Seeing that they probably would have never beat Foursquare, I'm glad that they are continuing to iterate. I have to say that I'm a bit skeptical about this new product. It seems a bit murky conceptually, and I'm not sure if travel is the right industry for them to be putting their bets on.<p>I met a lot of diehard Gowalla fans during SXSW at their party, and they seemed much more keyed into the gaming / object collection aspects of the service. Bottom line - I think a lot of these superfans (many of whom traveled on their own dime to the party) will probably feel alienated by this new app. Gowalla will probably have to find a whole new market, which may not be the worst thing but won't be the easiest either.<p>No matter what, I think Gowalla has a huge uphill battle to climb. They haven't even really been able to build much excitement here in Austin (even among people I know who are addicted to social media). I think their design and UI is top notch, but they seem to be missing whatever makes consumers super excited.
Sorry, has check-in been "won" by Foursquare now that Gowalla and Facebook have bowed out, or is it actually the case that check-in is just <i>dead</i>?
I think MG is right that "The travel aspect is potentially even bigger. While there are a lot of people going after this problem, no one has nailed the mobile travel guide so far. When someone does, it’s going to be massive."<p>Partnering with Disney, National Geographic, and various universities to get their guide-content is a smart move.<p>Who is providing <i>good</i> travel guides for mobile? Fodor's? Frommer's? Lonely Planet?
It takes time to get it right, and I think Gowalla and Foursquare are both on track to do just that. I also think Josh is a great product guy and will eventually find a working solution. I think this is great proof that they aren't just waiting for it to come to them by chance.