SFD: Groupon’s New App, Amazon Snubs Google Maps
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Groupon’s New App Hints at a Change in Course(Fast Company)
Once a text-heavy app focused on daily deals, the latest release of Groupon’s app now sports a carousal navigation that makes flipping between Groupon services like Groupon Now!, Groupon Goods, and Groupon Getaways easier. It’s a sign that Groupon’s greatest opportunities have less to do with coupons and more to do with those other services–and mobile.
Amazon Teams with Nokia, Snubs Google for Maps (Reuters)
Amazon.com Inc’s new Kindle Fire will have mapping services via a tie-up with Nokia, according to two people familiar with the situation, filling a gap in the tablet’s capabilities while snubbing Google Inc’s popular service. Amazon will also add location capabilities to the new Kindle Fire, which requires either a GPS chip or a process known as WiFi triangulation, the people said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak ahead of Thursday’s launch event.
Facebook to Allow Targeting by Telephone Number? (Screenwerk)
Facebook is considering new types of ad targeting, including by email address, UDID (mobile) and phone number. Beyond the fact of PII targeting, marketers could potentially target certain types of users or audiences based on income and other data available through various databases.
The Hawaii Independent: a Profitable Co-op “Rooted in the Community like the Green Bay Packers.” (Journalism Accelerator)
TThe Hawaii Independent started as a standard, albeit small, for-profit corporation five years ago. The Hawaii Independent now offers both subscriptions and ownership, with different benefits, following international cooperative principles and guided by organizational bylaws.
Gift Cards Bring Physical Customers to the Digital World (PandoDaily)
Why are all of these technology companies diversifying away from the technology world, and instead making inroads into the physical, analog world? The answer is that for all of the promise of digital sales and ecommerce, the virtual world doesn’t match up to the physical world in two areas: sentimentality and the size of the market.
LevelUp Is First Mobile Payment App to Let You Give Back While Paying (Mashable)
Mobile payment app LevelUp helps its users save money through incentives, loyalty programs and special offers and now, the app has introduced a way for users to share a bit of their savings with their favorite causes. The company launched Causes on Thursday, becoming the first mobile payment ecosystem to integrate charitable giving.
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