I'm surprised New York isn't in the launch cities. The sheer density of people, businesses, and overpriced things requiring deals makes it a no brainer. Two cities in TX? I'd understand Austin over Dallas though (I'm from Dallas living in NY).<p>Facebook is also continuing its tradition of copying other people. They are the 1000th entrant into deals, so the only hope they have of success is their huge captive audience. Even that isn't doing well for them in the location game.
I still feel that some things people prefer to keep private. If I bought something at a discounted price I personally don't care to share that with everyone who I am connected to on Facebook, maybe just a few close friends and family members that's it, and that I do by emailing them.
I do know that they were in talks with shoplocal.com about using their api pass on deals to users. That company does alot of work in that space already. I know they developed the facebook pages for walmart, jcpenny, and gnc. It's a logical step for facebook to use their api.