Verizon Wireless,
and Loopt announced today that Verizon Wireless customers can now
access Loopt's interoperable location-based service.
Loopt allows friends who opt in to be located by other friends to
show where the friends are located and what they are doing via
detailed, interactive maps on their mobile phones. Loopt helps friends
connect on the go and navigate their social lives by orienting them to
people, places and events. Users can also choose to permit sharing of
location updates, geo-tagged photos and comments with friends in their
mobile address book or on online social networks, communities and
blogs.
Loopt is available today on select Verizon Wireless phones for $3.99
monthly access in the Tools on the Go, Featured Applications and
Community shopping aisles in the Get It Now virtual store. Customers
need a Get It Now-enabled handset and Verizon Wireless digital service
to access the Get It Now virtual store.
"Loopt helps Verizon Wireless customers stay connected to friends
and share their location in a fun and interactive way," said Ryan
Hughes, vice president of digital media programming for Verizon. "Loopt
enhances our customers' real world experiences by helping friends stay
informed of their friends' lives."
"We are on a mission to deliver Loopt to consumers everywhere, and
by offering our service to Verizon Wireless customers, we're
significantly closer to achieving that goal," said Sam Altman, chief
executive officer and co-founder of Loopt. "With Loopt, Verizon
Wireless customers now have a powerful tool to navigate their mobile
lifestyles and easily connect with people and places around them."
Loopt, the social mapping industry leader, offers the most intuitive
and effective privacy controls and security features for end users.
Loopt is 100 percent permission-based and users share location
information only with their known friends via private networks. In
addition, Loopt users can easily turn location-sharing on or off at any
time on a friend-by-friend basis or for all friends at once. Loopt
regularly works with organizations such as the Family Online Safety
Institute, ConnectSafely.org, the Center for Democracy &
Technology, Progress & Freedom Foundation's Center for Digital
Media Freedom, and the Internet Safety Task Force.