Toadi’s blog

I saw some of my friends using gowalla one of the location based services. They have a nice iphone app that lets you create locations where you can checkin. Gowalla is also known as Alamofire who creates game-like experiences on the social web.

First I thought it was nice to find locations nearby. Especially restaurants, petrol stations, etc. If possible with some comments from friends. But after investigating Gowalla a bit further I noticed the business model had nothing to do with finding new locations. They want you to buy virtual goods and drop them on locations for people to find. The in app purchase via the iphone serves this model perfectly.

For me this raises the question that Gowalla doesn’t stimulate finding a good restaurant or finding nearby petrol stations but they want to create another stupid social game. And I’m not in the target audience as it doesn’t deliver any added value to me.

Filed under: ranting on February 16th, 2010