Loopt
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Geosocial networking, location-based services |
Founded | 2005 |
Founders |
|
Defunct | 2012 |
Fate | Acquired by Green Dot Corporation |
Headquarters | Mountain View, California, US |
Key people | Sam Altman (CEO) |
Website | www |
Loopt, Inc. was an American company based in Mountain View, California, which provided a service for smartphone users to share their location selectively with other people. The service supported all the major mobile operating systems. Loopt's services had more than five million registered users and partnerships with every major U.S. mobile phone carrier. Their applications offered a variety of privacy controls. In addition to its core features, users also had the ability to integrate Loopt with other social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.
The company was founded in 2005 and received initial funding from
History
Initially called Radiate,
Loopt received US$5 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates and struck a deal to launch the service on Boost Mobile devices in September 2006. Boost Mobile featured Loopt in a series of commercials that are most known for the "Where you at?" tag line.[8]
In August 2007, Loopt expanded the service to select
In February 2008, Loopt and
At Apple's
In the summer of 2008, Loopt sponsored
In October 2008, Loopt was sued by Earthcomber for patent infringement.[11] The case was dropped by Earthcomber in March 2009.[12]
In October 2009, Loopt acquired Y Combinator-backed startup GraffitiGeo for an undisclosed sum.[13]
In March 2010, Loopt launched an upgraded version of its iPhone app,
In March 2010, Loopt launched a product called Loopt Pulse, exclusively designed for the iPad.[15]
In April 2010, Loopt launched an upgraded version of its BlackBerry app.[16] The upgraded version includes the same places and events upgrade formerly launched in March 2010 for iPhone users.
In December 2010, Loopt launched Loopt version 4.0, which featured a completely updated design.
In March 2012, after raising more than $30M in venture capital, Loopt announced it had agreed to be acquired by Green Dot Corporation for US$43.4 million.[6]
SMS invitation issues
Users of Loopt must register their
When Loopt released its native iPhone application on July 10, 2008, the software quickly gained notoriety for sending Short Message Service (SMS) invites to users' address books, seemingly without the user's knowledge; additionally, the SMS service failed to respond to the industry required STOP message.[17]
On July 14, 2008, Loopt posted to its blog that the mass invites could be attributed to a confusing user interface, and they were working on an improved invitation flow.[18] Respect for STOP was announced July 15, 2008,[19] and on July 17, 2008, Loopt released an updated version which addressed the issues with the confusing user interface.[20]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b Gannes, Liz (2014-03-18). "Y Combinator's New Head Startup Whisperer Sam Altman Is Quite a Talker". Vox.
- ^ a b "Loopt: How it all began..." Archived from the original on 2009-01-19.
- ^ "Sequoia Capital provides funding to Loopt". Archived from the original on 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
- ^ "New Enterprise Associates provides funding to Loopt". Archived from the original on 2008-09-14.
- ^ "Loopt Board of Directors". Archived from the original on 2008-12-20.
- ^ a b "Green Dot to Acquire Loopt for $43.4M".
- ^ http://allthingsd.com/20120309/green-dot-buys-location-app-loopt-for-43-4m/ "Loopt’s Sam Altman on Why He Sold to Green Dot for $43.4M"
- ^ "Boost Loopt Commercial". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13.
- ^ "Loopt now supports Blackberry". Archived from the original on 2009-03-02.
- ^ "Loopt and CBS Mobile Partner for GPS Location-Based Ads". Mashable. 6 February 2008.
- ^ Earthcomber Cries Patent Infringement Against Loopt
- ^ "Earthcomber drops patent lawsuit against TechCrunch, Loopt". 23 March 2009.
- ^ "More Details On Loopt's Acquisition of GraffitiGeo". 22 October 2009.
- ^ "Looking for something fun to do? Try the new Loopt Pulse". Archived from the original on 2010-03-15.
- ^ "The Vision Behind Loopt Pulse". Archived from the original on 2010-04-11.
- ^ "Plan your next move on the new Pulse on Loopt for BlackBerry". Archived from the original on 2010-04-18.
- ^ "getsatisfaction.com: How can I never receive another Loopt SMS invitation ever?". Archived from the original on 2011-12-29.
- ^ "Loopt In: iPhone Invite Confusion".
- ^ "Loopt In: Improved iPhone Invites".
- ^ "Loopt In: Get new version of Loopt for iPhone now!".[permanent dead link]
References
- Sharma, Amol; Vascellaro, Jessica (2008-03-28). "Phones Will Soon Tell Where You Are". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- Holson, Laura M. (2008-02-06). "In CBS Test, Mobile Ads Find Users". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- Quittner, Josh (2008-06-09). "The Cheaper, Faster iPhone". Time. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-09.
- Carr, Eric. "Location Technologies Primer". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
- Wong, May (2006-11-14). "Start-Up Offers Cell Phone Mapping Service". TechNewsWorld. Retrieved 2007-01-12.[dead link]
- Reardon, Marguerite (2006-11-14). "Mobile phones that track your buddies". News.com. Archived from the originalon 2013-01-19. Retrieved 2007-01-12.
- "Startup Offers Cell Phone Mapping Service". Sydney Morning Herald. 2006-11-14. Retrieved 2006-01-12.
- Wong, May. "New Ways to Keep in Touch by Cell Phone". PC World. Archived from the originalon 2006-11-13. Retrieved 2007-01-12.