Foursquare Everywhere: Are Location-Based Services Finally Mainstream?

A new study by Microsoft shows location based apps like Foursquare may finally be entering the mainstream. 

Of the 1,500 people queried in an online poll, 51 percent reported having used a location based app in the last month. 

This is a very different result from a recent Pew poll which found only 5 percent of Americans were familiar with location based services. 

It may be a discrepancy in defining a location based service—the majority of respondents in the Microsoft study are using these apps for navigation, weather and traffic, not the more advanced art of "checking in."

Many of the respondents are concerned with the impact of these services on their privacy, but still, the fact that 62 percent of people polled were familiar with LBS is a good sign for companies like Foursquare, which is working hard to connect with the casual consumer, not just the smartphone geek who likes to live in public. 

bpopper [at] observer.com | @benpopper