iPhone users get paid for small, location-based tasks

Mobile phones have been allowing users to earn cash by performing small tasks for some time already — take the Field Agent app for iPhone for example — but Dutch Roamler recently launched an effort that adds a new, location-based twist. With its free iPhone app, Roamler lets companies create an instant mobile workforce on-demand consisting of people who are already close to where the tasks need to be done. Now in invitation-only beta, Roamler offers iPhone users interested in earning extra cash an easy way to tap into an ongoing stream of small assignments while they go about their daily lives. Examples might include taking a photograph of a potential retail site, for instance, or verifying a product’s placement on the local retail shelves. Roamler’s client brands make their requests with the company, and Roamler offers the work to its users based on their location. In exchange, they earn between EUR 2 and EUR 4 for successfully completing each mission. Users also gain points and badges for each assignment they successfully complete; the higher their resulting status, the more challenging assignments they get and the more money they earn. Roamler was launched earlier this month with Heineken and the City of Amsterdam as its first partners. The video below illustrates the company’s premise in more detail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no0ixwk5k5E

It turns out there’s another, very similar effort in North America, too: California-based Gigwalk, which launched in May with TomTom as its first brand partner. The addition of location data is sure to make such services more useful and targeted both for brands and for the workers performing the tasks they assign. Time to offer something similar for your locality?