Street Fight Daily: Foursquare Charges Fees, Intuit’s M&A Machine
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Foursquare Will Start Charging the Heaviest Users of its Places Database (TheNextWeb)
In order to make money from its giant database of restaurants and other businesses, Foursquare is in negotiations to begin charging its largest clients for access to the information. Foursquare COO Jeffrey Glueck said that that of the 63,000 companies that use the database, less than one percent will be charged the new fees that will be agreed on a one-on-one basis.
With Its M&A Train Rolling, Intuit Looks to Prove the Big Company Can be a Good Home for Small Firms (Pando)
The company has acquired 11 technology startups over the last year, an Oracle-like rate that far exceeds anything we’ve previously seen from the traditionally conservative organization. What’s more, it shows no signs of slowing down amid a newly declared effort – through acquisition and organic development – to power the technology underpinnings of the world’s small businesses.
Apps Now Account for Half of All Digital Media Time (MarketingLand)
Digital metrics firm comScore now says that mobile devices (smartphones and PCs) “accounted for 60 percent of total digital media time spent” in May. More remarkably apps represent 51 percent of all digital media time.
eBay’s Magento to Shut Down Small-Business E-Commerce Product (Recode)
eBay’s e-commerce software business Magento is killing off its Go product aimed at small-business owners and has inked a deal to move those customers over to competitor Bigcommerce’s service. eBay is also shutting down its ProStores e-commerce software offering, according to this source, a service that targeted similar sized businesses as Go.
Google Beefs Up AdWords Location Extension Reporting and Targeting (SearchEngineLand)
Google has rolled out a couple of enhancements for paid search advertisers with brick-and-mortar locations. Instead of having every every location extension within a campaign restricted to using the same setting, now location extensions can have different radius settings for targeting and bidding.
Uber Turns Gay Marriage Into A Marketing Stunt (TechCrunch)
In honor of Pride weekend in San Francisco, Uber is cheapening the whole concept of marriage by letting you order a wedding on demand. Uber will pick up you and your significant other and rush you through the legal paperwork and ceremony, all in under an hour.
The Sharing Economy Boom Is About to Bust (Time)
Joe Matthews: Startups like Airbnb and Uber are already experiencing a backlash from traditional hotel and taxi industries, all because local governments didn’t anticipate the regulatory questions posed by this new economic model.
Lean In: Pisa Pilots Smart-Parking System (Wall Street Journal)
(Subscription Required) Famous for a slightly off-center, leaning bell tower, Pisa is now trying to make a name for itself with an intelligent vehicle parking guidance system designed to reduce traffic, cut CO2 emissions and make the central Italian town a city others can look up to, instead of askance at.
YP Joins Google’s Premier SMB Partner Program (SearchEngineLand)
YP is the largest of the major US yellow pages publishers, with roughly 4,000 sales and support reps and 575,000 advertisers. The company has now joined the ranks of the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program.
