Loopt: Turning Consumer Loyalty Into a Cellphone Game | Hacker News Reader

Loopt: Turning Consumer Loyalty Into a Cellphone Game

nytimes.com

37 pointspg18 comments

You can get rid of a lot of the cards you carry in your wallet or on your keychain with FaceCash (http://www.facecash.com), too. We support 30 different account programs right now, from FedEx to United Airlines.

http://www.thinklink.com/media/iphonesouthwest.png

And it's a payment system, which is the actual point of the app.

Simple question: How come Loopt did not receive the media attention that Foursquare has been receiving in the past year with regards to location based mobile services...considering they are very similar?

Maybe because the other Loopt services were not put out there as much as Foursquare were when they launched down at sxsw.

The new Loopt service though does look alright. I don't like how you have to register through Facebook though, as the article explains. Looks like the app is only available in the US as of now.

Today, cellphone-as-loyalty-card. Someday soon: cellphone-as-official-government-ID. Your IMEI may be as important as your DL# or SS#.

i'm looking forward to the day the cell phone kills the wallet. it's a matter of time. people will ask "you used to carry a plastic card with you that you swiped?" like we thought it was silly to carry around checkbooks and write cashiers a check.

What hurdles need to be cleared before this can be done? I know that CCD and Camera based barcode readers can read a barcode off of a screen so how hard would it be to generate a unique barcode for each card in your wallet and just scan your cell phone if you wanted to make a purchase somewhere?

Barcode versions of existing CC numbers would be a simple and direct port... but think of the possibilities where your 'card' is now an internet-connected app (rather than just an account number). Perhaps your phone receives (by camera-scan/bluetooth/etc) the payment request, then the app approves/records the purchase.

Do loyalty programs really work? I know they work for the airlines, but that's because the airlines have really cool stuff to give away that you would normally be unable to afford. And they don't lose any money giving that stuff away; if nobody buys that first class seat, it's going out empty. Might as well let one of their best customers have it for free, in that case.

But for coffee shops or grocery stores, what are they going to give me for being loyal? A free cup of coffee? Yay. That would have cost me fifty cents to make for myself at home...

Your argument about 50 cents to make for yourself at home doesn't make sense since if home-coffee and sbux-coffee were interchangeable you wouldn't have made the previous x purchases.

But think about it; if I make coffee at home, I can just get my free cup of coffee at Starbucks tomorrow. Or the next day. Or whenever.

But for the airline loyalty programs, if you take that next flight on another airline, and the end of the year comes, you end up with nothing. If you aren't loyal enough, you get nothing.

This apparently drives a bit of business for the airlines; there are whole forums about it. I know I stick with one airline for all the cool stuff I get. Sometimes I look at prices for the other airlines, but they would have to be a lot cheaper before I would consider them. All because of the loyalty programs.

Like I said, I just don't think it's going to work for coffee. Everyone goes to Starbucks because that's the coffee shop that's in their building, not because of the free wifi or the great coffee.

Are you trolling? Because I think you're trolling and I don't want to waste my time responding.

Nope, I'm not trolling.

The 2-free-hours of wifi per day that come with a Starbucks Card are a pretty interesting win-win incentive from my perspective.

I feel like people spend irrational amounts of energy on possible future rewards. I don't want to offend anyone by naming specific examples, but some people definitely undervalue their time.

I think a more interesting question is: how will people value the exposure of their shopping habits to their social graph? If people are not revolted by it, there is going to be big money in enticing people to advertise to their friends in exchange for discounts or VIP benefits.

some people also click text ads.

and watch maury povich.

This is so great.

I have no interest in sharing my location with my friends (4Square) but I carry a number of cards to get discounts (the stamp on top of a square everytime I visit kind) for my local neighborhood places including: http://barrosluco.com/ http://premiumbarbershop.com/

What can I do to get them onboard?

tell them to go here: http://about.loopt.com/partners/

So you can only check-in using the wi-fi connection and not the GPS location to avoid "cheating" ..

How would one check-in if the store you're at (The Gap, Burger King) doesn't offer free wi-fi for customers? Will the stores now equip themselves with wireless access points just so that the users can check in?

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