Since Foursquare made it big, an increasing number of location-based apps and services have been appearing on the scene. South Korea has its fair share of ‘clone’ apps and this concept can initially cause one to be skeptical of Juspot, which could just be another check-in app. On closer inspection, however, that description is unfair as this location-based app is an interesting new way for people to connect with one another.

Juspot is available for both the iPhone and Android and is produced by Korean startup ABLAR Company, but as yet it can only be used in Korean. The company was started by Chester Roh, who previously founded Tatter&Company — which was subsequently acquired by Google — and it aims to solve offline problems using online solutions.

While most other location apps are based on users letting each other know what venues they have visited, Juspot instead focuses on creating a platform for local communities to connect through locations.

Users post and share photos, experiences and information with others from their ‘Juspot Zone’, which are predetermined, popular areas which those of the same demographic are likely to frequent. Unlike Foursquare, which can be updated without using GPS or location confirmation, Juspot posts can only be made from inside a Juspot Zone and must be confirmed via the device’s location service.

Though the app’s user interface is similar to Path, Juspot is an open social-network that is more akin to Twitter. All posts are public and users are able to follow other ‘Juspoters’ and send private messages to each other. The most active and popular users are also shown in the ‘hot people’ and ‘hot posts’ section of the app.

One standout feature of Juspot is the ability to manipulate photos from directly inside the app before uploading them. As nearly all users prefer to upload photos in their posts, the tool is a popular function to make a simple photo look more attractive.

The company is yet to announce a profit model for Juspot, which remains in open-beta, however Roh explains that monetisation is not an immediate priority:

Too many startups simply concentrate on how they are going to earn profit. What startups need to focus on is who their customers are and how they intend to solve their cutomers’ problems.

Nevertheless, ABLAR Company expects that, once the app gains greater traction, it will develop an income stream working with businesses that feature inside Juspot Zones. The app is not yet available in English but that will change as an international marketing campaign is planned for next year, starting in New York.

The company is not just relying on Juspot, and the company is developing LogBook, a service targeted at cafes and restaurants who deal with a large number of reservations and customers.

➤ Juspot | App Store | Android Market

After more than 2 weeks of delay, Facebook finally launched their location-based service called Facebook Places in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan.

Facebook Places lets members send their location to Facebook using mobile phones. Aside from letting people know where they are, they can also show who they’re with by tagging their friends using the same system that Facebook employs for photos. Facebook Deals, on the other hand, allows brands to interact and reward fans who check in their location using Facebook Places.

The location-based service was initially announced to be launched in these Southeast Asian countries on the week of 31 January during a Web Wednesday event. Penn-Olson editor Willis Wee was able to confirm it via email form Facebook Singapore himself. Also mentioned in the email is that deals will be coming in 1-2 weeks.

In Singapore alone, there are 55 times more Facebook users than its rival location-based service, Foursquare, while in other Asian countries, it’s as high as 500 times. This does not bode well for Foursquare.

The microblogging service is definitely one of the most innovative in the industry with proven success, currently growing at around 10 million users per month, and expects to exceed 150 million users this year, making it one of the top social networks in China.  The two new features that  aim to enrich multimedia experience with the service will be launched today.

First is the Voicemail Weibo (语音微博) lets users dial a service number on their mobile phones and record a message which will be uploaded and shared to their Weibo accounts.

Next, we have Direct Video Upload where users can now upload a video of up to 200mb, instead of simply linking to external video sites.

These multimedia Weibos (equivalent of “tweets”) are embedded in the post itself and can be played inline. Video uploads are ported directly to Sina’s video site (video.sina.com.cn) and can be played independently. Moreover, it supports both HTML 5 and Flash, which means compatible playback, even when accessed using smartphones.

Apparently, Sina Weibo is also planning to provide location based services, which is currently on closed beta testing (新浪这里 http://f.sina.com.cn) but can be expected to be released within the year.

How about you Twitter, what’s new with you?

Yahoo’s Koprol location based service has been receiving some much needed updates recently in its home territory of Indonesia.

Recent improvements have included the addition of full geo-location support to both the web and the mobile versions of its site.  This will prevent ‘jumping’ a practice where somebody claims to check-in at a location, even though they are not actually physically at the location.  ’Jumping’ is a problem common to one of Koprol’s main competitors in Indonesia, Foursquare which still doesn’t fully support geo-location in its mobile site.

Another feature, new to Koprol, is BUMP (Bring Up My Post) an equivalent to Twitter’s ReTweet functionality.  It is important for Koprol to keep up with the Indonesian market as the competition heats up. Facebook Places has recently arrived in the country, albeit only on Blackberry at present and others will be keen to grab a share of one of the world’s largest social media markets.  BUMP will allow users to promote friends’ posts and check-ins.

Koprol has the advantage over many of its competitors because it is purely web based.  New revisions can be rolled out quickly without the need for any lengthy application store approval processes.

Koprol also has its sights set on international expansion.  Thai and Vietnamese versions of the site are believed ready to launch and successful check-ins have been recorded by some of the company’s employees in the US.

Soon, you may be able to follow the Tweets of your fellow travellers on the morning commute.  A new mobile app, showcased at Japan’s Keio University, Open Research Forum last week, called “Densha Now” or “Train Now”, uses automatic location information attached to tweets to allow you to follow all Twitter messages being sent from the train that you are travelling on.

”People on trains are always using cellphones, and they don’t care about other passengers around themselves.  Our app aims at giving them more fun when they commute.”, said Mr. Kaku Ito from the  Katsuhiko Ogawa Lab., who has developed the app and researches in-train location-based services.

As an ex train commuter who spent many hours travelling to and from London on the UK’s less than reliable train services, I can say that much of my early Twitter engagement was carried out on trains and with people, not only on the same train, but, often on other trains on the same line.  This application could have great potential for keeping travellers updated on delays and holdups if expanded to cover the entire line instead of just the local train.

RT:  @commuter:  Leaves on the line, again.  Pls RT.

Also showcased at the same forum was GPS Play Tag, a web based game where your aim is to tag your fellow players by uploading geo-tagged photos of them to the website.  Perhaps less potential than the previous application but possibly more fun.

Imagine a combination of the two?  GPS Tag on a Train.   Then again, perhaps not.

The subject of China’s Great Fire Wall has, to be honest, been done to death.  We’ve written about it here, about bypassing it here and about western businesses’ views on it here.  What more can we say on the matter?

Well, when writing my earlier article about Location Based Services in Asia it crossed my mind that we should look at what happens behind the Great Fire Wall when a major western site gets blocked.

The answer is simple.  The void is filled by Chinese companies who provide the same service but in a localised Chinese version.  Of course, one can argue that the local companies have to comply with Chinese laws regarding censorship of user generated content and openness of user identification. That is definitely true, but, is it any coincidence that significant social media trends can be conveniently handed to domestic companies to clone and develop before the major players can build a foothold in the market? Perhaps not.

Just to back up this speculation, here is a short list of the Chinese equivalents some of the blocked social networking services:

This is by no means a definitive list but, it is representative of the market.  While many of the above companies were around before their western counterparts were blocked, there’s no denying that they have benefited from the removal of the competition from overseas.

Thomas Crampton has a more comprehensive infographic on his blog, although not all of the western sites referenced there are blocked in China.