Loopt Finds Loophole For Running Background Applications On The iPhone — Gets Help From AT&T

Loopt

Loopt, a location-based mobile social network, is launching a new service today that will allow users to automatically update their location on the iPhone and be alerted to when their friends are nearby.

While Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) prohibits applications from running in the background, Loopt has side-stepped the problem by partnering with AT&T (NYSE: T), which holds the iPhone exclusive in the U.S. (and clearly is an obvious candidate for knowing where its subscribers are at all times). Loopt is claiming on its web site to be “the first service for the iPhone to do this.”

Without AT&T’s help with real-time location information, Loopt’s experience on the iPhone is a very manual process. A user must open the app and check in when they’ve changed locations, likely resulting in lower adoption levels. After all, who’s going to do that during a 15-minute trip to the dry cleaners? Alok Deshpande, Loopt’s co-founder and chief software architect, told mocoNews: “It

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