Lunch 2.0 at Loopt

I attended the Lunch 2.o event at Loopt yesterday. Loopt is a social networking web site based on cell phone GPS system. As their tag line says, it’s about connect, share and explore. I also had this idea a while back and thought about doing it but they basically did what I had in mind already. So, naturally I am very interested how they are doing this.

I really think the cell phone is the next platform for social networking. So far in the US, it’s a bit slow to catch on but some parts of the world, like Korea, Japan and Finland, cell phone is a part of everyday life. Of course, getting a 10 megabits+ network access via cell phone for cheap certainly helps. I really think US is so far behind, it will take them 5 to 10 years to catch up, if at all. The phone companies have very little incentive to innovate because they are making so much money and competition is low. I think the government should step in the encourage the innovation but know the current state of the government, I don’t know if that’s a good thing.

The lunch was good, not the usual pizza but Togo’s sandwiches and some Mexican food. The event was a full house and I enjoyed one of more unique experience at Lunch 2.o, an impromptu concert. It seems that two of the five founders came from New England area and they are musicians. They have a small stage set up at the corner and they gave a 3 song concert to the crowd. They were actually pretty good and I have a video of one of the songs below so check it out. Some pictures from the event as well.