App Map for iOS now lets you see what apps your friends use, as well as people around you
I’ve been meaning to talk about App Map for iOS for a while now. It’s a clever app that lets you see the apps that other people around you are using, as well as check them out and install them.
It’s a clever kind of app discovery that I don’t think enough people are doing. By exposing you to the apps that people around you are using, you’re getting to see stuff that is regionally popular and location centric that may never get surfaced in a search of the App Store. If a clever indy developer makes an app that details restaurants in your city specifically, for instance, it may never trend on the big charts.
But, if you pop open App Map and see that another user locally uses the app, you might be more willing to give it a try.
The app sends info anonymously about what apps you’re running (but not any data associated with it) and only if you have location services enabled. It also uses a new low-power GPS mode introduced in iOS 4 to preserve battery.
Today, the app added Facebook and Twitter logins, letting you see which apps the people that you follow (who are also using App Map) are using. This is a pretty cool way to broadcast the apps you use the most and to discover ones that your friends like as well.
The app is well built and nicely implemented. I especially like the new horizontal view for the map that gives me a wider viewpoint for checking out apps. You can see worldwide trends or zoom down to just the apps used in your neighborhood.
It’s a super clever utility that I think hits on an area of app discovery that a lot of the big services out there don’t tackle. And it’s free. Well worth a spin if you’re interested in broadening your app horizons a bit.
Image Credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
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Printchomp Is A Real-Time Marketplace For Printed Goods With Speedy Delivery
Did you receive your business cards on time for TechCrunch Disrupt SF? Last week, a company in the Startup Alley showed Disrupt attendees a new service to solve that issue at a good price. Printchomp is a marketplace for printed goods, such as business cards, posters, brochures, or envelopes. It allows you to find the best printer for the job on a single website.
After selecting the type of printed good you need, you can specify when you need them delivered in your city. Then you have to enter the traditional information, such as size, paper quality and whether it is two-sided. Comparing quotes from online printers isn’t the only option. The site also offers a listing of all the printers available in your area. Calling a printer directly could suit you better if it is a matter of hours and not days.
“I saw there were huge opportunities to address the issue of a marketplace for goods without a barcode,” said Joseph Puopolo, co-founder and CEO of Printchomp. Printed goods are the first vertical they try to tackle. “We have processed over 40,000 business cards in beta among other print users,” he continued.
Another interesting metric is the informal survey that they conducted at TechCrunch Disrupt. Of the 100 people they interviewed, one-fifth did not receive their business cards on time for the event. And another two-fifths found the process too long or cumbersome.
The company is bootstrapped and based in Cambridge, Ontario, in Canada. The service is now available in the U.S. and Canada.
Read more here: Printchomp Is A Real-Time Marketplace For Printed Goods With Speedy Delivery
Bass Fishing Startup Mystery Tackle Box Hopes To Reel In Chunk of $45 Billion Industry
And now, we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming of mobile and social startups to bring you an urgent and breaking news announcement: a bass fishing startup.
Mystery Tackle Box, which launched last week, is an online subscription service that sends customers 3-5 unique lures per month. With around 200 subscriptions, the company has generated $3,000 in revenue in their first week with little to no marketing.
Why is it important? CEO Jeremy Gwynne and advisor Ross Gordon quickly pull out the stats, excitedly explaining that it’s a $45 billion dollar industry (that’s 45 Instagrams!!) with over 40 million fishers in the U.S. alone. But scores of others have tried to target the very same market and failed. Can Mystery Tackle Box penetrate this top-heavy market, dominated by giants like Bass Pro Shops and Dick’s Sporting Goods?
The company is the brainchild of Gordon, founder of Craftjack and Tribe9 Interactive. Growing up fishing in Minnesota, Gordon says he came up with a lot of great ideas while on the water, one of which was Mystery Tackle Box.
“I asked myself, what type of service would I want to use?” he explains. “Fishing is something I don’t have a lot of time to devote to. There are hundreds of products out there to use and I don’t know which to use.”
Mystery Tackle Box’s video, which really gets awesome around 0:56 .
Gordon started building out Facebook pages for various, specific interests and finding ways to monetize them. His “Bass Fishing Favorites” page attracted 80,000 likes and he realized he could drive traffic to Mystery Tackle Box from there.
But Gordon is too busy with his other companies to run Mystery Tackle Box and needs to be limited to an advisory role. He found the perfect CEO in Gwynne, a lifelong angler who started fishing in Florida at five years old, who had a technical background and management experience from years at a large IT consulting firm.
“With any startup there’s a huge risk in jumping on board,” Gwynne tells me. “I weighed my options. I’ve been a bit burnt out in the IT consulting world. Fishing is my passion so it felt like a good fit.”
Gordon says they eventually hope to exit by being acquired by one of the bigger retail-side players in the industry, like Bass Pro Shops or Dick’s.
Reel in. Did you get that one?
Read the original here: Bass Fishing Startup Mystery Tackle Box Hopes To Reel In Chunk of $45 Billion Industry