Apple’s new iOS 6 Maps app will reportedly include Yelp. According to software developers who received the Apple developer kit earlier this month, Yelp’s check-in service allows users to alert their friends of their location without having to leave the Maps app or launch a new app. The new software is scheduled for a release later this year, with the new Maps app replacing Google Maps as the default location service.
In 2010, Yelp, a website that lets users review all types of business, introduced a check-in service for mobile phones to help local merchants build loyalty with regular customers. The integration of Yelp check-ins to the Maps app will provide competition for other check-in service providers, like Facebook and Foursquare Labs.
When developers were given the Apple developer kit, it included screenshots of Yelp check-ins within Apple Maps.
Mobile check-ins use GPS capabilities in smartphones to broadcast the places and events they’re visiting. This feature can also show how many other people have checked in at the same location. A person’s whereabouts can then be published through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Yelp is really making an effort to increase local advertising, which made up 70 percent of revenue in 2011. One study by Pew Internet found that check-ins are used by 18 percent of adult smartphone owners.
Representatives from both Apple and Yelp declined to comment on this.