While the popularity of location-based services like Foursquare, Gowalla and many others have been in the spotlight over the last couple years, their popularity with mobile consumers might not match the hype.

According to a recent study conducted by Pew Research, checking in via geosocial services like Foursquare are the least popular activity among smartphone users.  While more than half of the smartphone owners in the survey of 2,277 adults report accessing social networks, sending photos and viewing email, just 12% of smartphone owners say they use checkin services.  Not surprising, the most popular activity was sending SMS messages.

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Nissan  Motor Company has begun slapping QR codes on vehicle window stickers as so-called “silent salespeople” according to the company.

You’ve likely waited to visit a dealership after-hours to look at a vehicle you’re interested in simply to avoid being hounded by a salesperson.  Nissan recognizes this and hopes QR codes can help provide the information potential buyers want, without having to suffer through a salesman’s pitch.

The QR codes link users directly to a mobile optimized page that includes videos, features, vehicle inventory levels and more.  The codes work with any smartphone reader app and is first being offered on the 2012 Nissan Altima and Sentra lines.  The company plans to roll out the solution to its entire fleet eventually.

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Blue Bite and partner Pearl Media have launched what’s being called the first-ever NFC-enabled storefront in the U.S to promote TNT’s top-rated drama series Rizzoli & Isles.

The promotion is a highly integrated “crime-solving” campaign in New York City that began on June 27th and ran for one month.  The NFC technology is being provided by Blue Bite’s mTAG solution and will allow those walking by on the street to place their phone near an identifying marker on the storefront that “immediately immerses the person’s mobile phone into the experience.”  Content being delivered includes a “unique and exclusive” mobile game, an opt-in “tune-in reminder” for the show, a unique and custom wallpaper and a video trailer of the show.

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Location-based mobile marketing provider Placecast has unveiled a new self-serve option of its popular “ShopAlerts” platform.

We’ve covered Placecast’s ShopAlerts service quite a bit on MMW, and it’s gained significant traction since its introduction.  The service has garnered big-name clients like The North Face and AT&T who want to leverage the latest concepts in location-based marketing.  With the new self-serve version, merchants can now create, deliver and track redemption of mobile promotions via a simple Web-based portal.

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Group-buying powerhouse Groupon sent an email to users over the weekend outlining changes to its terms of use and privacy policies.  The most important of which relates to how the company is collecting and using mobile location data and the breadth of information now collected on users of its service.

“If you use a Groupon mobile app and you allow sharing through your device, Groupon may collect geo-location information from the device and use it for marketing deals to you (and for other purposes listed in the ‘How Groupon Uses Personal Information’ section of the Updated Privacy Statement),” the email said.  The company also said that these changes “address some new types of business relationships the company is forging and new technologies it is implementing or may use.”

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The following is the weekly guest series by Derek Johnson, Founder & CEO of SMS marketing software Tatango.

After Groupon announced their plans to go public earlier this month at a $30 billion valuation, they’ve been taking punches left and right in the media. Even TechCrunch, which has always had a soft-spot in their heart for Groupon, let guest Rocky Agrawal spend an entire week ripping the daily deals giant a new one with posts such as the following:

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Mobile advertising powerhouse Millennial Media today announced the acquisition of Condaptive — a location-based mobile data startup out of Washington D.C.

Details of the acquisition are very limited and Condaptive’s Website says nothing more than “We’ve been acquired by Millennial Media.”  Condaptive’s technology focuses on “audience formation and development through the innovative analysis of location and data,”  meaning it looks beyond where a user is to determine who they are and what they need.

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