Bizzy Gets Busy with Android Launch, Plays Up Multi-Platform Ubiquity
Now heading into the second quarter of 2011, Bizzy is taking on the Android Market, armed with lessons from its earlier launches. “We launched the Bizzy for iPhone app in December and saw that our mobile users are more engaged than our web-only users,” says Gadi Shamia, Bizzy founder and president. “They use the app more and they share more about their favorite places. People are really looking for these kinds of quick and easy recommendations when they are out and it’s a very different experience from when they are sitting at their desk. Finding places is something that people are doing on the go all the time, which is why we are excited to expand our mobile portfolio to the Android platform.”
Given that Bizzy’s app is all about local search and recommendations, its mobile app success isn’t too far-fetched. But it is also an indicator that Bizzy is moving in the right direction, as consumers are able to make good use of Bizzy’s app at the right place and time. It’s because Bizzy likes to cut the crap, skipping reviews and other “additional research” you have to do in order to determine which recommendations actually pertain to your preferences. “People don’t want to read reviews when they’re hungry and ready for lunch,” Shamia tells me, explaining a guiding principle for his company.
But in order to deliver speedy, efficient and accurate results, there’s still the matter of collecting your preferences. Your social graph is the go-to for many startups building up recommendation services, but Bizzy’s primary collection method centers around quizzes. They’re short, they’re easy and they’re based on real locations. Asking questions like “It’s late night, and you need a pizza fix. Where do you go?” Bizzy contextualizes local businesses a few different ways, with a single inquiry. Of course, the more you interact with Bizzy, the better the recommendations get.
Bizzy’s still new (as are all local search and recommendation mobile apps, in the grand scheme of things), but it’s off to a good start, already picking up on varied user behavior across its multiple supported platforms. “There’s a very different experience on the web and mobile. It’s important to take the contextual experience into consideration,” Shamia says, speaking on the lessons they’ve learned since launch. “People spend time on the web, but when they’re out and about, the functions are very different.”
It’s something developers and publishers are going to have to incorporate into their business plans, as a recent Appcelerator report points out. But it also lends itself to a more inclusive method of data collection, inferring consumer behavior based on these different functions. Leveraging that data against itself can make for a powerful recommendation tool, though standing the test of time will be Bizzy’s true challenge, allowing for the compounding of this data and its contribution to Bizzy’s algorithm.
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