So I’ve had my iPhone for just over a week now. It’s been fun. I might even admit that I got an iPhone just so I could play with location based services, and to play foursquare. Well, not a week went by and another location based game came to my attention and has nearly stolen my fickle allegiance, and that’s up and coming Gowalla.
Without further ado, let’s get down to the FIGHT!
1. Name
When I first heard foursquare I thought of the Christian denomination, but it’s a different foursquare, obviously. Four square is a game played with a ball. The name “foursquare” evokes pictures of four corners, as in the four corners of the world (if the world was flat), and quadrants of a city. It also could sound like it’s ‘for’ squares, which isn’t a great association. No one wants to be a square.
Gowalla has no immediate meaning. It has the word ‘go’ in it, which immediately evokes action. It could sound like “go all out” or “go wallow”, both appropriate things to do on nights out.
Winner: Gowalla
2. Mascot
Foursquare has a two mascots. One is girl with purse and hair flying behind her. She seems to be playing the ball game foursquare. The ball seems to have bounced through her legs, which means she would be out, if she was playing the game. She looks as if she’s late for something, and she has a worried expression on her face. The other is a boy, also playing the ball game, looking like he’s missed the ball and has an ‘oh’ surprised look on his face. The ball forms a checkmark, drawing associations with checking in.
Gowalla uses a bouncy kangaroo, or perhaps it’s a wallaby, and hence the name ‘walla’. It’s drawn with a squiggly line, and it has the word Gowalla on it’s back, like a backpack. It speaks of travelling, going somewhere.
Winner: Gowalla
3. Mobile Platform Client availability
In terms of a native application running on your phone, and not access via a mobile site, foursquare is available on iPhone and Android, and are working on a BlackBerry client.
Gowalla is only available on iPhone.
Winner: foursquare
4. iPhone App awesomeness
Because really, iPhone is the leader of the pack when it comes to location aware phones, it’s important how good the user experience is on the iPhone.
Both apps have all the essentials, they allow you to check in, get notified when your friends check in, see your badges and prizes, and so on. In this respect they are about equal. Where Gowalla shines is in its ability to locate where you are via your GPS and allow you to check in without manually entering the name of the place you’re at. Particularly useful in new places, it allows for a much speedier check in process. In foursquare, if a place does not show up on the list of locations near you, to check in you must type in the name of the place you are, and often you will have to add the address as well.
Winner: Gowalla
5. Available locations
Foursquare is only available in select cities. They started with 12, and now it looks like you can choose over 100 cities.
Gowalla is not limited to any cities.
Winner: Gowalla
6. Number of users / traction
Foursquare has been around longer, and has had more time to gain users. Gowalla has been on the scene for a few months, but is picking up users quickly. According to Caroline McCarthy writing for cnet, foursquare has 146,000 registered users since launching in March, and Gowalla has picked up 50,000 users after ten weeks. Gowalla has also recently secured a new round of funding.
With a game like this, it’s more important whether your friends are playing with you or not, rather than the total worldwide installed userbase, but it is nice to know that a service has a large enough following to make it feel like a community.
Winner: Draw
Final Round
It looks like Gowalla is the up and coming contender in this fight. Launching after foursquare has allowed Gowalla to learn from their competitor and come out with a strong service, one that addresses most of the weaknesses of foursquare.
In the end, both are fun to play, and it really depends where your friends are at. And there’s no rule that you can only play one, right? So get out there and have some location based fun!
Winner: You!
Related:
Top foursquare players
SXSW: Foursquare Scores Despite Its Flaws
Gowalla vs. FourSquare: Who Will Win?
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