Sprint to launch a social mapping service loopt

Sprint (NYSE: S) is about to introduce a new social mapping service called “loopt” to its users. With the new service, customers will be able to find and connect with friends, share their location and status messages, send proximity-based messages and view geo-tagged photos and content on-the-go. What this means is that as a loopt user, you will be informed when one of your buddies in the area near you, watch his/her photos of some particular area, and all in all connect in a better way.

Of course, the new service will not work on all handsets — loopt promised that it should work on more than 25 Sprint and Nextel phones. Plus, in order to use the new service you will be charged $2.99 per month, plus standard data charges. Wondering why data charges are not bundled with the service? Kinda stupid… Still, sounds like a great service nevertheless. And yeah, it should be available within weeks. Stay tuned…