ITA  Software was founded in the 1990s by Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists revolutionising consumers ability to compare airline fares and opt for the cheapest. It has licensed product widely, so companies like American Airlines and Continental Airlines and web sites like Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz and Farecast, (now part of Microsoft’s Bing search service) are customers of and use ITA’s software.

Google plans to create flight search tools, a move that could upset the entire $132bn a-year air travel industry and Microsoft and is seen as another step by Google away from helping searchers to find the most relevant Web sites, to offering its own information directly to consumers for shopping or local services like restaurants. Providing information on flights and fares would just be just enlarging the mobile arena!

Holding 63% of the American search market, Google is increasingly scrutinised by antitrust regulators. The acquisition of AdMob, the mobile advertising firm, required an intensive six month review by Federal Trade Commission before winning approval, and partly as a result of Apple introducing its own competing mobile ad network.

Google is not predicting what kinds of services might result from the acquisition. Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP for search products and user experience (right) is reported to talk about being able to answer more open-ended travel queries, like “Where can I get within seven hours and within this price?”

“Travel is one of the hardest problems around, both in the way people like to address queries and the accuracy and speed which you need to give people the results they are looking for,” she said.

Local mobile location

Since  it emerge last March, Foursquare has amassed more than 1.8m users and to add at the rate of roughly 10,000 a day. Founder Dennis Crowley and fellow entrepreneur, Naveen Selvadurai said the funding would used to develop technology infrastructure, expand its 30 staff and relocate to New York office space.

Foursquare has already raised $1.35m. The new investment values the company at $95m and adds fresh input from Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital with Internet pioneer Marc Andreessen, Netscape co-founder and his business partner, Ben Horowitz who appreciate Foursquare's e vast market potential for mobile services and applications from the 200m smartphones out there and growing.

Speculation that Foursquare was involved in serious acquisition talks with Facebook and Yahoo have faded. Crowley (right) says the company decided it was too soon to sell.

Foursquare’s appeal is that it turns location-sharing into a game allowing users to compete for points, badges and “mayor” status at bars and restaurants. Crowley said the rewards players receive could be valuable marketing tools for local businesses and advertisers connecting local merchants with best customers.

Foursquare has established partnerships with more than 10,000 businesses from Starbucks through to The New York Times Company with the goal being targeted advertising.

But other mobile companies also hope to make money from advertisers include start-ups like Loopt (whose around? where to go? what to do?) Visit MyTown(travel guides)  Gowalla (discover, capture and share places) and BrightKite (keep up with friends & places). Google too has  been promoting its mobile social network, Latitude. Twitter places offers FourSquare and Gowalla integration. And, late but never too late to the game, confirmed by Mashable, is Facebook.