[paulgb]

Woah! As someone who hasn't paid much attention since the initial launch, I had no idea. Here's the business model:

> Besides in-game purchases, partnerships with retail chains like Starbucks, McDonald's, Sprint, pay Niantic Labs for "Foot Traffic" on-demand of the retail shops.

[swarnie]

The trick was combining a popular franchise with aggressive whale seeking monetisation and having that all backed up by three figure agencies.

The app more than did its jo.

[sushid]

You lost me at three figure agencies. Are you saying that the FTC should be somehow involved here? What other agencies are you referring to?

[pleaselegalize]

I'm pretty sure they're referencing John Hanke, who used to work for the U.S. govt, founded Keyhole through funding from In-Q-Tel (CIA's VC), which ended up spawning Niantic.

It seems they're actively working with the NGA, NSA, DIA, and CIA. It could be just for 3D geo-spatial tech, or it could be for sharing data. It's secret and it doesn't look like conclusive evidence of data sharing has been published. My personal belief is a little bit of both is going on.

[charlieyu1]

Is it Japanese only collaboration?