Eighteen months ago, neither Gowalla nor Foursquare existed. But their similar “geolocation” mobile apps, which let users “check in” from their smartphones, and share their location with their friends are in aggressive competition at the South by Southwest Conference and Festival, reports C/Net.
Austin’s own Gowalla is one of the geoloation leaders, along with Foursquare. Both have beefed up their services in anticipation of this year’s festival.
Twitter turned on geolocation recently and is joined by newcomer SitBy.Us, whose site allows you to share where you’re sitting at SXSW Interactive using your Twitter friends list.
Sunday night will feature a “Geobash“, says C/Net, co-hosted by geolocation software company SimpleGeo, event-focused start-up HotPotato, and mobile coupon service Yowza, while Loopt, a pioneer in location-based mobile networking, is launching a revamped iPhone app with a focus on events right in time for SXSWi.
The NY Times reviews some Mobile Apps That Outperform Web Sites.
