

Loopt Eagerly Joins the iPhone Gold Rush - robg
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/loopt-eagerly-joins-the-iphone-gold-rush/index.html?hp

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wumi
I don't think this article was particularly useful -- a snapshot of their
business model, and a few SA quotes confirming that the iPhone was fairly
important to the company (this should go without saying for a mobile social
networking startup).

Personally, I don't/won't use Loopt, but I think the discoverability of others
around you is probably the most interesting feature.

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ardit33
good for them, but I have yet to know anybody that uses them. And most of my
friends are the early adopter types.

I think Loopt has some really great PR, as we have been hearing so much about
then, yet I don't know anybody that uses them. I think they are going against
a human trend, that people most of the time, don't want their friends to know
where they at.

Now, that Yelp app might actually be useful.

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mlinsey
I think it's more likely that they haven't been on handsets that their target
audience owns. They just added iPhone and Blackberry, and I can't name one of
my friends who has a location-enabled smartphone that's neither a Blackberry
nor an iPhone. For a while they were just on Boost, and don't know anyone who
uses them as a carrier either.

In any case I look forward to trying out the service with all of my friends
who now can actually use it. Big congrats to the Loopt team, especially Sam
and Alok who I know from school.

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tlrobinson
I'd say Loopt is pretty useful, though as with all social networks the
usefulness increases with the number of people you know on the network
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe's_law>) and I don't know many people
on Loopt.

I look forward to the day when rather than messaging/calling a dozen friends
to see who's around I can just look on Loopt and see if a friend is nearby who
I want to hang out with.

Actually, I just installed Loopt yesterday, and this morning I was wondering
where one of my co-founders was. I checked on Loopt, and there he was, "39 mi
NW" in SF. I didn't even have to bother him to find out what he was up to.
It's kind of like Twitter, but implicit instead of explicit. I don't have to
manually update it to let people know where I am.

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boucher
If only you didn't have to manually update it on iPhone. You still have to
launch the app.

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jonknee
I can't imagine using loopt. Anyone here a fan? I don't want anyone to be able
to snoop in on my location let alone broadcast it. And then have a firm sell
ads against it.

But maybe I just need to start wearing another polo and I'll be in the target
demo:

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/grahamb/2565911988/>

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tlrobinson
Lay off Sam! I think he's gotten enough flack for the double polo incident...
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dju9y5BdVQ> (though that video _is_ quite
amusing)

