[kariatx]

Seeing that they probably would have never beat Foursquare, I'm glad that they are continuing to iterate. I have to say that I'm a bit skeptical about this new product. It seems a bit murky conceptually, and I'm not sure if travel is the right industry for them to be putting their bets on.

I met a lot of diehard Gowalla fans during SXSW at their party, and they seemed much more keyed into the gaming / object collection aspects of the service. Bottom line - I think a lot of these superfans (many of whom traveled on their own dime to the party) will probably feel alienated by this new app. Gowalla will probably have to find a whole new market, which may not be the worst thing but won't be the easiest either.

No matter what, I think Gowalla has a huge uphill battle to climb. They haven't even really been able to build much excitement here in Austin (even among people I know who are addicted to social media). I think their design and UI is top notch, but they seem to be missing whatever makes consumers super excited.

[patrickryan]

I worked at Gowalla last summer and I can tell you that there are superusers who travel around only for the beautiful stamps and to collect items, but that number is very small. Gowalla has always been about travel and exploring. This move is not a surprise in any way.

[thinkbohemian]

I was pretty sad when we had to cut the items feature (I worked sooo hard to get that space shuttle!!). But trust me, this move makes for a much more compelling and useful product.