Street Fight Daily: Square COO Departs, Hyperlocal Investment in 2013
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Square COO Keith Rabois Departs Company (AllThingsD)
In a major exec departure, Square COO Keith Rabois will be leaving the San Francisco payments company. Square gave no other information about the sudden management change, but sources said disagreements between Rabois and CEO and founder Jack Dorsey were part of the reason for his exit there.
Can Foursquare Get Its Mojo Back by Embracing ‘Passive’ Check-Ins? (Street Fight)
Steven Jacobs: Does Foursquare need to be “fun” anymore? I’d say no. “Fun” means fighting an ever-diminishing battle over consumer mindshare on mobile — a fight that Foursquare is losing. It’s also contrary to what Foursquare is trying to build with its Explore functionality.
Mobile, Local & Search: 5 Sources of Innovation & Investment in 2013 (Search Engine Watch)
Michael Boland: Based on lots of evidence, there are five areas where I believe innovation and investment will branch from at the intersection of mobile, local and social. Some are concrete or quantitative predictions while others pinpoint the trends or sectors worth keeping an eye on and revisiting throughout 2013.
Why the Department Store Experience Needs a Serious Upgrade, Too (Venture Beat)
Rocky Agrawal: As online retailers incorporate better technology to improve the shopping experience for consumers, the convenience and experience gap between offline and online gets bigger. Retailers who don’t adopt new technologies and practices risk being left in the dust as online retailers further encroach.
Banjo Launches Location-based iPad and Android Tablet App to be a Second Screen for Live Events (The Next Web)
Banjo has launched iPad and Android tablet versions of its location-based service in an attempt to help people better get involved in events happening around the world right from the comfort of their own seats at home. The company has already begun utilizing the service during the National Football League (NFL) playoffs for those users who like or follow the sport.
Facebook’s Graph Search May Be Key to More Ad Sales (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Dan Levy, Facebook’s director of small business, says the search tool could help more than 13 million plumbers, doctors, pizza parlors, and other small businesses on the social network get their pages discovered. The company eventually plans to offer mobile Graph Search, which would be a more robust version of the recently released “nearby” feature that recommends restaurants and landmarks close to a mobile user’s location.
OLO, An Online And Mobile Ordering Platform For Restaurants, Grabs $5 Million In New Funding From PayPal & Others (TechCrunch)
OLO, the New York-based online and mobile ordering platform for restaurants, has raised a $5 million Series B round of funding from PayPal and existing investors. With PayPal’s strategic investment into OLO, the payment company now has the capability to expand into yet another offline vertical: dining.
3 Million Downloads On, Triposo Now Taps Facebook Events to Help you Experience a City Like a Local (The Next Web)
With the latest update, Triposo gives travelers access to events that are happening nearby, right now, and includes last-minute hotel rooms and tips on what to eat.
PODCAST: This Week in Location-Based Marketing — Lumi Mobile (Street Fight)
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan look at Google’s moves with Zavers and Fieldtrip. They also touch on payments companies PayPal and GoBank and examine RedStripe’s latest local initiative. Plus special guest Dan Foreman of Lumi Mobile talks the death of surveys.
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