Foursquare, the hot New York-based location-based check-in game, has partnered with Japanese telecommunications company KDDI to give users a short-cut for downloading the mobile application on several of its Android smartphones.

The partnership will give Japanese consumers a way to easily find and download the Foursquare app, which will appear on the REGZA Phone IS04, scheduled to be released tomorrow, and the IS05&8243', to be released in spring, 2011, according to the company&'s release.

Foursquare is clearly a hit in Japan. Co-founder and chief executive Dennis Crowley explained that Tokyo is currently the second most active city for check ins. The short-cut may help the company reach additional consumers who may be new to smartphones or looking to try a new app.

Foursquare isn&'t the only one looking to make it easier for consumers to find its application on smartphones. Just yesterday, Scvngr announced that its app will appear on Virgin Mobile&'s new pre-paid Android device. Loopt, another location service, is also available on several MetroPCS smartphones, including the LG Optimus M, Huawei Ascend and BlackBerry Curve 8530.

Foursquare, founded in 2009, has raised more than $21 million in funding to date. It currently has more than‚ 40 employees in its home town and an engineering office in San Francisco.

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Tags: au, check-in, Japanese consumers, Japenese, location, location based services, location-based, smartphones

Companies: Foursquare, KDDI, loopt, Scvngr

People: Dennis Crowley

Tags: au, check-in, Japanese consumers, Japenese, location, location based services, location-based, smartphones

Companies: Foursquare, KDDI, loopt, Scvngr

People: Dennis Crowley

Cody Barbierri is a social and digital media consultant. He works for Piehead and blogs about social media at Social Tab. (None of his posts are about clients or their competitors.) Reach him at Cody@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Cody on Twitter.

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