Foursquare releasing revamped iPhone app next week

Location-based mobile social network foursquare is poised to introduce a new version of its signature iPhone application within the next few days. "We just found an app approval in our stocking! New foursquare early next week," the startup writes on Twitter, adding "Thanks #SantaJobs" (a.k.a. Apple [NASDAQ:AAPL] CEO Steve Jobs). Foursquare for iPhone 3.0 is expected to include a recommendation feature that suggests new points of interest consumers should visit based on their previous activities, their to-do lists and sites popular among other local users. Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley outlined the new recommendation engine during a September appearance at the Picnic conference in Amsterdam--according to Crowley, foursquare hopes third-party developers will be able to build off its consumer database to create similar types of personalized recommendation tools. He also stated foursquare is studying prospective features like passive location tracking, push-based recommendations touting nearby locations and a system to identify topic experts based on check-in behaviors.

In foursquare's present incarnation, users check in at local venues on their mobile device, earning points and even virtual badges for visiting establishments on a regular basis--the application spans device platforms including iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, webOS and Windows Mobile, with user registrations reportedly topping 5 million worldwide and check-ins averaging 1.5 million a day. In late June, foursquare closed a Series B venture financing round valued at $20 million and led Union Square Ventures, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Earlier this month, foursquare partnered with international television production and distribution company Endemol (best known for reality programming franchises like Big Brother, Deal or No Deal and Fear Factor) to develop a TV series incorporating the check-in concept.

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