now raised a total of about $10 million since it was founded in 2007. Since the public launch of Gowalla’s service just ten weeks ago, 50,000 people have signed up and checked into 150,000 locations in over 7,500 cities worldwide. Everybody Loves Geo: Gowalla Adds $8.4M – GigaOM. Gowalla Ups Its Game And Hints At Future Business Models. For some time now, it has seemed like Foursquare was the only game in town. I mean “game” literally, as of the major location-based services, Foursquare seemed to be the only one really emphasizing gaming elements. But now Gowalla is starting to emphasize it more. To be fair, Gowalla has had a sort of sub-game based around the dropping and picking up of items (basically, virtual goods) since the beginning. But in the latest build of its iPhone app which hit the App Store today, version 1.3, there are some new gaming aspects.
The first is that items now have histories attached to them. This allows you to see who has had an item before you in a city. Looking over some of my items now, it’s actually pretty interesting to see that I know some people who have some of them before me. While at first the idea behind including items in Gowalla didn’t make sense to me, after meeting with (Gowalla parent) Alamofire CEO Josh Williams, it makes a lot more sense. Vote: Will Europeans use Gowalla, FourSquare or what? So it’s been nearly 10 days since Foursquare launched its social mobile game ‘ground assault’ into 50 more cities, including a bunch of European ones. But what I’d like to know is who’s actually using it here in Europe? Because, you see, Europeans are already quite well served by location based mobile applications like Qype, the various localised versions of Yelp, and other startups like Rummble. And there are increasingly new kids on the block like Flook.
What is clear however, is that only Foursquare and Gowalla (at least to my knowledge) have come up with this gaming approach to ‘checking in’ which has attracted so much interest from high profile blogs like TechCrunch and bloggers like Robert Scoble. The question is, which will scale and ultimately prove the winner? One the one hand the more ‘utilitarian’ approach of European startups has generally concentrated on providing Yelp-like ratings mechanisms for venues and places. Gowalla Raising Greylock. We've heard from three sources that Austin-based Alamofire Inc -- maker of iPhone app Gowalla -- is set to raise a big (~$8 million) round, led by Greylock.
Gowalla is one of those iPhone apps for people who want to "check in" from a bar or restaurant and tell all their friends where they are hanging out. Gowalla's closest competitor is probably Foursquare. Gowalla is currently number 10 on Apple's list of top free social networking apps, though that could be due to Apple promotiing it. We've reached out to Alamofire for confirmation, but haven't heard back. A Greylock spokesperson says, "We can’t comment on that right now.
" Correction: An earlier version of this post said Gowalla was in the top 10 free apps. Here is Gowalla's video demonstration: .Gowalla is the Anti-FarmVille. Millions of people click, click, click their way mindlessly through repetitive casual games like FarmVille every day. Such games spread like a virus, infecting Facebook news feeds and eating up big chunks of the precious little time on earth that players were blessed with before they face their inevitable, if temporarily forgotten, mortality. Josh Williams used to develop software like that.
A graphic designer by training, his website for sharing iconography grew popular enough that he turned it into a game called PackRat. Half a million people spent far too much time on the site, but bigger companies grew faster and quickly swallowed up the "zombification" category of casual games. (My categorization, not his.) Now Williams is building something different, perhaps the opposite of FarmVille.
Williams is the CEO of Gowalla, one of the newest and smallest of several entrants into a market referred to as "location-based social networking. " Gowalla vs. What about Facebook? AustinGowallaHQ +pictures. Gowalla Gets A Spot On CNNMoney’s “Best Places To Live” Location-based social network Gowalla is teaming up with CNNMoney for Money magazine’s annual “Best Places To Live” list. The top towns on the list have their own Gowalla hot spots, which are linked to from each city profile. For instance, the top Gowalla hot spots in McKinney, Texas (No. 5) include the Landon Winery, Pub McKinney, and Coffee N Cream.
If you are within 25 miles of the top 25 cities, a notification will pop up on your Gowalla mobile app directing you to the “Best Places” page. Partnerships such as this one with big media and brands are a good way to get more exposure for geo apps like Gowalla and Foursquare (which also pursues such high-profile partnerships vigorously). The partnership also adds a mobile component to an otherwise staid—albeit popular—list of best cities. CNNMoney is also incorporating housing data from Trulia on the Best Cities part of the site, as well as job listings from SimplyHired. We are still in the landgrab phase of geo-social networks. Gowalla Upgrades iPhone App For Retina Display, Fast Switching. Gowalla Focusing More On Beauty With iPhone 4 — Will Users Be At. As iPhone apps push out their updates to be compatible with the new iOS 4, most are focusing on adding simple fast app switching capabilities.
Many are also giving their apps a quick new coat of polish to make them look a bit nicer on the new Retina display found on the iPhone 4. The location-based service Gowalla is focusing heavily on the latter. Version 2.2 of Gowalla, which just went live in the App Store, is the first version of the app that is iOS 4 and iPhone 4-compatible. In the update notes, Gowalla, which has always been more design-oriented compared to its competitors, remarks on their excitement for the new Retina display: The beautiful Gowalla experience you’ve come to love has been pixel-polished for the iPhone 4′s new (unbelievable) Retina Display. There is no question that Gowalla’s iPhone app continues to look much nicer than the one made by main rival Foursquare. One thing definitely fixed is the location issues Gowalla was having with users who updated to iOS 4. VirtualProduct Placements In Apple St. As geo social networks gain some traction, we are beginning to see novel forms of marketing and advertisements triggered by people’s location.
On Foursquare, for instance, you can get a discount if you check into a restaurant or even get a free meal if you become the mayor. GowallaIncase messenger bags, computer backpacks, and iPhone sleeves. Collect all the badges and you get a chance to win a real Incase product. Gowalla is doing the promotion in partnership with Incase. It is very much an experiment, which is in keeping with Gowalla’s focus on virtual goods. But there’s a line between cool virtual goods and spammy ads. Can Brightkite Beat Foursquare & Gowalla With a Universal Check- Location based social network Brightkite plans to launch a universal check-in API that will let users update their information on competing services like Gowalla, Foursquare and others later this month at South by Southwest, we believe.
In a poll we ran last night about competing location networks, Mark Krynsky, founder of Lifestreamblog and CheckInBlog, left the following comment: "I'd like to see a a multi-checkin service make its appearance at SXSW that would allow me to check into all 3 mentioned in the poll (more if possible) at once. Think Ping.fm for checkin services. " Brightkite co-founder Martin May replied: "working on exactly that. " Brightkite executives declined to share any further details before they unveil whatever it is that they are working on, but there are additional reasons to believe that we'll see a cross-system check-in tool from the company later this month.
A universal check-in system is the next logical step for location based social networks. Gowalla Gets "Food Wars" Passport Stamps. Gowalla users will be able to check in to locations featured on the Travel Channel's Food Wars show, thanks to a new collaboration between the network and the checkin service. Food Wars, which pitches culinary rivals against each other to create "The Best Dish In Town," will get specially created passport stamps that Gowalla users can collect at filming locations. After checking in to such locations, users will also be able to access specific show information, see the details of the culinary showdown that was filmed there and pick up items specific to the show.
The mainstream angle of this TV-themed team-up shows that Gowalla is stepping it up in an effort to compete with Foursquare. Gowalla recently increased its mobile offerings with a full-fledged Gowalla Android app in addition to its iPhone and BlackBerry options. Real-Life Incentives. After recent announcements by Foursquare of partnerships with big time players like Zagat, the New York Times and Bravo, Gowalla is fighting back with its own major media partnership. Gowalla and the Travel Channel announced today that the two companies will be working together to offer "the integration of proprietary Travel Channel content into Gowalla's social networking service. " Along with another deal, Gowalla has started to connect the virtual with the real, a direction we think will be key in succeeding in the location-based app arena.
According to a press release, the agreement will begin with tomorrow's premiere of "Food Wars" on the Travel Channel. In much the same way that Foursquare began offering special badges and information on venues featured in Bravo's television shows, Gowalla will begin adding new features based on the locations in the show. Here's the company's explanation: And really, it's this sort of thing that we think will keep apps like Gowalla afloat. WebOS and Vies for Your Checkins with Free S.
Foursquare is battling for your SXSW checkins with a musical scavenger hunt. Rival Gowalla is going to go after them with free gadgets — specifically free Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus devices as part of a promotion the location-based social networking service is unveiling in conjunction with their just-launched app for webOS. The app should hit the Palm App Catalog on Tuesday, and like the company’s applications for other platforms (including its recently launched Android app) it detects your location to show you nearby venues, lets you know where your friends are located, and has a gaming element called “stamps” that can be accrued as you check in to various places. The SXSW connection is part of a push by Gowalla into virtual goods.
This is one way Gowalla hopes to differentiate itself from the competition, and, truth be told, it’s not a bad one. In any event, here’s a look at some of the features of the webOS app: Which service will you be using to check in at SXSW? Yelp CEO Denies Extortion Scheme. Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppleman has just released a passionate statement denying all wrongdoing on Yelp's part, addressing a class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday that purports that Yelp is running an "extortion scheme.
" In the statement, Stoppleman begins by addressing "the long history of people accusing Yelp of monkeying around with reviews," and then follows with strong assertions that the company "would never do anything to jeopardize" their trust with users. He then concludes that Yelp will fight the lawsuit "vigorously, and we are confident we will prevail. " The core of Stoppleman's argument hinges around Yelp's never-ceasing efforts to maintain the legitimacy of the site and its prized user reviews.
To that effect, Stoppleman writes: "The reason 29 million people used Yelp last month to find a great local business is because of the trust they place in the reviews on our site. [img credit: Barbary Coast Ranger] Gowalla Getting Pretty Custom Passports, Hints At Other Personalization Features. While rival Foursquare seems firmly focused on the business side of things, Gowalla continues to focus on building a beautiful product. The next step in that comes on Wednesday when the service will unveil a way to make customized Passports. Your Gowalla Passport is essentially your profile page, but Gowalla organizes it in a way to highlight some of the core features that help them differentiate themselves — namely: pictures, comments, stamps, and pins. Beginning on Wednesday, you’ll be able to completely customize the design of this area.
Gowalla will provide you with a few themes designed by their team (a heavily design-focused team), or you can build your own. I’m told these will be unveiled on Wednesday (but it may take a couple of weeks for them to fully roll out the feature) alongside another announcement the service will be making — though no word on what that is. As you can see in the screenshots, there also appears to be a new area of the service called “Highlights.” Location-Based Web Service Gowalla Lets Politicians Check-In on the Campaign Trail.
Gowalla is getting political. You can now show your support to your political candidate of choice with Gowalla’s latest set of campaign and election stamps. Check in at a political rally, town hall or other event and you’ll get a snazzy new passport stamp unique to that event. This new feature even lets you create your own political event in support of a candidate with a distinct badge given to anyone who participates. So, get your smartphones out, hop on that campaign bus or beaten down van and start your cross-country political rally tour. Announced today on the Gowalla blog, the political stamps and event support are designed to increase voter education and participation. One of the new features allows politicians and their aids access to the Events feature within Gowalla to give out new political stamps to supporters who check-in at the time of the rally, speech or town hall.
Gowallas identity is strongly reflected in the APIs 6 commandments: Gowalla Opens Up Checkin API.