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Location-based shopping services (LBS) have made many headlines recently, and studies have shown that users actually like receiving ads and offers well-targeted to their interests. Couple that with an influx of Tier 1 venture capital and the show-stopping Facebook Places, with which several startups have already joined forces, and it’s no wonder LBS is suddenly such a hot topic in the mobile sector. That doesn’t necessarily mean LBS shopping apps will be easy to implement. A number of challenges — privacy concerns, scaling issues and check-in integrity among them — provide a potential barrier to widespread adoption. This note examines both the drivers and inhibitors for making location-based shopping services a mainstream phenomenon, and includes focused profiles of Facebook, Twitter, Google, Loopt, Foursquare, BrightKite, Whrrl, Gowalla, Plancast, Groupon, AisleBuyer, Bizness Apps, Offeretti, ShopAlerts, Shopkick, Bakodo, Stickybits, Yelp!, Geodelic Sherpa, WHERE, MyTown, InCrowd, SCVNGR, Waze and Layar. Read more at GigaOM Pro »

Booyah had its first hit last year with MyTown, the real-world Monopoly-like game for the iPhone. So the stakes were high when the company looked to move to another platform — nobody wants to be a one-trick pony. But in stealth, Booyah already has Facebook down. Read more »

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Booyah, which makes the location-based mobile gaming app MyTown, has raised $20 million in a round led by Accel Partners and including Kleiner Perkins and DAG Ventures. The company also added Accel’s Jim Breyer, well-known for being a Facebook board member, to its own board. Read more »

Though services like Foursquare and Gowalla eat up techie mindshare, they still have very few users; something like 150,000 for Foursquare and 50,000 for Gowalla. However, an iPhone app called MyTown that also features a location-based check-in system game acquired 250,000 users within two weeks. Read more »

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