Foursquare today launched redesigned profile pages in an attempt to bring three key metrics front and center; “days out,” “check-ins” and “things done.” The whole interface looks much cleaner and streamlined, and looks to replicate the clean appearance of Gowalla – which has long been known as the “prettier” of the two leading LBS apps.
TechCrunch speculates the “Thinks Done” metrics is particularly important for Foursquare going forward, as it will likely play in to the upcoming Foursquare 2.0 gaming features. It’s already known that Foursquare is planning on introducing a so-called “choose-your-own-adventure” concept, and “getting things done” will likely play an important role.
In other LBS news, Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said some interesting things on the topic at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe today, talking about his remembrance of Dodgeball — the failed Google acquisition that could have put the search giant in the LBS spotlight instead of Foursquare. “Foursquare and Gowalla are pretty impressive. They show you the power of mobile/social/local,” Schmidt said. “Google will play in that market in a lot of ways.”
Another interesting speculation on the part of TechCrunch’s MG Siegler; “I bet Google is going to buy Gowalla
at some point in the future. This isn’t based on anything concrete (well, I guess other than Schmidt bringing it up a few times). But that team’s commitment to design, gaming, and location seems to be a great fit for what Google is looking for.” I definitely see this as a likely scenario.