Street Fight Daily: Patch Editors Concerned, Apple Patents Waze Alternative
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology
Patch Editor:’From What I See On The Ground, We Are On Our Last Legs’ (Romenesko)
“Patch 2.0, the new site design that was supposed to revolutionize what we’re doing somehow has done little more than alienate our readers by decreasing the amount of news we can convey to them and infuriate Local Editors by removing tools we frequently used for our jobs,” said a local editor for Patch. “The leadership of this company continues to congratulate itself on what a good job it’s doing while I am left to deal with angry locals, upset at things outside of my control.”
Why Offering SMB Marketing Services Won’t Save Newspapers’ Bottom Line (Street Fight)
Matt Sokoloff: Most newspapers aren’t building new and innovative tools to provide SMB services. Instead they are white labeling offerings from other providers or are connecting their audiences to an existing service. Over time, SMB tools are going to become a commodity. When someone who is still in high school can offer exactly what you are offering, you’re in trouble. With the high cost structures and overhead that newspapers have, being in a commodity business (where margins get pushed lower and lower) won’t prove lucrative in the end.
Apple Details Waze-like Crowd-sourced Route Ratings for Real-Time Traffic Alerts in Maps (9to5 Mac)
According to a new Apple patent application published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (via AppleInsider), Apple is looking into new mapping features that would integrate real-time, crowd-sourced traffic and navigation data through ratings and user reporting. The features appear to be similar to those included in the community-based mapping app Waze, which is one of the reasons that Google just acquired the company last month.
Openings & New Hires at Square, Facebook, LocalVox and More (Street Fight)
Kelly Benish: Every two weeks, Search Influence’s Kelly Benish — who knows practically everyone in hyperlocal — covers some of the latest job changes taking place in this dynamic industry. Moves this edition include a new product engineer at Square, an exiting publisher at DNAinfo, plus openings at Oracle, LinkedIn, WorldNow and more.
Location Tracking App Glympse Links With Evernote to Let Users Archive Their Trails (TechCrunch)
Glympse, the navigation tracking app that has made inroads into location-based services by inking deals with the likes of Ford, Mercedes Benz and BMW to integrate its app into their in-car systems, is today laying down ground in another direction: other cloud-based mobile platforms. Today it is announcing that Glympse users will be able to archive their “trails” directly to Evernote.
Roamz Hits The Deadpool, But The Team Stays Together With A New Focus (TechCrunch)
After a series of rapid fire pivots, Roamz, one of many services launched during the location-centric app explosion to try and help you find things to do nearby, has shut down. To date, the team had raised around $3.5M, almost entirely from Australian direct mailing/marketing house Salmat.
RetailMeNot Acquires Abcyne To Beef Up Its Digital Coupon Site Portfolio in France (TheNextWeb)
RetailMeNot, the US-based digital coupon marketplace operator formerly known as WhaleShark Media, has acquired Abcyne, a French discount code distributor and price comparison website publisher. Abcyne, which operates digital coupon website Ma-reduc.com and a couple of other websites that allow consumers to save on goods and services online, will become part of RetailMeNot’s network in France alongside Bons-de-Reduction.com and cashback service Poulpeo.
Catalina and 4Info Offer a Glimpse into the Future of Mobile Advertising (i2G)
Greg Sterling: Earlier this year Catalina introduced BuyerVision Mobile, created in partnership with 4Info and offers marketers the ability to target mobile shoppers based on purchase history (using store loyalty card data) and then “close the loop” through in-store purchase reporting. Tracking and matching users is getting a lot more sophisticated, and this type of online-to-store tracking will be mandatory for mobile ad networks within 12 months.
Hindi Company Finds Success Going Hyperlocal (New York Times)
Patrika has arrived at a winning combination through a mixture of old-fashioned credibility, large circulation, and civic-minded hyperlocal coverage and editions. The group has a total readership of 19 million people, largely in the northern Indian states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, according to the latest Indian Readership Survey.
LBMA Podcast: The Mobile Payment Journey of the Future (Street Fight)
In this week’s episode, Asif’s take on location based marketing in China; Twitter finally develops geo-targeted ads; Facebook helps get you (almost) free wifi; Google plans to launch thing-sharing service Mine, and Pandora quadruples its audience. Plus our resource of the week: The mobile payment journey of the future. And special guest Keller Rinaudo, co-founder of Romotive.
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