Street Fight Daily: Mason Moves On, Aruba Buys In-Door GPS Firm Meridian
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology.
Ex-Groupon CEO Mason Moving to San Francisco to Start New Company (Reuters)
Former Groupon Inc. Chief Executive Andrew Mason is moving to San Francisco to start a company after recently recording an album of “motivational business music,” according to an update on his blog on Thursday. Mason said on Thursday that he will be spending a day each week at start-up incubator Y-Combinator in coming months “to keep my brain from atrophying.”
Moving Upstream, PayPal and Square Make a Play for the Local Merchant’s POS (Street Fight)
Steven Jacobs: There’s a not-too-quiet rivalry brewing between Square and PayPal over offline payments, and this week saw the unofficial opening of an important new theatre: the SMB point of sale (POS). It’s perhaps the stickiest problem for both companies to solve in order to make payments work, and their respective announcements demonstrate a strategic skism similar to what we’ve seen in desktop computers and mobile phones.
Aruba Buys Meridian Apps, Eyes ‘Indoor GPS’ Services (ZDNet)
Aruba Networks on Thursday acquired Meridian Apps, a privately held company, that offers indoor location based services. With the move, Aruba is looking to combine its enterprise Wi-Fi technology with Meridian’s location services to provide context about users and devices.
5 Ways Brands Can Leverage Place-Based Mobile Targeting (Street Fight)
Annisa Farese: The ability to target consumers based on location is no longer an emerging element of mobile technology — it is the standard on which all other strategies are based. The growing demand for this type of mobile advertising has brought on the development of new and effective location targeting strategies, the most popular being place-based mobile ad targeting. Want in? Here are five place-based mobile targeting strategies to try.
How Google Made Maps Human, Savvy, and Monetizable (Fast Company)
To help understand the radical change coming to Google Maps announced at this week’s Google I/O conference in San Francisco, the product team says you should think about beer. Specifically, they want you to look for a bar in San Francisco that has a great beer list. That’s a familiar Maps thing: Search for “Belgian beer” near your location.
Merchant Warehouse Moves Up Value Chain From Payments to ‘Engagement’ (Local Onliner)
Peter Kravsilosky: Payment processors and related companies work with most SMBs and are increasingly seen as a potential sales channel for reaching them with additional services. This week, we talked with one processor, Boston-based Merchant Warehouse, about its efforts to leverage its base of 75,000 business customers beyond terminal sales.
Does Location Data Matter? Not How You Think It Does. (iMedia Connection)
David Petersen: Location-based mobile advertising, and its typical application of geo-fencing, is one of today’s hottest mobile marketing’s topics. However, the true power of location is often misunderstood. When it comes to driving ROI through mobile advertising, location often doesn’t matter – at least not in the way you think it does. Instead of simply geo-fencing a static location, the more effective use of mobile location technology considers historical location data and the consumer behavior it reveals.
Is Sensor Journalism Feasible, or Even Ethical? Columbia’s Tow Center Hopes to Find Out (PaidContent)
Journalists and organizations now have the ability to use sensors to collect their own real-time data and report on it. The practice raises both practical and ethical questions, Columbia’s Emily Bell said Thursday.
Portland Startup Launches Transit Mobile Ticketing Service. Is This the Future? (PandoDaily)
You know that moment when you’re rushing to catch the bus and you realize you don’t have the exact cash fare in your pocket? GlobeSherpa claims it is going to change that. Today, the Portland-based startup announced the launch of the beta program for its mobile ticketing service for the entire Portland TriMet public transit system.
LBMA PODCAST: Square, BlockAvenue, and PlaceIQ CEO Duncan McCall (Street Fight)
In this week’s episode, hosts Rob Woodbridge and Asif Khan talk about rumors that Facebook is looking to purchase Waze for $1 billion. Meanwhile, Square is set to check in to Foursquare’s neighborhood; BlockAvenue launches to give your city a grade; and Unilever goes hyperlocal with its rewards program. Plus special guest Duncan McCall, CEO of PlaceIQ.
Get Street Fight Daily in your inbox! Subscribe to our newsletter.