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Print Edition StoriesThursday, March 18, 2010
uLocate renames to Where
By Mass High Tech staff
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Boston location-based mobile search and recommendation company uLocate Communications Inc. has changed its name to that of its primary product. Going forward, the company now known as Where Inc. reports that its service will also be available on the web at Where.com.
As a feature of the new web service, Where provides users with a Placebook to store information about favorite locations such as restaurants or stores, which will automatically synch with the users’ smartphones. According to the company, the new service will support phones based on the iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Palm platforms, as well as more than 100 other mobile devices.
That business model is similar to the one under development by Charlestown-based Spring Partners Inc., with its Springpad website and smartphone application that stores notes and information, but not necessarily location-based. In addition, the service allows for a user to let friends on various social networks like Facebook know where he is at any moment through a feature called Check-in that is similar to the popular Foursquare application.
Where’s traditional business model has been to provide its location-based data to operators and other service companies. In August of 2008 it worked a deal to provide its data to Sprint Nextel Corp. for its 4G WiMax service. Where delivers local information from Eventful, Yelp, GasBuddy, Zipcar, Starbucks and other services, as well as its own Buddy Beacon service.
The company also recently launched Where Ads, an innovative hyperlocal ad network, intended to connect consumers with local merchants.
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