Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Execs Decamp, Apple Mulls Mobile Payments
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Foursquare’s COO, Biz Dev Head Are Leaving (Recode)
Current Chief Operating Officer Evan Cohen will leave the company in the coming weeks, after spending the past four and a half years at the company. Also departing is long-time business development head Holger Luedorf. The departures come at a vulnerable moment at Foursquare, which has made big changes to its core mobile functions.
Bonobos, an Ecommerce Darling, Finds an Edge in Brick-and-Mortar (Street Fight)
Last year, Bonobos, the upstart apparel brand that exploded selling pants to young professionals online, did something that seemed counterintuitive: it opened a physical store. Street Fight caught up with Erin Ersenkal, VP of Guide Shops and planning at Bonobos, to discuss the thinking behind the move into brick-and-mortar retail, the benefit of a showroom approach, and the value of a physical presence in building a new brand.
Apple Discussing iPhone Payments Service With High-profile Retail Brands (9to5Mac)
Executives from Apple have begun discussions with directors from retail store chains about a mobile payments service. These latest mobile payments-related discussions, which have occurred with retail store brands such as those that sell luxury clothing and premium goods, have taken place over the past couple of months.
Ad Tech Companies Create Mobile Ad Exchange to Rival Google, Twitter (AdAge)
Rubicon Project is partnering with the mobile ad network InMobi to launch the exchange which will sell both native mobile ads appearing in-stream and banners. The two ad-tech companies are creating what they believe will be the third-largest mobile ad exchange behind Google and Twitter.
The Taxi Industry Heard Google’s & Uber’s Driverless Car Plans. They’re Not Happy (VentureBeat)
“So much for being an Uber ‘partner,’” said Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association CEO Alfred LaGasse in an email to VentureBeat. “Kalanick’s comment displays the same lack of consideration for people that Uber has shown when it comes to public safety in its transportation business.”
Travel Search Site Hipmunk Raises $20M; Valuation Not ‘Silly’ (Wall Street Journal)
Travel search site Hipmunk Inc. has raised a $20 million growth round from Oak Investment Partners and existing investors. Like larger competitors , Hipmunk allows travelers to search for flights and hotel rooms and earns a commission on traffic it sends to aggregators like Orbitz and Expedia.
GE Turns Its LED Fixtures Into Locating Beacons With the Help of ByteLight (GigaOm)
GE is working with visual light communications startup ByteLight to create networked light fixtures that can communicate with your smartphones using light and Bluetooth low energy. GE will target these new LED fixtures at retail businesses, using them as location-finding beacon.
Philz Coffee Drops Euclid Analytics Over Privacy Concerns (TechCrunch)
Philz Coffee, the Bay Area coffee shop mainstay, announced that it would no longer collect the information of customers and passersby over Wi-Fi using technology from Euclid Analytics. The decision comes after come Philz customers had expressed concerns about the customer analytics being deployed in its locations in the Bay Area.
LBMA Podcast: VoucherPages and Memoir Co-founder Lee Hoffman (Street Fight)
This Week in Location Based Marketing is a weekly video podcast from the Location Based Marketing Association. Top stories of the week include Bird’s Eye, Taggalo, Record Run, American Troubadour, Adtile’s Touch experience, wearables for dogs by Whistle, holograms winning the election in India, the blood charger poster from Brazil and free WiFi through your passport in Japan.
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