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"Vodafone UK \u2014 one of the nation's largest carriers \u2014 has just announced a partnership with Foursquare that entails heavy promotion of the location-based gaming app via Vodafone MyWeb and Vodafone live.\nAs it stands, all Vodafone UK customers will now have instant access to Foursquare's mobile site from any mobile Internet-enabled device, or they can text \"Foursquare\" to 97886 for a link to the site.\nWhile the new relationship doesn't appear to add any juicy extras or content to the service, it's still a major coup for the relatively underground startup. What Vodafone UK can offer Foursquare is massive mobile distribution and an introduction of the service to millions of potential new users.\nIt's hard to tell just yet what Vodfone gets out of the relationship, but we've contacted Foursquare for more information on the partnership and will update this post when we know more.\nAs it stands, though, in recent weeks Foursquare's been able to forge pivotal content and media relationships with everyone from Zagat and The New York Times to Bravo TV and Harvard. It has even\u00A0managed to secure its name in Vegas lights. Now with a carrier in its back pocket, Foursquare seems positioned to attract substantial mainstream attention.\nUpdate: In speaking with Foursquare's General Manager Evan Cohen we've learned that Vodafone UK is the first carrier partner, but the startup has reached out to \"all major carriers and handset manufacturers in the U.S. and abroad,\" and they expect to \"strike similar deals in the future.\"\nIn terms of motivating factors on both sides, Foursquare is interested in the distribution aspects of the deal (as we surmised) and Vodafone UK is pursuing the Foursquare relationship to add value to their customers. Cohen shares that in general the \"squeeze is on operators as they try to find ways to avoid becoming a 'dump pipe,'\" ... \"one of the strategies they're pursuing is promoting value add applications to their customers.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/03/03/foursquare-vodafone/>