Street Fight Daily: Criticism Over Apple Maps, Yahoo Won’t Be Checking-In
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Apple’s Maps Are a Disaster Waiting To Happen (SAI)
“Apple went out and partnered with the weakest player,” Noam Bardin, the CEO of mapping startup Waze, tells Business Insider. “What’s going to happen with the Apple maps, is that you’re literally not going to find things. When you do find them, they might be in the wrong place or position geographically. And if you do have it, the route to it may not be the optimal route.”
Looks Like Yahoo Won’t Be Buying Foursquare (Screenwerk)
Greg Sterling: Yahoo’s decision today to return most of the proceeds of the sale of half of its stake in Alibaba to shareholders suggests that no such major acquisition (i.e., Foursquare) is coming. Beyond the idea of appeasing shareholders and/or making good on earlier promises the decision to “give back” most of the money could be a reflection of the collapse of talks with Foursquare (pure conjecture on my part) or reflect that Foursquare is simply too expensive for Yahoo at this point.
Official: Yellow Pages May Be Worthless (Paid Content)
It has a clear digital vision under former MSN chief Scott Moore, but Yellowbook publisher Hibu warns the cost of servicing its diminishing printed directory business may render its shares worthless. The company warned investors that restructuring under consideration “may attribute little or no value to the group’s ordinary shares“.
FT’s Grimshaw: Publishers Need To Be More Aggressive With Mobile Strategies, Or Be Left Behind (MediaPost)
According to Grimshaw, there are now more people accessing FT on mobile in the morning than desktop, especially in the early part of the day. Most importantly, there’s a disparity between time spent on mobile devices and the ad spend: only 1% of ad spend is dedicated to mobile, compared to the 10% of our time spent on mobile.
Trulia Set to Hang a “For Sale” Sign on Its Stock (AllThingsD)
Trulia, the second-largest real estate listings site in the U.S., is expected to go public this week. Morningstar analyst James Krapfel wrote in a note to investors that he believes that competitor Zillow is the better bet than over the long term, although, in his opinion, both companies are poised to grow as more consumers and agents shift the house-hunting process online.
Tello Launches PassTools To Help Businesses Build Their Apple Passbook Passes (TechCrunch)
For businesses, Passbook is a great opportunity to bring their loyalty programs and coupons into the twenty-first century, but how to get started with Passbook isn’t self-explanatory. That’s where Tello’s PassTools comes in. The service, which is launching today, will allow businesses to create and manage their passes for Apple’s new service.
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