Where.com
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| Type | Private, venture-backed |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mobile GPS application development |
| Founded | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Key people | Walt Doyle, CEO, David Chang COO |
| Website | www.where.com |
Where, Inc. is a location-based media company in North America. Their main product is the WHERE consumer application, with over 3 million active users. It helps users discover, save and share local places by putting high quality local information at users’ fingertips and integrating promotional and discount offers from local merchants. WHERE is a top ranked application on all mobile platforms and carriers. WHERE Ads is the firm’s hyper-local ad network, connecting merchants with local audiences. It delivers over 3 billion hyper-local ads monthly to over 300 publishers. eBay announced its acquisition of Where.com in 2011.[1] Boston Innovation is reporting the acquisition price at $135 million.[2]
About
Where, Inc. was founded in 2004 under the name uLocate Communications, Inc. by partners, Geoff Palmer, Frank Schroth, and Alan Phillips.[3] uLocate spent its early days creating family tracking services as well as building location based applications for companies such as MapQuest and Helio. In March 2007, WHERE launched as a location-based mobile service. The goal of WHERE is to provide local search content that helps consumers save time and money.[4]
WHERE provides hyper-local information and user generated content about weather, news, movies, restaurant and business reviews, cheap gas, coupons and offers, traffic, etc.[5] Brands such as Starbucks, Yellow Pages and Zipcar use WHERE to reach local audiences by providing data for various features within WHERE. For example, a Starbucks feature lets users search for and find directions to the Starbucks nearest their current location.[6] WHERE also includes features that allow people to review locations and keep lists of places they’ve been and places they want to go.
In 2010 WHERE launched a Check-in feature on Android and iPhone versions of WHERE. It allows users to announce when they enter a location, be it a restaurant or other business, and then broadcast this information to their friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. WHERE also launched the Placebook feature along with Check-in. People can use Placebook to store lists of favorite places and places they want to go to. Placebook also stores all of the reviews a person leaves on WHERE. Placebook can be accessed from WHERE on mobile devices or from Where.com. Both the Web and mobile versions of Placebook automatically synch with each other.[7]
WHERE is available in North America, is free on some devices, and can be downloaded for free from the Android Market, BlackBerry App World, iOS App Store, and Palm App Catalog. WHERE is also available from the AT&T MEdia Mall, T-Mobile web2go, and VZW V Cast Apps.
WHERE, Inc. is backed by Kodiak Venture Partners, Grand Banks Capital and Venrock. The firm is headquartered in Boston. Several industry experts sit on its board including Craig Forman.
Where.com
The consumer site Where.com launched in March 2010.[8] The Website is a local search and recommendation portal that allows people to find local events, read reviews and other business information, and write their own reviews. On Where.com, people can also create their own user accounts or use their current WHERE mobile application account information to build a personal profile. Personal profiles allow people to store lists of places they’ve been to, places they want to go to and places they’ve reviewed. Where.com syncs with the mobile WHERE.
WHERE Ads
WHERE Ads is a hyper-local ad network that localizes traditional advertising techniques with improved performance for better results. Ads engage consumers through location relevance, design optimizing, and delivery format flexibility. The outcome is a network that creates value for both publisher and consumer, efficiently reaching millions with more precision and less waste.[9] As of January 2011, WHERE Ads is the 6th largest mobile ad network in the United States.
In May 2012, WHERE Ads became PayPal Media Network (PPMN), with multi-media solutions designed to increase awareness and help drive consumer transactions for retailers, manufacturers, and restaurants. They have branched out into online, but their position as one of the largest location-targeted mobile advertising network remains the same, and they still believe that location is one of the most relevant targeting parameters available for advertising on a mobile device and helping drive consumers to engage with brands online and offline. Alongside PayPal’s ground-breaking initiatives to enable payment in the physical world, PayPal Media Network offers brands, retailers, restaurants, uniquely effective media solutions for their online and offline businesses.
Patents
The firm possesses several patents including one for geo-fencing location technology[10] and one for auto-snap location technology.
Availability
Wireless carriers — AT&T, Boost Mobile, Helio, MetroPCS, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Virgin
Mobile smartphone devices — Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Palm, Windows Phone 7[11]
References
- ^ "eBay Acquires Location-Based Media and Advertising Company WHERE".
- ^ "Retail Giant Ebay Acquires Where for $135 Million".
- ^ "Ulocate People: Quarkbase." Website Information, Analysis & Research Tool". Quarkbase. 22 March 2010.
- ^ Wells, Antonio (15 February 2010). "Interview with Ivan Mitrovic, VP of Technology at ULocate Communications, Creator of WHERE". Android Tapp.
- ^ "WHERE by Ulocate". GetJar. 21 March 2010.
- ^ Wade Roush (10 July 2008). "Apple Launches iPhone App Store Ahead of Schedule; Boston and Seattle Startups Featured". Xconomy.
- ^ Hardawar, Devrinda (17 March 2010). "Where Brings Its Local Search Service to Where.com with Mobile App Sync". VentureBeat.
- ^ Roush, Wade (18 March 2010). "ULocate Is Where, Now? Exactly. Editorial". Xconomy.
- ^ Malik, Om (9 March 2010). "Where, a Geo App, Launches a Local Mobile Ad Network". GigaOM.
- ^ Schonfeld, Erick (21 December 2010). "Where Is Awarded the Mother of All Geofencing Patents". TechCrunch.
- ^ "WP7 Apps: Where App for Windows Phone 7". 1800PocketPC. 29 September 2010.
External links
- Official website
- WHERE blog
- iPhone App Store featuring WHERE
- Blackberry Application Store featuring WHERE
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