Loopt was one of the first applications to socialize location-sharing from mobile devices. As of late, however, its service has been eclipsed by the buzz generated by relative newbies like Foursquare and Gowalla, who've thrown a social gaming twist into the location mix.
To compensate, Loopt is migrating more towards these apps in functionality: A new tool —Tips — was included in an update to their iPhone app [iTunes link] last night.
Tips is fairly straightforward — and almost a direct replica of Foursquare in terms of function — allowing users to add their personal recommendations to places.
Tips appear in a few different touch points, so you can add a tip to a place page and your Loopt check-in message can double up as a tip as well. While convenient at times, the "share your check-in publicly as a tip" option is default for Loopt check-in messages, which means that tips could easily be diluted with less-than-helpful status updates.
The thing about Foursquare tips that make them so handy is that they're location-aware. Say someone entered a tip about the amazing salad at the restaurant next door to you, when you check in on Foursquare, you'll be greeted with a push notification that includes that tip. Clearly there's an advantage to discovering a tip as opposed to having to search for one, but for now it looks as if Loopt's tips are static to place pages.
Loopt still lacks the gaming features that the new kids on the location block boast, but in our Foursquare and Gowalla head-to-head we noted that CEO Sam Altman has previously stated, "It's probably a safe assumption that we'll add some gaming elements."
Should Loopt want to compete with Foursquare and Gowala on a gaming front, it definitely has its work cut out for it.
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