The tech world has gone geo-loco for geo-locational apps. As per our article entitled Location is Hot: Foursquare Traffic Up 3X in 2 Months, users are flocking to location-based services in the hopes of literally leaving their mark on the world. While many are just discovering services like Foursquare, Gowalla and Latitude, others are making them into viable business platforms. Nevertheless, a recent forum posts suggests Apple may restrict geo-locational ads - an act that would be a huge hindrance for those looking to monetize the iPhone.
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One company that would be negatively affected would be Storm Media Innovations. The Vancouver company hopes to become the little ad engine that powers the monetization of the geo-local web. The company offers a white label API where restaurants send out venue-based deals via services like Gowalla, Foursquare, Open Table and Twitter. The difference between setting up a deal in Storm and setting up a deal with Foursquare independently is the fact that Storm is based on real-time needs. Rather than offering a 50% discount on meals throughout entire week, a restaurant owner signs in during slow hours to prompt deal offers. Storm does its best to ensure steady traffic without lulls or the stress of an unnecessary fire sale. In essence, the company's CEO Craig Baker is attempting to build the AdSense of geo-locational apps.
If Apple chooses to restrict advertising, this may be a crushing blow to Baker in the North American market. Nevertheless, if he manages to bridge good partnerships with those developers who have pre-existing advertising programs, he might still have a chance to realize his vision.
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