Investors are not the only ones who see Groupon (NSDQ: GRPN) as a money maker these days. In a lawsuit filed today, a California company is claiming the daily-deal site’s mobile shopping apps infringe its location technology.

Foursquare probably can’t grow forever on the backs of those who like sharing their location with their friends, and Apple’s new iOS 5 has given it a way to turn Foursquare into more of a notification service than a broadcasting service. Radar, unveiled Wednesday, lets Foursquare users receive notifications when…

Today marks the launch of EchoEcho, yet another app that lets smartphone users keep track of each other. The twist here is that the Google-backed venture believes it has solved many of the privacy concerns that scare people away from geosocial technology.

When Facebook announced that it would be folding Places check-ins into status updates, some took it as a sign that the company was bowing to Foursquare as the dominant “check-in” service in mobile. But one app developer tells us that based on the activity on his apps, this is far…

Facebook has been sizing up the mobile world with hungry eyes for a while now—more than one-third of the social network’s 750-million-plus users are already accessing the site via mobile devices—but this week has seen some hiccups that show it’s not always going to be an easy win for it.…

Sometimes what’s important is what you’re doing, not where you are (I should write Hallmark cards, right?). If you’re going to the movies, for instance, the most relevant bit of info is probably that you’re seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love, not that you’re at the AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13. Recognizing…

The controversy about location-tracking on mobile devices, and the subsequent emphasis on location-based services in mobile advertising, may not be as important longer-term as previously thought. According to a new survey, it’s not location-relevant advertising that is most valued by mobile consumers; it’s mobile ads that are personalized to a…

Klout score is not yet an easily recognizable metric compared to, say, one’s number of Twitter followers or Facebook friends. But the company, which aims to measure users’ online influence (and which recently attracted attention for giving away Spotify accounts), wants that score to be more meaningful than either. Klout…

I will warn you on this one. I have tried to be a location-based services user but I lose interest real quickly. My erratic check-ins at restaurants or sporting events are more a result of me saying “I guess I could check in” or my wife checking in thus making…

Foursquare is rapidly expanding its partnerships in the daily deal space. Starting today, Foursquare users will find Groupon’s daily and real-time deals in their apps.

“Showing your phone to redeem a deal sucks,” said Tristan Walker, Foursquare’s director of business development, today at BIA/Kelsey’s Deals 3D conference. “We wanted to completely fix it and make it completely seamless, frictionless and magical.” Foursquare, Yelp and Shopkick are rolling out new mobile tools and launching new partnerships…

The crowded world of mobile local offer apps has today sworn in another citizen. O2 Priority Moments, from the Telefonica-owned mobile operator O2 UK, is a location-based mobile advertising service that will offer Groupon-style deals on food, shopping and other services based on a user’s location.

A look at some of the big stories in mobile today: iPhone 5, iPad 3: More reports leading us to expect both a new tablet and smartphone from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) come September. Component makers are getting materials ready to start production for new models of the iPad and iPhone…

Last week probably would have been a worse time for Foursquare to suffer a prolonged outage, but Monday’s ongoing problems show that perhaps some of the $50 million it picked up last week needs to go toward more servers or more engineers to trouble-shoot problems.

Forget the check-in, and show me the check: Foursquare has received new funding of $50 million which reportedly values the company at an eyebrow-raising $600 million. The location-services company will now look to hire more engineers and probably a business-development executive or two as it looks for a way to…

Now there are two things American Express hopes you don’t leave home without: your card and your smartphone. The company has finalized a deal with Foursquare to offer users cash-back discounts at participating retailers when they check into a venue and spend money using their American Express cards.

A look at some of the big stories in mobile today: —Foursquare: The check-in app has signed a deal with American Express to offer special deals to cardholders, but as some have highlighted, it won’t be making any money from the partnership for now.

Are you feeling lost among all the location-sharing apps on the market today? There may be a shakeout to come, but for now the leaders are still picking up a sizable number of users—note Foursquare’s 10-million-user milestone this week. And investors are still showing an appetite to fund those that…

A look at some of the big stories in mobile today: hours before we start to hear the real news, some spoofed speculations on what we might see at the WWDC this week from Apple; (NSDQ: AAPL) another developer enables carrier billing for apps; Foursquare beefs up its feature phone…