CocoTan - iPhone 3G Location App

NTT Com held a press conference to announce their new free push-type service that feeds information about nearby places of interest to iPhone and iTouch owners who also subscribe to the companies HOTSPOT WLAN flat-rate data package offering. The new service, named Cocotan! taken from Japanese koko “here” and tan “search”, automatically provides a list of recommendations based on the clients access point matched to a database of consumer-generated content, including blogs and Web reviews, for restaurants etc. located near-by.

Cocotan! also allows the user to collect a visitor stamp in a virtual travel log when they use a HOTSPOT access point. In addition to providing the user with a stamp-based travel record, a Japanese tradition, proprietors can organize loyalty programs and other user benefits based on the virtual stamps. As a special introductory campaign, 100 users who collect stamps from 5 HOTSPOT access points between March 9 and 22 and then answer a survey will be randomly selected to each receive a 5,000 yen travel coupon from JTB Corporation.

The application, a free download on Apple’s online App Store, was co-developed by NTT Com and Koozyt, Inc. The information is provided with the cooperation of i.JTB Corp. and NTT Resonant Inc.