W3W SEASON#02 WEEK#11
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A Portuguese company, Wizi, is launching a mobile app called Facesin that enhances localized social networking by predicting users' future locations based on event and VIP data. Vurb, a newly launched mobile search engine, aims to centralize various service information (like restaurants and ride-sharing) into one app for a contextual search experience. The announcement of the Apple Watch suggests a potential shift away from smartphones, as it functions autonomously with health monitoring features and could fulfill users' needs without needing a smartphone.
W3W SEASON#02 WEEK#11
- 1. 1 THE WEEK IN 3 WORDS
- 2. 2 SEASON #02 WEEK #11
- 4. 4 A Portuguese company, Wizi, is launching a mobile application called FacesIn (Android only) that promises to go one step ahead in localized social network: instead of telling users where they are now they give them hint of where they will be in the near future. The magic is done by cross-referencing data about events and people names (a few VIP identified by Wizi will be the first persons users will know where they will be). The target is entrepreneurs and investors that want to keep in touch with their gurus. The initial scope of the application is a niche, but this initiative pretty similar to the one started in October 2014 by Adsquare, a Berlin-based company, that I mentioned in the Season #01 Week # 44 of the W3W mainly shows that there are still rooms for innovation in the geolocation field.
- 6. 6 In the Season #01 Week #25 of W3W*, I mentioned the shift from traditional search (through a WEB-based search engine) to a more opportunistic search, through specialized mobile applications (to find nearby restaurants, events, get flight information, etc.) Vurb, a new mobile search engine (it launched on Feb 26th), is aiming at becoming the first mobile-specialized opportunistic search engine, by mixing data from different sources (Yelp, Rotten Tomatoes, Uber, Google Maps) into one single card combining all relevant information in one single place. You can look for a restaurant, read reviews, book it, send invitations and get a cab to it all from within the same app. The final purpose of Vurb is to bring information to the users, instead of having users searching for information: its the age of contextual search. Vurb is definitely surfing on the mobile apps trend and is quite relevant in what it tries to achieve. But users will have to shift again from an opportunistic search (I want to find a restaurant, so I open Yelp, I want to find a place to stay, so I open TripAdvisor, etc.) to a centralized search they can trust (in that they wont miss a good opportunity/recommendation): this is probably the main challenge for Vurb. (*): http://www.slideshare.net/PatrickHerrmann3/week-25-36230542
- 7. THE END OF SMARTPHONES? 7
- 8. 8 Apple Watch has been (finally) announced this week. But the (long) wait may have been worse it: Apple may (again) disrupt the usages. Apple Watch does a lot more than other smart watches: the several previews* of the portage of the major iOS apps (Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Map, etc.) show that the Apple Watch is more than a companion to the iPhone. It actually allows doing things, and does not require the iPhone for it (expect for the connection) Additionally, the Apple Watch also embeds a heart rate sensor and an accelerometer to measure users movements**, which makes it even more an (almost) autonomous device. Once the connection will be embedded in the smart watch, what need of a smartphone will users have? This is a provocative question, but that a connected smart watch (and a deported display, such as Google Glasses) will soon cover some users full needs in the near future is very likely to happen.(*) http://watchaware.com/watch-apps (**) https://www.apple.com/watch/health-and-fitness/