CheckIn+ Aggregates Check-Ins, Could Be Big
Street Smart Moves: The best or biggest deal, assertion, investment or other strategy this week.
Who: SHAPE Services
What: Introduced CheckIn+, a location-based aggregator that includes augmented reality
Last summer, Business Insider noted the start of a wave of check-in aggregators, following hot on the heels of the wave of location-based services–just like daily deal aggregators started popping up to sweep together all the bargains Groupon and its clones were tossing out.
This week saw the launch of a new aggregator, CheckIn+, that layers check-in opportunities on top of augmented reality technology. Instead of seeing a list of places nearby, you can hold up your iPhone and see your environment littered with Foursquare labels. Yeah, fancy. But that’s not what’s important about this new product–it was started by SHAPE Services, which is said to have 12.5 million registered users for its IM+, all-messaging-services-in-one mobile apps. “Aggregators tend to generate a lot of eye-rolling, since they are less exciting and innovative than the companies they build on top of,” BI said last year. “But that doesn’t mean they can’t be serious businesses.” CheckIn+ is a contender to watch.
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