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Booyah releases InCrowd for iPhone and iPod touch
Booyah has released an iPhone and iPod touch version of its Facebook game, InCrowd, and it's now available on the App Store. The app, like the very popular MyTown, uses location check-ins to create a game around social networking. But unlike MyTown, this app was originally released as a Facebook game. Booyah originally started InCrowd as its first Facebook venture, but it's now bringing the game back to the iPhone, where it's presumably more comfortable at development. But the Facebook and iPhone versions work together (in fact, you need a Facebook account to play it), so check-ins on either platform can be seen in the app. As for the game itself, it's exactly the kind of thing that's very popular among the huge tween audience for Facebook games -- there's a cartoonish avatar that can interact with friends socially, and checking-in to certain places earns the avatars popularity and status. There's a microtransaction element as well -- interacting uses energy, and if you don't want to wait for a refresh, you can spend 99 cents to get more. Standard social gaming stuff, although Booyah is pretty good at putting it together by now. Booyah remains a company to watch in the social gaming space -- it doesn't seem to have had quite the success it wanted on Facebook, but the company is flexible enough to switch a game like this over to Apple's platform without skipping a beat. We'll have to wait and see whether or not the free app gains MyTown's level of adoption, however.
MyTown adds product check-ins
Booyah's very popular MyTown app has updated again, this time bringing some more innovation to the "check-in" idea. Instead of just checking in to locations, the app will now "check-in" to various products with the iPhone's camera. So when you use a certain product, you can use the camera to scan a barcode, and presumably, MyTown will recognize it, add it to your check-in history, and then reward points and progress as usual. Of course, this also means that Booyah will get a list of your favorite products and merchandise, which CEO Keith Lee says is "a holy grail for marketers and brands" in the press release. It seems a little unfair to take such valuable information from consumers while simply rewarding them with a few achievement points and virtual stickers, but MyTown definitely has a following, and the app's fans can't seem to get enough of their virtual collecting. The app will eventually include other types of gaming in the service, like scavenger hunt for certain items On the plus side for Booyah, this just means that marketers and brands will be even more interested in supporting the app. We can expect to see even more agreements with real-world businesses from them in the future.
MyTown 4.0 adds item creation, location tips
Booyah has released MyTown 4.0 for the iPhone, the latest update to their extremely popular check-in game, and it adds a whole new round of social functions to the system. Properties that you own (which you get by checking-in at real-life properties) can now create items of their own, and different categories, like shopping or dining, will create different types of items. Additionally, items can now be traded with friends in the game, and all of this adds a new level to the gameplay -- not only are you earning points for checking-in, but you're collecting items, and those items can give you extra boosts or otherwise mix up the game. Plus, actual virtual items helps out Booyah's in-app sales, and I'm sure they will eventually put some of their branding agreements to work by making some of those created items brand-name products. Version 4.0 also adds "location tips," which allow users to leave comments at certain locations (to enable Yelp-style discussions), and check-ins now recharge over time, while max level players can check-in as much as they want. MyTown's growth has been phenomenal, and with the amount of work going into the app, that growth likely won't slow down any time soon. The app is free and on the App Store right now.
Booyah raises $20m, aims for 6m users
I've lately been guessing that Booyah might eventually hook up with Ngmoco, since they're both iPhone gaming/app companies with somewhat similar goals that could help each other out. But it looks like Booyah doesn't need any help any more -- it's just raised a whopping $20 million from investors in a new round of funding. Booyah was originally included in the iFund investment, but that contribution pales in comparison to this one, which sets Booyah up as one of the heaviest single-brand hitters in the app market. Booyah is made up of a few ex-Blizzard developers (we interviewed CEO Keith Lee back at GDC), and the growth of its second app, MyTown, has been amazing -- a little while back, they said the app was growing by 100,000 users a week, and they're aiming to hit 6 million users by the end of the summer (presumably with a new app coming as well, not all inside just MyTown). Their user investment is huge as well -- they say that average usage of the app was over an hour a day, and they're now hitting 8.3 million virtual item impressions a day. Along with selling virtual items, they're also putting together high-profile partnerships with companies like H&M and The Travel Channel. And they've done all of this while still standing in the shadow of more well-known check-in services like Gowalla and Foursquare. There's a heck of a lot of activity and potential coming out of Booyah, and with this big chunk of funding, they're set up to do some more amazing things with their next app. We'll have to keep an eye on them.
MyTown updates to version 3.1, adds collectibles and social features
MyTown is one of the hottest things going on the App Store right now in terms of social apps. As we mentioned in the interview with CEO Keith Lee a while back, they've actually got more users than Foursquare. The company has just released version 3.1 of the app, which introduces more collectible rewards earned by checking-in to certain local, real life locations (which you can then use to customize the properties you "own"), as well as more social features. You can now browse through the top trending properties, see your most frequent check-ins, and browse through where your friends are going out to and checking-in from. Additionally, Booyah tells us that the app is growing by over 100,000 players each week. They're suggesting that the average player of the game spends "more than an hour a day within the app." That's kind of incredible, but if it's true, that's one heck of an attachment rate. In fact, those are exactly the kind of usage stats that Ngmoco's Neil Young would drool over. Considering that MyTown just made an appearance in Ngmoco's We Rule splash screen, odds are that the two companies are at least sharing notes and, at most, possibly primed for a partnership. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
Kleiner Perkins iFund doubles to $200m, investing in iPad apps from Shazam, ngmoco and more
Apple said it expects the iPad to be a "second gold rush" of app development as consumers rush to add content to their new devices, and it looks like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers agrees: the venture capital firm just announced that it's expanding the iFund to $200 million to invest in iPad app development. If you'll recall, the iFund was originally announced alongside the iPhone OS 2.0 SDK, and provided $100 million in total investments to 14 iPhone app developers like Shazam, ngmoco, and Shopkick -- companies responsible for 18 apps that have hit the App Store Top 10. Keep in mind that this money was promised before the iPhone App Store was even launched -- so given how that bet paid off, it's not surprising that KPCB's decided to double down on the iPad, which looks like it'll have even higher app prices. Along with the announcement, some iFund devs announced the following iPad apps: Pinger: Doodle Buddy and Starsmash Booyah: MyTown, a popular location-based game Shazam: Shazam, optimized for the new screen size, ngmoco: Flick Fishing, a new MMO called CastleCraft, Charadium (described as "massively multiplayer Pictionary"), God Finger, We Rule, WarpGate, and one more we missed -- anyone catch it? GOGII: TextPlus Nothing too surprising here, but it looks like the heavy hitters are going to be on the iPad bandwagon from day one -- and pushing hard for this thing to be a success.
Booyah releases MyTown 3.0, adds friends lists and social features
Booyah has released version 3.0 of their MyTown location-based social networking app on the iPhone. As Keith Lee told me at GDC a few weeks ago, this app makes up the largest number of location-based social users on the platform, eclipsing even Foursquare and Gowalla in terms of users. And version 3.0 overhauls the social side of the game, allowing you to now visit friends' towns, view their check-in history inside the app, and track them across leaderboards. You can also send items and gifts to your friends, which will likely make up a huge part of their in-game microtransaction system. The upgrade is available on the App Store right now, and the app is a free download. MyTown is almost the silent contender in the race over check-in apps on platforms like the iPhone -- Foursquare and Gowalla are getting plenty of press, but Booyah is quietly building up a gigantic, dedicated audience for their app. As Keith Lee told us, they're working on "some very interesting viral growth mechanics or loops that haven't worked out yet on iPhone but have been done on other platforms." This social update will likely drive their already sizeable audience to grow even bigger.
Loopt teams with Mobile Spinach for check-in discounts, Booyah talks about MyTown
If the iPhone has a leading app genre, aside from gaming, I'd say the current surge of "check-in" apps is probably it. Sure, back when the App Store first opened up, Twitter apps were everywhere (and they're still being made daily, it seems), but in terms of a genre that can only exist on a location-aware device like the iPhone, "check-in" apps like Foursquare, Gowalla, and so on, are making their mark right now. Here's news on two such apps continuing to grow on the App Store skyline. First up, Loopt [iTunes link] has announced a partnership with a company called Mobile Spinach to start trying to monetize this kind of app usage. Mobile Spinach delivers local ads, and Loopt says that it'll be using their location-based social networking service to bring specials and deals to users from wherever they check-in from. Note that while Apple doesn't necessarily want location-based advertising as the sole purpose of an app, it seems to be all right with location-based advertising as an extra feature like this. Loopt tells us at TUAW that it's a great deal for the company, as it is "an easier and cost-effective way to do online/mobile advertising," and that it means "Loopt users can get great free offers on everyday things they want in need just by walking around in the neighborhood." It'll be interesting to see just how useful this extra advertising can be. After the link below, read about how MyTown finally got the success they'd been hoping for.
Apple puts limits on location-based advertising in the App Store
Apple's excited about mobile advertising (and it certainly seems like they're setting up a plan for local ads), but to devs, they say, "not so much." Apparently they've sent out a message that says location services should only be used to provide "beneficial information," not targeted advertising. Any apps that include ads targeted to where you and your iPhone are will be rejected posthaste, says Apple. There's a few things going on here -- Mobile Entertainment wonders just what "beneficial information" means. Certainly apps like Foursquare and MyTown provide business information based on your iPhone's location, and Foursquare especially is working on local deals with places that you've checked-in to -- is that considered advertising? And a few developers, including our friend Craig Hockenberry (MacNN messed up Chock's name in their post) say that Apple wants location-based ads for themselves. Kind of a jerk move by Apple, but if that's where the money is, I guess you can't blame them.
Gowalla announces shared trips
There's a growing battle lately on the App Store over "check-in" apps -- Foursquare, Gowalla, and MyTown have all seen big gains in users lately (and a few other contenders have been roaming the periphery), and it looks like we're starting to see some innovation in the mix. Gowalla recently updated their free app [iTunes link], and introduced a new feature called Shared Trips. These are more or less tours (or a line of check-ins at different places around a given city), but they can feature all kinds of things: a set of bars, interesting buildings to see, the old bookstore/coffeeshop run, or any other ideas Gowalla users have. Trips can be shared and rated, and you'll be able to browse through the most popular trips and even earn badges in the app for creating or going on a popular trip. The new version also adds bookmarks, which will let you remember your favorite check-in spot -- while you can't add them from the mobile app yet, you can browse them from there, and they're hoping to get the functionality in soon. Obviously, this might not appeal to everybody -- there are lots of iPhone users out there (including me) who aren't so keen yet on sharing their location with everyone they know every time they leave the house. But it is interesting to note that this is a burgeoning mini-industry, brought on almost completely by the ubiquity of the iPhone and its up-and-coming competitors. Any time you have more than a few apps vying for a growing audience, you're going to end up with some interesting innovation. It'll be fun to see what kinds of ideas Gowalla and its competitors can come up with.
MyTown's uncanny success
I posted a few things last year about Booyah, an app that promised a lot, but turned out to be not much more than your standard social networking/check-in app. And despite a little hype around its introduction, Booyah had some trouble finding an audience. But the developers (former Blizzard folks still supported by some execs there) came right back with MyTown [iTunes link], and this time, they appear to have hit gold -- despite the app's low profile, it already boasts more users than the well-known Foursquare and Gowalla apps. That's probably because it's more of an actual game; rather than just checking-in, the app has a currency to it, where you can "buy" places you check-in from, and then charge money to the next person that stops by. Imagine Foursquare mixed up with Monopoly -- instead of meaninglessly becoming the mayor of some place you visit, you can actually own and make money off of other people showing up there. It's an interesting idea, and it seems to be working. MyTown has just reached version 2.0, increasing the number of levels you can earn and items you can buy with the virtual cash. It's still a free app, and originally, we heard that Booyah was going to earn money by teaming up with retail and business partners -- Taco Bell would pay them, and then they'd attach some promotion to checking in from a Taco Bell. But they haven't moved on to that point yet, apparently; right now it's just about building up a userbase and setting up a solid formula. And so far, while the original Booyah app may not have been able to do that, MyTown seems to be rolling right along.
