Services are in Japanese but they got a website in English.
http://cirius.co.jp/en/service/

Eric, if your mission is to “make ads not suck”, doesn’t the comment

“The consumer doesn’t want spend money when they are “in charge”.”

somewhat contradict that noble goal? If the consumer doesn’t want to spend money, then any attempt to force it upon them might be construed as a giant sucking sound

Either your service provides a better match of a consumer’s wants/needs to an advertiser’s product or service, or it doesn’t really accomplish that laudable goal.

I’m still not convinced of the legality/ToS regarding sharing a location with a 3rd party like an ad network. If I use Loopt or Google Maps, I expressly give them consent to use my location. But an ad network doesn’t give me any service directly, so I’m not sure I want my location tracked when I’m browsing mobile RSS feeds or mobile iPhone games. I certainly would want to be able to know when my information is being shared, and to whom it is going to.

If ATT were to disclose this, I believe it is a violation of FCC law. Or at least MMA best practices.

(And tiny text with a check box would not be a good way to give me control over the use of my data! Like Loopt, I would want to be able at any time control who has access to my location. )

This is a dead on arrival method of marketing. You know nothing about the user and will only annoy them. The consumer is in charge in 2008.

“Another Reason I Won’t be Trading In My Current iPhone.”

Techcrunch, you are great, and my comment above is in no way negative toward you.

This would be great to use to bargain with the business you are at. You could log on and tell them that “so and so” down the street is offering your same stuff for 20% off.

Let me create a list of criteria, tags, that define what I’m looking for. Regarding food, I like organic, fresh, vegetables, fruit, sushi, and pasta. Show me the nearby restaurants that fit my needs, their menu, today’s specials, prices, the interior and exterior, and the current wait. Don’t you dare waste my time and bandwidth with coupons for something I’m not interested in.

With other shopping, again show me what is nearby based on what I need. Return my search as stock available nearby, or work from a list I’ve created previously (maybe bookmarked while online the night before). Then create an efficient route for me (hey, I’m a guy).

We have a way to go before we’re beyond the perspective of the advertiser and into fulfilling the actual needs of users. I hope we get there fast.

Jason, Don’t you know multiple applications can’t run at the same time?! In reply to your first post, I have to disagree (I think most founders would :] )

I do agree with the statement that local businesses will not immediately adopt location based advertising. If that was the only form of advertising we supported, it would be tough to gain adoption. This is why we also support globally/country targeted ads (like traditional mobile-web advertising companies [admob, etc]) so ad-density in a given area wouldn’t be as much of a problem.

1) You are already on your way somewhere. An ad would not make me nor anyone else who I know change their plans.

2) It would take mass adoption from local businesses, otherwise the ads are few and far between. It will take years for this kind of adoption.

3) Best case scenario, this is for people out window shopping already. But see #2 above. And if they are out window shopping, most businesses catering to that crowd are already displaying store front display ads.