Hacker Read

agrippanux | karma 1272 | avg karma 8.59 · 2023-06-30 11:34:19

It makes a billion a year in rev so I’d say its still going pretty well.

paulgb | karma 25596 | avg karma 5.84 · 2023-06-30 11:38:45

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.

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charlieyu1 | karma 792 | avg karma 1.32 · 2023-06-30 12:01:27

Is it Japanese only collaboration?

swarnie | karma 544 | avg karma 1.01 · 2023-06-30 12:05:03

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.

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sushid | karma 2831 | avg karma 2.69 · 2023-06-30 15:44:53

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 | karma 4 | avg karma 0.57 · 2023-06-30 20:50:18

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.

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