Foursquare is now compliant with the Microsoft mobile platform named Windows Phone 7. Foursquare is a late comer to the Windows mobile OS, we think it’s better late than never as Windows Phone 7 is positioning itself to be a major player in the mobile phone arena.
Foursquare has released their social check in app ( application ) for Windows Phone 7. This is not the first instance of this type of “check in” application for Windows. Gowalla is their competitor and they were first to the punch in getting onto the Windows Phone 7 system. Foursquare was not far behind, getting on the Microsoft train a week later than Gowalla. As of a month ago, Foursquare has over ten million users on its network and is growing steadily.
Foursquare is less than three years old and is started by the same person who started Dodgeball. Dennis Crowley is the man and started his name online by selling Dodgeball to Google. This set him up for a level of credibility when Foursquare was brought forth. A Foursquare co-founder, Naveen Selvadurai, is also helping to make more increase for the company. His goal is to take the information being gathered and make it more relevant. The whole idea is designed around the thought; “What would a city-guide written by your friend look like ?”.
Foursquare is close to becoming a digital assistant with the augmenting of the mass of information being collected. It is a digital directory that makes a city easier to navigate. Discovering and learning from a buddy, friend or companion is expanded to cover real time interaction, even if the users are not in the same city. Foursquare offers small incentives for those who are frequent visitors to certain places. They can get digital badges for their app if they are the person to visit certain areas more than other users. Starbucks is getting in the game and offering a “barista” badge through the Foursquare network.
Those who will be getting their apps on the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform will be enjoying more attention in the near future. The Microsoft software is predicted to be the number two mobile operating system in the world by the year 2015. They are offering $100,000 for Windows Phone 7 apps at the moment to gain more attention from developers, users and smartphone manufacturers. Microsoft currently has a low market share. They were reported to have an unimpressive two percent share at the beginning of this year. That is less than their older Windows Mobile version and equal with Palm’s WebOS. Foursquare is currently thinking about selling out to an unnamed company, with Crowley making a cool $20 million dollars for a few years worth of work.
