Loopt Claims the Title of First Social Platform for iPhones

Though Steve Jobs' keynote at the World Wide Developers Conference tends to be one of the biggest Apple events anually, today's keynote was a bit lack-luster.  Jobs announced a 3G iPhone with real GPS for a frugal $199, a fleet of iPhone Apps store products, OS X "Snow Leopard," a change to .Mac and more.  At some point during the first hour of boring iPhone Apps store information, Jobs brought up a social platform for the iPhone called Loopt . 

Loopt will be a social platform for iPhone users, and will be both free and available as soon as the Apps store makes its debut.  Loopt is also available for a number of other cell phones which are listed on the Loopt site.  The idea behind Loopt is to display users' locations at any given time on a map with pins (like Google Maps), so users will be able to see updates, notes, and locations of their friends.  Loopt users can also update AIM on the platform.  Loopt calls itself a "social compass."  It sounds a lot like another platform currently in beta called BrightKite , though BrightKite works in conjunction with Twitter and shows user pictures on the location map instead of pins.  

My first impression of the platform, even before it becomes available to the public, is that it will flop.  Floopt, if you will.  Though I do advocate social platforms being integrated directly with handsets, and the iPhone is the best, this platform seems too limited to be outrageously popular.  If there was some sort of aggregator feature included, that might be something.  Since there isn't, I'm not particularly impressed.

Then Steve Jobs announced that the new iPhone will be going for $199.  If that doesn't put iPhones in consumers pockets, aside from releasing the handheld to networks other than AT&T, there isn't much else Apple can do.   No doubt the lower pricing will hook a huge group of new users.

Limited as Loopt might be, its the best thing going for the iPhone, and it is available to more than just iPhone users.  The wonderful thing about the iPhone and the new Apps store is that developers will be able to tailor and design new programs to push the limits of the iPhone's operating system.  Certainly, Loopt might not be quite up to par with some of the more feature-rich social platforms, but a large user base should be able to provide constructive feedback to push Loopt in the right direction.  In the end, Loopt on the iPhone might be the best thing for the social platform and for iPhone users.