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Gowalla partners with USA Today for travel content, upgrades apps

Gowalla has teamed up with Gannett?s USA Today to bring airport guides and other travel information to its platform and upgraded its various smartphone applications.

The partnership with USA Today provides content to travelers who check in on Gowalla at various airports around the United States. Upon checking in at any of the nation?s busiest airports, users are able to follow USA Today on Gowalla and access various USA Today Travel features.

?Gowalla provides another avenue for content providers such as USA Today to syndicate existing content,? said Scott Raymond, founder and chief technology officer of Gowalla, Austin, TX. ?In today?s age of constant communications, Gowalla allows companies to reach people on-the-go and in various locations.?

Mobile social network Gowalla currently has nearly 350,000 passport holders that have uploaded more than 250,000 photos since the launch of the photos feature three months ago.

?Gowalla's core demographic ranges,? Mr. Raymond said. ?We have a large number of passport holders in the 20-40 age range.

?Nearly 40 percent of our Gowalla Passport holders are international,? he said.

USA Today mobile travel content
Gowalla users can unlock several USA Today features on their handsets.

USAToday.com?s online air travel community ?Today in the Sky,? moderated by Ben Mutzabaugh, offers the latest in airline, airport and air travel news with a unique voice and a deep connection to its readers.

USA Today Airport Guides are available for more than 40 of the busiest airports in the country. These guides let travelers know the cheapest place to park, the quickest way to get through security, the best options for dining and shopping and real-time flight information.

Curated by USA Today Travel?s team of reporters and editors, USA Today Trips provide travelers with eight to 10 recommended places to visit in 10 U.S. cities.

Here is a screen grab:

In addition to the USA Today partnership, Gowalla supported the CNN and Larry King Live Gulf Coast Telethon and celebrated the World Cup for soccer fans worldwide with limited-time pins and trips.

New app features
For Apple?s iOS 4, Gowalla added support for multitasking, which means it supports fast application switching, and continuously tracks nearby spots.

On iPhone 4, Gowalla is taking advantage of the device?s Retina display, providing higher-resolution graphics.

Most recently, Gowalla has been updated to let iPhone owners use French, German, Spanish, Japanese or Arabic, in addition to English.

IPad owners are also able to use Gowalla in French, German, Spanish and Japanese.

Additional localization enhancements are in the works.

In the last month, Gowalla for Android was updated to include quick search from the homepage, improved check-in accuracy, photos and comments, updated passport design and streamlined notifications.

Also in June, Gowalla Beta for BlackBerry launched, letting millions of BlackBerry users search Spots and check in, see where friends are and view their passports and those of friends.

?With every upgrade we add new features that will enhance the Gowalla experience,? Mr. Raymond said. ?We are always striving to improve our features, performance and design.

?Ultimately, our strategy is to make the best app for every platform,? he said. ?Gowalla is a community and we have a significant number of community members and professional testers using the Beta version for BlackBerry.

?Our goal is to continue adding features to enrich the experience.?

Final take
Dan Butcher, staff reporter at Mobile Marketer