If you have been tracking the social media scene globally then its very likely that you might have heard of Foursquare which is a location based game and social network mobile app. International blogs have been going gaga over this new app and some have even gone to the extent of labelling it as the next twitter.
For those who didn’t know, foursquare is an LBS centric game cum social network that gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city. Users earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things. Foursquare is best experienced on the iphone and then on android based phones. They do have support for other devices as well. Foursquare recently raised a seed round funding of $1.35M from Union Square Ventures and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures. Another interesting part about Foursquare is that one of its founders is of Asian origin i.e. Naveen Selvadurai.
On a whole the move by Foursquare to expand its reach to India is interesting. Just 3-4 days back I saw a tweet from a good friend and twitterer Asfaq asking as to when foursquare would be available for India. This means foursquare is already seeing demand from early adopters in India and this move to launch for Mumbai is the first step.
How well will foursquare do in India is anybody’s guess and frankly irrelevant at this early stage but what is relevant here is the opportunity for LBS centric mobile social networking in India. With over 500 mobile phones and with 3G confirmed to be auctioned this time around it seems India is the perfect place for such an app. The question remains will it be foursquare or will biggies like Google or mapping companies like mapmyindia and satnav enter this space?
I think it will be a great hit. And I say this because at the core of it are social networking & gaming angle. If you track the growth of social networking in India, people competed to have more friends(orkut) or more followers(Twitter). FB apps like mob wars became famous because friends were competing to get more points/armours etc.
I haven’t used it but from what I have read, FourSquare has a cool core to make it a hit. Also, as its a loacation based product, even the industry will jump into the game with offers and promotions to build their brand image.
Till then we play the watching game.
We at Wcities India (based in Malad, mumbai) are empowering the foursquare data channel for Mumbai .
It feels good to see the launch, but the success will depend on Venue owners opening up to users to reward the Mayors and the likes , which seems difficult in India.
It feels good to see the launch, but the success will depend on Venue owners opening up to users to reward the Mayors and the likes , which seems difficult in India.
Check out Yulop.com. Its another interesting startup focused on cracking the LBS code in India. It doesn’t have a social networking angle to it yet but am sure they can scale fast.
Expect Reliance ADAG (Big Maps), Rediff and Google to roll out LBS related services soon. I think these companies will have to tap into local content provider databases like MapMyIndia and Yellow Pages to gain a sufficient foothold into the country.
If I were you, I would put my money in MapMyIndia today
Interesting enough, a cool location based service called Rummble (http://www.rummble.com) has been available in Mumbai for quite some time now! I noticed it has a pretty active user base over there, too. I have found its functionality a lot more smooth and polished than other services, plus I like how it personalises reviews and ratings to my own tastes and trust with others.. not to mention it is available everywhere and anywhere around the globe.
You know. I recently started using Foursquare due the acquisition of an Android phone. I think if Foursquare really wants to be known and used in India. They need to release a generic java app and symbian app also. Those are the cell phones dominating the Indian market and thats what will make them really get ahead.
I was really surprised to see that they had no symbian app.
Rajiv – I believe there’s enough space for a mapmyindia and foursquare to co-exist, maybe even partner each other here. And while Google will definitely force an app out soon, its adoption rates may be as good (read bad) as Buzz. Further, agree with Abhilash, symbian app is imperative to survive in a predominantly Nokia held market.
Foursquare Symbian app = Gravity
It is a great news for all social media aspirants in India. I am still curious about when will they launch it for whole Country.
Foursquare is a navigational tool. People can use in different circumstances. It is going to reach all over the world. Eventhough there are many apps like Foursquare, nothing like its popularity in short period of time. You can watch the Zakaria GPS episode of the American Dream and one can find the the men behind the Foursquare. These men are nice guys and you can communicate through the Foursquare Blog and give out your opinions, comments and criticism.