Location-based service Loopt began
pushing out alerts in March for deeply discounted goods and services to keep pace with daily deal services like
Groupon. But in the spirit of cooperation, the company is now teaming with Groupon to add its stream of real-time deals to Loopt's own "Reward Alerts' program for users in the Chicago area.
Time-limited deals from the newly launched Groupon Now service will appear on place pages within Loopt applications for the iPhone and Android devices. People will receive a once-a-day deal alerts
they can use with existing Loopt features to share with friends at local restaurants or other businesses.
"If you fire up Loopt and scroll through places around you, you'll also start seeing
Groupon Now! icons in the mix. Click, buy the deal through your existing Groupon account, and you'll be using the deal just moments later," explains a Loopt blog post today. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but some revenue-sharing agreement between Loopt and
Groupon would not be surprising.
The move should bolster Loopt's deal flow, and reflects Groupon's growing push into mobile for location-based deals. Last month, it acquired Pelago, the
company behind Whrrl, a forerunner of social-location services like Foursquare and Loopt. Groupon Now was introduced last week via the
Web, as well as iPhone and Android apps. The service is only available now in Chicago, where Groupon is headquartered, but eventually will roll out in other U.S. cities nationwide.
After
LinkedIn's eye-popping stock market debut Thursday, speculation heated up again about expected IPOs for other hot Internet companies, including Facebook and Groupon. LinkedIn's big opening will likely
push the $15 billion to $20 billion valuation Groupon is already expected to gain through a public offering.