Some people (like me) don’t like games. Game mechanics-driven “check in” media like Foursquare, GoWalla, Loopt and BrightKite mostly leave them cold.

But what if check-ins triggered group buying discounts? That’s the concept behind GroupTabs, a new service launching in New York City next week. The idea is that offers could be floated on smartphones with a one- or two-hour window, and users can check in at the location. When enough people arrived, the discount (“20% off Wine Bar Purchases”) would kick in. The location pays a fee for the promotion if it reaches its threshold.

Led by former Citysearch sales exec Zane Friedman, GroupTabs began development in April. It has adopted Foursquare’s open API for check-ins, and plans to work with other check-in systems as well. One modification it has made is that it requires check-ins to be made at the location: Foursquare lets you do it all from your home or other locations.

“We give people a reason to try LBS [location-based services],” says mobile vet Josh Malin, who is part of the three-person start-up team. “Immediacy determines what they’re doing. They are not in it for the badge.”

Malin says the site will begin with one deal a day, and maybe add several deals a day after it starts adding some volume. He anticipates that the deals will be much smaller than Groupon-like deals, since they’ll mostly be tailored to bars and restaurants. Average deals might have 20 or 30 buyers. When New York is fully developed, additional markets may be pursued, perhaps up or down the East Coast, or San Francisco.

GroupTabs will obviously be limited to busy metro areas. Not many suburban areas will have 30 people ready to buy a drink down the street when they are gassing up or whatever.

The post GroupTabs: Check-Ins = Group Buying appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Mobile social player Loopt has made lots of moves to evolve amid quickly changing market standards and user expectations. This has involved moving from a purely social tool to a more broadly defined local utility — recently including Foursquare-like check-ins, and a partnership with coupon provider Mobile Spinach.

Today the company continued this march with a new partnership with  Tasting Table. The deal will give Loopt users insider info on bars, restaurants, wine shops and culinary retail establishments throughout New York, L.A., San Francisco, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

This includes directions, menus, editorial insights and offers. The content will be folded into the “pulse” feature of its mobile apps and be integrated with the existing check-in functionality. That will include the ability to add free-form editorial input that others can use when searching for the same spots.

This will join the existing content on its mobile app from Zagat, Citysearch, Bing and Mobile Spinach. It also has a loyalty program in the works that will likely integrate with all of the above.

There’s lots of talk about some of the newer entrants in the mobile location space such as Foursquare, Gowalla, et al. I’m an avid Foursquare user but the service is overexposed. In the incestuous media linking that is the tech blogosphere, earlier entrants like Loopt and even Yelp get less ink, despite many more users.

Loopt’s 3 million users outnumber Foursquare by about four to five times and its new check-ins could provide competition to the upstart. Continued content and functionality enhancements could also make it competitive with broader local tools with considerable mobile traction, such as Yelp — though that will be a tougher challenge.

Expect to see Loopt continue to redefine itself and fight for share in this quickly developing and still uncertain crossroads of mobile/local/ social. Meanwhile, watch Facebook closely for its inevitable integration of geolocation capabilities. Combined with its 100 million active mobile users, it will be a powerful force in this space.

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Loopt CEO Sam Altman will elaborate on company’s directions in the mobile local space during BIA/Kelsey’s Marketplaces Conference in San Diego, March 22-24.

The post Loopt Continues to Broaden Appeal as a Mobile Local Utility appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Next month, BIA/Kelsey will hold its annual Marketplaces 2010 Conference in San Diego. As always, it will have a focus on evolving local online business models and vertical segmentation. Much of the attention throughout the conference will be on the related opportunities for mobile content distribution and advertising.

In addition, we’ll have a dedicated mobile focus on day 2 of the show with the continuation of our signature “superforum” format. It’s a two-hour track (but not a breakout) with a series of segments that represent the topics most deserving of our attention.

We’ll mix it up with presentations, demos and deep discussions on what’s working and not working in the quickly changing space. To kick it off, we’re excited to have Loopt CEO Sam Altman talk about the company’s many steps to evolve as a mobile social utility and local advertising platform.

Many other companies are likewise represented that we’ve discussed here over the past few weeks and months. Below are the session descriptions and links to related posts. See the rest of the speaker lineup, agenda and registration on the Marketplaces 2010 site. Hope to see you there.

Mobile Superforum: Day 2: March 23, 2010, 1:30 pm — 3:15 pm

Introduction & BIA Kelsey Data

Kickoff Address: Loopt Evolves With a Changing Mobile Environment

• Sam Altman, Cofounder and CEO, Loopt

Making Mobile Work for Verticals: Product Showcase

• Scott Jampol, Senior Director, Consumer Marketing, OpenTable
• Alexander Muse, Cofounder, Big in Japan (ShopSavvy)
• Eric Singley, Mobile Product Manager, Yelp
• David Sturtz, Cofounder and CEO, RepairPal

Down to Business: Monetizing Mobile & Local

• Steve Larsen, CEO, CallSpark
• Alec Andronikov, CEO, MoVoxx
• Craig Hagopian, President, V-Enable

Recent BIA/Kelsey Writings on SuperForum Companies

OpenTable Goes Mobile, Part II: 2 Million Served

More Mobile Local Targeting From MoVoxx

Loopt Goes Further Down the Local Path

Confessions of a Mobile Shopaholic: A Conversation With Big in Japan

RepairPal in $4 Million Round

‘Call Rank’? CallSpark Leverages Smartphone Features for Mobile Directories

The post Marketplaces Conference: Mobile Sessions Slated appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.

Loopt continues to evolve from a location based social network to more of a local search utility. This comes during a general shift of market attention towards location based mobile apps and the commercial intent that can be inherent in their use.

Yesterday Loopt took another step towards monetizing some of these local interactions by partnering with Mobile Spinach. The partnership will provide Loopt users with geotargeted coupons and promotions for local businesses.

Financial terms weren’t disclosed but this represents Loopt’s first relationship with a local content aggregator. In the past it has done direct deals with national advertisers with localized constituents, such as Jack in the Box. It will roll out first in San Francisco and be available to users of Loopt’s smart phone apps (not mobile web yet).

This follows a string of recent moves for Loopt including, adding local ratings and reviews, integration of Foursquare-like “check-ins”, and development of a customer loyalty program (to be rolled out soon). Expect for this evolution to continue over the coming months.

Loopt CEO Sam Altman will elaborate on company’s directions in the mobile local space during BIA/Kelsey’s Marketplaces Conference in San Diego, March 22-24.

The post Loopt Goes Further Down the Local Path appeared first on BIA/Kelsey - Local Media Watch.