Microsoft Foursquare Deal : Native Integration & Local Scout for All, Please!
Microsoft has invested $15 million during the fund raised by Foursquare to keep the business going and they also agreed to a strategic partnership with Microsoft. The deal involves multiple year contract to license Foursquare location data into Microsoft services primarily for its Windows Phone OS and Bing search engine.
That said, lets give some thoughts on what Microsoft might gain and bring to users with an impressive data FourSquare has just given access to.
Native Foursquare Check-in:
Like native integration with Facebook and Twitter, we might see native FS account integration which could ultimately let users do a check-in without an app. Check-in feature is already available in Windows Phone but its integrated with Facebook and with most of the users on Foursquare for check-ins, it will be huge advantage.
Better Local Scout & International Availability:
Bing being the primary search point and with dedicated key on the hardware, Windows Phone local scout will be able to show better results and POI with foursquare data. It would be cool, if you can find a local restraint using the scout, reach there and check in to FS, all seamlessly. The second thing which we may see is availability of the scout for all locations. Right now its US only but since FS has international presence, we will see better results.
Cortana:
This infamous Halo character is supposed to play Personal Voice assistant in next version of Windows Phone aka 8.1 and with Foursquare data, combined with HERE Maps data which MS is licensing in the Nokia MS deal, it could become perfect for everybody when it comes to location.
Concluding, its good for Windows Phone location services to perform better and become available for all, instead of being only available in US. More users looking for places around, I can only imagine how accurate this will be after a complete integration.
