Yahoo on May 25 purchased location-based social service Koprol for an undisclosed sum, more than a month after reportedly whiffing on trying to buy social check-in service Foursquare. Koprol offers a social service that lets people share photos, reviews and location information from their Web-enabled phones. Koprol users "check-in" to their current location and see where others are and what they are doing, just as more than 1 million users do on Foursquare. Koprol keeps a database of locations users check into, which Yahoo wants for itself.
Yahoo on May 25 made its second purchase in as many weeks,
acquiring location-based social service Koprol for an undisclosed sum.
The deal was sealed one month after Yahoo was
rumored to be trying to buy popular check-in service Foursquare and just one
week after
agreeing to purchase Associated Content for a reported $100 million.
The Indonesia-based Koprol offers a social service that lets
people share photos, reviews and location information from their Web-enabled
phones.
In acquiring Koprol, Yahoo is effectively trying to capitalize on the
check-in craze fomented by Foursquare, whose users get mayoral badges for
checking into bars and restaurants with their smartphones.
Koprol users "check-in" to their current
location and see where others are and what they are doing, just as more than
1
million users do on Foursquare. Koprol keeps a database of locations users
check into.
Like Foursquare, Koprol enables user ratings to let its
users communicate information about popular local businesses, including a
"thumbs-up" feature to highlight favorite places. Users can also
start or join discussions based on particular locations and invite friends to
participate.
Yahoo wants Koprol's location database as part of its
plan to bring more "personally relevant content to its global users on
multiple devices and access points."
Rose Tsou, senior vice president of Yahoo's Asia region, said in a
statement Koprol will help Yahoo extend its tendrils to many new to Net
users in emerging markets.
Expect Yahoo to integrate Koprol
capabilities across properties and applications where it makes sense to
mobilize and socialize content.
Specifically, Yahoo said it will support Koprol's new BlackBerry
application and will help develop new mobile applications for local and global
mobile platforms in the future. Expect support for Apple's iPhone and Google Android down the road.
"You can expect our planned features to be delivered
faster than previously thought - including mobile apps, an Indonesian language
version, business accounts, and who knows what else we have in store for you," the Koprol team said in a
blog post.
The Koprol buy caps a busy two days of mobile-oriented news for Yahoo.
Yahoo and Nokia
struck a deal May 24 in which Nokia will become
the global provider of Yahoo's map and navigation services, with Yahoo
becoming
the global provider of Nokia's Ovi e-mail and messenger services. This deal is geared to help Yahoo and Nokia better compete with Apple, Google and Microsoft in the mobile Web market.
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