For those unfamiliar, Foursquare is an app/service that allows users to check-in to various locations, leave reviews, and collect badges. The service is integrated into other apps, such as Instagram where it is used to retrieve locations, although recently it looks like Microsoft and Foursquare have managed to negotiate a deal in which both companies have entered into a data licensing partnership. The deal is said to have cost Microsoft $15 million and will help Foursquare generate revenue while not being an exclusive to Microsoft.
Microsoft is also said to have sign a multi-year contract deal with Foursquare in which the company’s data will be further integrated into Microsoft’s own services, such as its Windows Phone operating system and their Bing search engine. Given that Foursquare has managed to build up a pretty impressive database, it would make sense for Microsoft to leverage the data that they have collected rather than to start doing it themselves. Rumors of Microsoft’s interest in the company surfaced back in 2013 suggesting that the deal might have been in the works for quite a while now, but we guess it has finally come to fruition.
Filed in . Read more about Bing (Microsoft), Foursquare and Microsoft.