![\"\"](\"http:\/\/gigaom.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/02\/gowalla11.jpg?w=300&h=196\" "\\"gowalla1\\"")
Over the past few days I’ve watched this meme about the so-called “geowars” ahead of SXSW gather steam, both in the blogosphere and on Twitter. And it’s giving me a headache. For some odd reason, people believe that SXSW is going to be a full-blown coming-out party for location-based services that will launch at least one of them into the stratosphere.<\/p>\n
Ever since Twitter made such a big splash in Austin a few years ago, many startups have come to believe that if they can do the same, they will subsequently become an overnight success — a foolish assumption. It took a lot longer than that for Twitter to go from an early-stage curiosity to a mainstream phenomenon.<\/p>\n
Even last year’s debutante<\/a>, Foursquare, took a whole year to sign up 500,000 users<\/a>, including myself. Impressive, but not Facebook impressive! Its rival is Gowalla, a liberally funded startup that recently crossed the 100,000 subscriber<\/a> mark (and released a much-improved and a fantastic upgrade<\/strong>). Others such as Pelago\/Whrrl are literally spraying Austin to get the attention of SXSW visitors. Add to this dozens of unknown and\/or little known services and you have the “geowars.”<\/p>\n My problem, of course, is not with the technology per se, but with its implementations. With the exception of Foursquare, most LBS startups have not found a way to even briefly <\/em>engage me. Many of them are going to meet a fate no different that that of a moth flitting around a flame on a dark summer night. So in case you hadn’t noticed, I am\u00a0a tad skeptical about this notion of geowars.<\/p>\n From GigaOM Pro<\/strong>: Location: The Epicenter of Mobile Innovation in 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n