Loopt dives into the iPhone with localized mobile networking
Loopt is jumping into the hyper active buzz platform called the iPhone enthusiastically by announcing the availability of its mobile networking application when the iPhone App store launches.
Loopt’s service allows you to create an ongoing microblog feed that friends can tap into, so not only do they know where you are, but also what you’re up to. It could be a great way to connect with people when it’s convenient for both parties, though it could become a hindrance if too many friends end up on your list that you don’t want to see often anyway (yes, privacy options are built in).
What caught my attention about this was Loopt’s enthusiasm in working with Apple’s iPhone APIs and SDK. In the video below the company talks about the iPhone with these glowing words, “this is the best platform we’ve ever developed for.”
Considering the number of mobile platforms claims to have worked with that could be considered quite a complement.
Of course, the limiting factor here is that other people have to use some sort of microblogging service and have a mobile device that allows geotagging. That’s becoming more mainstream every day, but could be a challenge for those still using old brick phones.
According to Wikipedia,
The company was founded by Sam Altman, a computer science major at Stanford University. Altman, along with friends and students from Stanford and MIT, wrote the software that runs the system. In 2005 the small Loopt team received funding from Y Combinator, an early stage investment company that helps young entrepreneurs get past the challenges of starting a business. Loopt has completed Series A and B financing led by Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates.
Related Posts:
June 11th, 2008
I wonder why Apple choose to spotlight Loopt as the first friend-finding app on the iPhone. There’s so many other ones out there. My fav is WHERE. It has a friend-finding app called Buddy Beacon that syncs to your Facebook page so it’s not limited to carriers. WHERE has more than just a friend finding app on it, too. It has a Yelp widget to find hot restaurants, a Starbucks widget, a couple event finders like StubHub, and a ton of others like news and weather, too. I like it cuz I can find my buddies and pick a cool place to meet-up all with the same app. I hope the folks at where.com make an iPhone app. If they already did, why didn’t Apply feature them?