Aug 2, 2011 3:28 PM,

Foursquare to eventually charge merchants for mobile user information

By Michelle Maisto

Foursquare is offering merchants access to customer data that they've never before been privy to before. Soon -- forming its main revenue source -- it plans to begin charging for it.

Mobile app Foursquare has shown itself to be remarkably adept at growing and evolving with its mobile users. With more than 10 million users — 3 million of who check in every day — and 500,000 merchants on board, the folks behind the app are nearing a business plan that they are hoping will turn on the money hose.

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In June, it began offering discounts and other coupon-free perks through partner American Express (CP: Foursquare funding, Amex deal hint at where local is heading). According to co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley, Foursquare is now making money through its daily-deal partnerships.

The big money, however, could come from a "dashboard" Foursquare created to share user information with merchants, giving the smallest coffee shop owner to the biggest chain manager a look at information such as who their best customers are, what times they tend to check in and who are their potentially great customers. The dashboard is being shared for free now, but Crowley told Emily Chang on Bloomberg Television yesterday that they'll eventually begin charging.

"The next step is going to be seeing the next round of the tools that we've been building internally ... and seeing how merchants respond to those," said Crowley.

"We've always said that we'd wait [to charge] until the products are just right," he continued. "There are no immediate plans to do that, but it's something that's on our roadmap and it's something that we're looking towards. We just have a little more product innovation to get before I think we really feel comfortable flipping that switch."

Bloomberg West reported Corey Johnson noted, "There's money in local," bringing to mind Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's plans for focusing on locally relevant apps in China and elsewhere. (Unfiltered: Nokia's Elop to reveal plans for China at Singapore event.)

The clever app has figured out how to appeal to both ends. Better than a coupon program, think of Foursquare like a loyalty program, or a mileage program, said Johnson.

"But rather than having the business own the loyalty, Foursquare owns the loyalty," he explained, "flipping the idea right on its head, where foursquare controls and is a conduit for the loyalty to the most interesting merchants."