The new platform Dwolla CEO Ben Milne hinted as revolutionary last week in our preview post was announced today as “Dwolla Spots” and will be rolled out in the the next version of their iPhone app later this month. As the screenshot shows on the left (courtesy of Dwolla), Spots will implement geolocation services to let users find locations around them accepting Dwolla, and then once the transaction has been made users will be able to share it on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere, bringing a more social experience to the way in which consumers spend money.
One way to think about it is through a comparison with foursquare – while you check-in to venues after arriving there, you’d now “check-in” to a location after you’ve processed a payment, whether that be in coffee shop or a cab. And their app is hoping to bring the ease of Foursquare, as well – open the app, find the location, pay for your product or service, and share it with your friends.
The announcement has already received some quality press and the team at Dwolla expects more to come. With our travel schedules this week, we’re just catching up on this story ourselves, but we’ve spoken with Milne and we’ve received permission to live stream the Dwolla Meetup tonight at which he and his team will go over all the announcements they’ve made today.
Look for a post later today with the live stream embed, and in the meantime I encourage you to learn more about Dwolla Spots by checking out these press links (updated throughout the day):
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- PCMag: “Dwolla Spots Shows Users Where to Use Dwolla“
- Des Moines Register: “Dwolla Spots locates stores, sets up quick transactions“
- CNBC: “Dwolla adds on-site payments to phone transactions“
- Des Moines Business Record: “Dwolla launches location-based payment system“
- Mixergy: “Dwolla’s Founder: From Selling Speakers On His Couch To Moving $1 Mil A Month – with Ben Milne”