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Loopt Embraced by Verizon; Starts to Spread Its Mobile Wings

47 points by jsjenkins168 19y ago

andrewparker 19y ago
Painful metaphor in the title, but great news! Congrats to the Loopt team. I'm sure working with the carriers has been a tough battle.
SwellJoe 19y ago
pg's instinct that Loopt is the biggest YC success story so far looks to have been spot on. (I think there are a couple of others that could catch up, though.)
dbreunig 19y ago
I think Loopt will be able to put mobile networking on the map if they build out their web presence and integration. That is, as long as they don't have a privacy gaffe. Beacon on FB is one thing, being perceived as spying through people's mobiles is a company killer.
bouncingsoul 19y ago
I'd be very interesting in someday reading about what it took to make these partnerships happen. And what actually comes of them. When Boost got Loopt they created an entire ad campaign about it. Sprint got Loopt almost a year ago and the only mention on their site is a paragraph in a Word document. I'd also love to know how long it took Loopt to convince Verizon to let them in. Or maybe I'd hate to know.
- dbreunig 19y ago
  You have no idea about the drama that occurs to get placement in a WAP deck. So many stakeholders, so little space, and everyone firmly believes their priority should have top billing. Cutting a deal with ANY telco is a herculean feat.
  - wallflower 19y ago
    I'm willing to go all-in and bet that YC's network of connections enabled Loopt to become a player
    - ashu 19y ago
      I doubt it. YC shows the way, you've got to walk the walk. You are seriously underestimating Sam.
      - wallflower 19y ago
        I don't know Sam personally. I wasn't intending to downgrade Sam here. Never meant to imply that getting into YC was like a silver-spoon, charmed-type experience for business success. When I said "Loopt", I meant Sam and his co-founders. I think we could see Loopt in MSM (Time magazine).
        ashu 19y ago
        Oh yes, I did not take your statement in any negative light. I was just responding to the claim about how much of a role YC would have played in establishing a lot of these relationships. My guess is it was Sam's hard-work and business acumen (at least early on) that created all these opportunities. (Ntw, I don't know a lot about Sam personally, and I am not basing this on PG's judgement of Sam either.)
  - jsjenkins168 19y ago
    I've heard much the same, although I think this will start to change for the better after the iPhone App Store goes live. My prediction (and hope) is it ushers an era where consumers expect to have the ability to install any application they want on their mobile device, without having to go through their carrier to do so. I think carriers will start to lose that power and Apple will drive the change. The best solution is still to stay off deck in the sense of offering a WAP-based web application rather than something that is installed. But this obviously wont work for some type of applications (Loopt is one of them). Loopt is doing great though, I am excited about their success.
dfranke 19y ago
Awesome news. Up until today I've been skeptical of PG's exuberance about Loopt, but now they've got it made.
wallflower 19y ago
The scary thing is that most people who will use Loopt will never know that a small team of co-founder/hackers around their age created it. They'll just use it.
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
acgourley 19y ago
This is going to be an interesting point in Loopt's history. How this verizon deal comes around and how they embrace the iphone, android, facebook and myspace platforms will determine their success as a company. I think there is a ton of potential here, and the people working at loopt are smart guys, but that doesn't mean this is a slam dunk. I think it will come down to money. How long can they go on what they have, how much new investment can they gather in the current economic conditions, and how they can monetize these new platforms where the market will bear advertising but not subscription fees.
BrandonM 19y ago
It's kind of strange that Loopt seems to only be on closed, non-GSM networks. Shouldn't it be easier to reach out to the more open devices?

47 points by jsjenkins168 19y ago

Painful metaphor in the title, but great news! Congrats to the Loopt team. I'm sure working with the carriers has been a tough battle.

SwellJoe 19y ago

pg's instinct that Loopt is the biggest YC success story so far looks to have been spot on. (I think there are a couple of others that could catch up, though.)

dbreunig 19y ago

I think Loopt will be able to put mobile networking on the map if they build out their web presence and integration. That is, as long as they don't have a privacy gaffe. Beacon on FB is one thing, being perceived as spying through people's mobiles is a company killer.

bouncingsoul 19y ago

I'd be very interesting in someday reading about what it took to make these partnerships happen. And what actually comes of them. When Boost got Loopt they created an entire ad campaign about it. Sprint got Loopt almost a year ago and the only mention on their site is a paragraph in a Word document. I'd also love to know how long it took Loopt to convince Verizon to let them in. Or maybe I'd hate to know.

dbreunig 19y ago
You have no idea about the drama that occurs to get placement in a WAP deck. So many stakeholders, so little space, and everyone firmly believes their priority should have top billing. Cutting a deal with ANY telco is a herculean feat.
- wallflower 19y ago
  I'm willing to go all-in and bet that YC's network of connections enabled Loopt to become a player
  - ashu 19y ago
    I doubt it. YC shows the way, you've got to walk the walk. You are seriously underestimating Sam.
    - wallflower 19y ago
      I don't know Sam personally. I wasn't intending to downgrade Sam here. Never meant to imply that getting into YC was like a silver-spoon, charmed-type experience for business success. When I said "Loopt", I meant Sam and his co-founders. I think we could see Loopt in MSM (Time magazine).
      - ashu 19y ago
        Oh yes, I did not take your statement in any negative light. I was just responding to the claim about how much of a role YC would have played in establishing a lot of these relationships. My guess is it was Sam's hard-work and business acumen (at least early on) that created all these opportunities. (Ntw, I don't know a lot about Sam personally, and I am not basing this on PG's judgement of Sam either.)
- jsjenkins168 19y ago
  I've heard much the same, although I think this will start to change for the better after the iPhone App Store goes live. My prediction (and hope) is it ushers an era where consumers expect to have the ability to install any application they want on their mobile device, without having to go through their carrier to do so. I think carriers will start to lose that power and Apple will drive the change. The best solution is still to stay off deck in the sense of offering a WAP-based web application rather than something that is installed. But this obviously wont work for some type of applications (Loopt is one of them). Loopt is doing great though, I am excited about their success.

dfranke 19y ago

Awesome news. Up until today I've been skeptical of PG's exuberance about Loopt, but now they've got it made.

wallflower 19y ago

The scary thing is that most people who will use Loopt will never know that a small team of co-founder/hackers around their age created it. They'll just use it.

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

acgourley 19y ago

This is going to be an interesting point in Loopt's history. How this verizon deal comes around and how they embrace the iphone, android, facebook and myspace platforms will determine their success as a company. I think there is a ton of potential here, and the people working at loopt are smart guys, but that doesn't mean this is a slam dunk. I think it will come down to money. How long can they go on what they have, how much new investment can they gather in the current economic conditions, and how they can monetize these new platforms where the market will bear advertising but not subscription fees.

BrandonM 19y ago

It's kind of strange that Loopt seems to only be on closed, non-GSM networks. Shouldn't it be easier to reach out to the more open devices?