Seeing that they probably would have never beat Foursquare, I'm glad that they are continuing to iterate. I have to say that I'm a bit skeptical about this new product. It seems a bit murky conceptually, and I'm not sure if travel is the right industry for them to be putting their bets on.
I met a lot of diehard Gowalla fans during SXSW at their party, and they seemed much more keyed into the gaming / object collection aspects of the service. Bottom line - I think a lot of these superfans (many of whom traveled on their own dime to the party) will probably feel alienated by this new app. Gowalla will probably have to find a whole new market, which may not be the worst thing but won't be the easiest either.
No matter what, I think Gowalla has a huge uphill battle to climb. They haven't even really been able to build much excitement here in Austin (even among people I know who are addicted to social media). I think their design and UI is top notch, but they seem to be missing whatever makes consumers super excited.
I worked at Gowalla last summer and I can tell you that there are superusers who travel around only for the beautiful stamps and to collect items, but that number is very small. Gowalla has always been about travel and exploring. This move is not a surprise in any way.
I was pretty sad when we had to cut the items feature (I worked sooo hard to get that space shuttle!!). But trust me, this move makes for a much more compelling and useful product.
Check-in has gone dormant for now because for most of the world's mobile users, there is no real benefit to checking-in to a place. The action of checking-in can be quite powerful if different systems can react to it. I'd love to check in to a fast-food drive-thru on my phone, get a meal menu customized to the particular location, place my order, pay for it, and just drive up to the window. Or check-in to a stadium/theater/museum and get a customized program guide. I don't want to download a new app for each company, location, or event. I don't want to go to their website. I should check-in to a place using a single app, and the relevant services should perform the most appropriate actions. It's not going to happen right away but eventually it will.
I think MG is right that "The travel aspect is potentially even bigger. While there are a lot of people going after this problem, no one has nailed the mobile travel guide so far. When someone does, it’s going to be massive."
Partnering with Disney, National Geographic, and various universities to get their guide-content is a smart move.
Who is providing good travel guides for mobile? Fodor's? Frommer's? Lonely Planet?
It takes time to get it right, and I think Gowalla and Foursquare are both on track to do just that. I also think Josh is a great product guy and will eventually find a working solution. I think this is great proof that they aren't just waiting for it to come to them by chance.
[+] [-] kariatx|14 years ago|reply
I met a lot of diehard Gowalla fans during SXSW at their party, and they seemed much more keyed into the gaming / object collection aspects of the service. Bottom line - I think a lot of these superfans (many of whom traveled on their own dime to the party) will probably feel alienated by this new app. Gowalla will probably have to find a whole new market, which may not be the worst thing but won't be the easiest either.
No matter what, I think Gowalla has a huge uphill battle to climb. They haven't even really been able to build much excitement here in Austin (even among people I know who are addicted to social media). I think their design and UI is top notch, but they seem to be missing whatever makes consumers super excited.
[+] [-] patrickryan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thinkbohemian|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] newobj|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chime|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmix|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] thinkbohemian|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bennesvig|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] troymc|14 years ago|reply
Partnering with Disney, National Geographic, and various universities to get their guide-content is a smart move.
Who is providing good travel guides for mobile? Fodor's? Frommer's? Lonely Planet?
[+] [-] joeguilmette|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andrewcooke|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nhangen|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wyclif|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Hisoka|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mootothemax|14 years ago|reply
What, because startups should be given one chance and one chance only?