Mobile social network Loopt on Sprint and iPod Touch

There were two updates to the Loopt social mapping network this month. The mobile service is now available on the Sprint Instinct family of devices. It’s also on iPod Touch, which makes up a significant percentage of Apples mobile internet usage.

Mobile social mapping?

Essentially, it’s a mobile network that works via geolocation. It has the usual array of status updates and commenting functions, but you can also locate your friends on the Loopt map, or access geo-discovery services from recommendation services like Yelp. Loopt is one of the more senior operators in this area - it has been using mapping and geolocation since at least 2007.

The newer piece of news is the Sprint launch. Loopt works through the Loopt Location Platform, and on Instinct devices it’s always on - so even if Loopt isn’t actually active, it’s still tracking your location. If you’re comfortable with that kind of thing.

From the release:

“Loopt on the Sprint Instinct provides the best location experience in the market today, using the Loopt Location Platform, we’re able to deliver high-quality always-on location in a cost-effective manner,” said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of Loopt. “We’re excited to work with Sprint to bring this kind of location experience to more of their top devices.”

What we think?

It has been a while since we’ve head from Loopt. It’s good to see that they’re still going - often the early movers in a field get left behind, but Loopt is still soldiering on.