A Foursquare check-in tweet from Apple’s Eddy Cue (pictured) last week has sparked speculation that Apple could be planning to integrate the social app into iOS.
The Next Web reported that Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, quickly deleted the Foursquare tweet of his check-in at Apple’s HQ, which could hint that Apple is considering implementing the service in future iterations of its mobile operating system for iPad, iPod and iPhone.
Foursquare is a social recommendation service that allows users to check in to coffee shops, bars, tourist attractions and more, designed to help other users find a good place to visit.
With billions of check-ins, and the recent addition of ratings to its app, Foursquare could be described as a rival to Yelp, a service that Apple already uses to give iOS users restaurant recommendations in the US.
However, an acquisition of Foursquare would not come cheap, with a valuation of between $700 and $800 million. That’s much more than the $200 million Apple paid for Siri, and the $50 million it paid to acquire search company Chomp earlier this year.
Apple and Foursquare could partner up, though, offering iOS integration in Maps and Siri.
TNW highlights that Foursquare’s point of interest (POI) data is more accurate than Yelp’s, which is thought to be where Apple Maps gets its POI data from at present. So Foursquare could help Apple improve directions in its new mapping service. It could also improve the quality of location information that appears when searching for a particular venue or business.
Siri currently has Yelp integration to help when a user asks "find me a restaurant" for example. Foursquare could replace this data, and add check-ins too.
An interesting idea from TNW is the possibility of using Foursquare with the calendar app in iOS. "Imagine checking in to a meeting and your other parties are getting the push notification that you’re here and waiting. Very slick," Matthew Panzarino notes.
The news comes amid speculation that Apple might be viewing a purchase of GPS device manufacturer TomTom in a bid to improve that accuracy of Maps, which has been dogged by bugs since its initial release.
IDG News Service
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