Opinion: Location-based apps have lost their way

Yesterday's acquisition of Loopt by payment solution specialist Green Dot served as something of a bookend for me.

When I started on PocketGamer.biz at the beginning of 2010, much of my time was spent researching and latterly writing about location-based apps.

At that time, platforms such as Foursquare and Gowalla were being challenged by game-based entities like MyTown, and signs were that the sector would continue to advance, making an impression on more traditional business directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages in the process.

Editorials spoke endlessly about how this mini format war would have to serve up a clear winner in the months ahead, yet all the major players continued to post impressive stats illustrating sustained growth on all fronts.

Forging on with Facebook

Column inches were again dedicated to detailing the likely downfall of location-based apps when Facebook entered the scene. Early reports from the social network's newfound rivals, however, suggested interaction with existing location-based tools rose rather than fell away once Facebook entered the market.

And so, the sector's growth went on, with new mini apps tapping into location-based APIs serving up additional games that utilised user check-ins in new and exciting ways.

Two years later, and Green Dot's move for Loopt and its decision to pull the firm's app as a result means that, to all intent and purposes, Foursquare is the only major independent player left in the field.

While I might be something of an avid Foursquare user myself (no-one is taking that Krispy Kreme mayorship off me without a fight), I have to admit even I have no real idea why I still check-in.

Aside from the few people on Foursquare that have an interest in where I go and when, all using Foursquare seems to do is annoy my followers on Twitter when it sends out an automated check-in tweet.

No simple solution

It's been known for some time, however, that location-based tools haven't quite lived up to their early promise.

At the start of 2012, studios with a hand in the field told us one of the sector's big problems was the need for users to check-in manually. Automated tools that asked a user's permission to track their movements just once would serve as a solution, some suggested.

I'm not entirely convinced any such shift would make a real difference, however.

While Foursquare signed a series of partnerships in the US in its early years that gave users incentives to check-in at certain locations, so far the only major business I've found offering Foursquare users any discounts or deals in the UK is pub chain Wetherspoon's, and only then if you happen to be mayor.

All that early excitement has now dissolved, and suddenly these social platforms seem like bulky add-ons without any real core or purpose so much so that even previous eager enterprise has lost interest.

While Foursquare is unlikely to publish any statistics showing a decline in check-ins in any specific region (and, globally, its spread to new territories is likely to ensure its worldwide total keeps growing for some time to come), I fail to see where plain location-based tools can go next.

It all leads me to one conclusion: in under three years since Foursquare and Gowalla made their debut splashes at SXSW 2009, the check-in has checked out.

It's in your hands

Developers, however, offer some hope.

As with augmented reality, location games lacks a real poster boy as things stand: a title that shows the true potential of the technology, and sets the benchmark for all those that follow.

Just like the early days of check-in tools, there's much excitement when a studio suggests location will have a role to play in a future release, but few mobile best sellers have made it a killer feature.

Until then, we're stuck with a growing number of flash devices capable of tapping into location-based technology PS Vita the latest to join the line standing in conflict with a consumer base unwilling to entertain the possibilities.

I'm relying on game developers, rather than the check-in tools, to save the day here. If nothing else, there has to be more value in location-based play than me repeatedly broadcasting my love for sweet, sticky doughnuts to an unreceptive world.