Nokia sometimes includes third party apps within its Nokia collection section of the Windows Phone Store. Apps that receive this treatment generally get more downloads, but the unfortunate side effect is that it can result in a duplicate Windows Store entry for that app. This can be an issue if a new version of the app comes out because the two entries get out of sync (i.e. the version in the Nokia collection is left behind).

A recent example of this is the Foursquare app, which has entries in both the Nokia collection and the main Windows Phone store catalogue. The Foursquare app was recently updated with new platform integration features and a refreshed design, but only users who had installed the version from the main catalogue will have been notified about the update, as only the main catalogue version of the app was updated. 

In Foursquare's case, Nokia has seemingly recognised this fact, and today added a Foursquare Upgrade app to the Nokia collection in the Windows Phone Store. The app, despite its name doesn't really do any upgrading, but rather is just a shortcut pointing to the new Foursquare app in the main catalogue of the Windows Phone Store.

This approach should help unify the install base of the official Foursaure app on Windows Phone, but the fact it is necessary in the first place does serve as a good illustration of the dangers of placing a third party app in a manufacturer or operator specific section of the Windows Phone. 

Rather unhelpfully this Foursquare Upgrade app has been published as a new app entry. It would have been better if it had been published as an update to Nokia collection version of the old Foursuqare app, thus ensuring that anyone who had downloaded the original Foursquare app from the Nokia collection would be automatically notified about the availability of an update / upgrade.

So why all the fuss about upgrading? Well as we noted in our original story the new Foursquare app is a significant improvement over the earlier version. Moreover, the new Foursquare app has an augmented reality feature, which is exclusive to Nokia Lumia devices. After going to that kind of effort it would be a shame not to have as many Lumia users as possible upgrade to the new version. 

The augmented reality view, which provides an additional way of finding and "seeing" nearby places, is accessed by tapping on the camera icon in the top right hand corner of the full map view of the app (which itself is accessed by tapping on the map header area).

Although not branded as such, the augmented reality view is built using Nokia's Live Sight technology. The Foursquare app is the first third party app to integrate LiveSight, but other apps will be following in its footsteps, as Nokia will shortly be releasing a LiveSight SDK.

Windows Phone Store description:

Over 30 million people use Foursquare to to find out where friends and locals love to go. Don’t waste time reading long reviews from strangers. Wherever you are in the world, open up Foursquare to see where your friends like to go, and get recommendations for the best restaurants, bars, and sights in the area. We analyze our millions of tips, likes, and over 3.5 billion check-ins to show you the most-loved places in any city.

Foursquare is a free download from the Windows Phone Store. The new version is currently only available for Windows Phone 8, but a version for Windows Phone 7 is in the works.

Via: Windows Phone Italy