Two interesting articles on Foursquare caught our eye. A Mashable article from last night describes how 4SQ went off the iTunes grid for a while:
Earlier this week, the new 1.6 version of the Foursquare iPhone app was accidentally added to the App Store before it was ready. The problem was corrected, but now people who have 1.6 are unable to use the service. They’re being directed to the app store to download the regular version, but it’s not there.
This incident is illustrative of the problems of single-sourcing distribution of your product through a third-party outlet. In this case, it appears to be a problem created by the 4SQ folks themselves, as opposed to some sinister Apple plot, but the impact is still problematic.
Foursquare hit a problem typical in the software business-a problem with an upgrade distribution. The standard fix is to tell users to revert back to the next-lower version, the one that worked last. When a company has control over distribution, the fix for this situation is pretty fast. All you have to do is post prominent links on your home page about the problem and make the solution as simple and painless as possible.
Apple's involvement in this process makes that a bit more difficult. It's harder to un-ring the bell on an upgrade, so the process needs to go slower.
Of course, I'm sitting here with my Android-based G1 phone, so I'm doing just fine. :-)
On a more positive Foursquare note is this TechCrunch article from yesterday. 4SQ is making some dramatic improvements to your "user history" on their service:
Basically, Foursquare has just turned on a new layer to your location history data. And this layer is very interesting because it goes back in time to show you who you were with at a certain venue when you were there.
Now, to be clear, it only shows you the friends you were with — not all Foursquare users. (But this means that they have that data as well.) Still, this data paints a clearer picture around your location history and potentially enriches your social graph. It’s one thing to say you’re “friends” with someone on a social network, but another to have checked-in to the same venue at the same time over and over again. Either you’re torturing yourself, or you really are good friends with that person.
Not the sort of info you want out there if you've lied to your girlfriend about not going out with the boys, but a great step forward in bringing Foursquare into the realm of tools as opposed to games.
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