App-ocalypse
Posted on December 19, 2011
Filed Under FastMall, FastMall iPhone App, iPad, iPhone, Navigation | Comments Off
300,000+ on Android and thousands more on other platforms. The average user has 65 apps installed on their phone (source: Flurry). Many of us have more.
Entire businesses have been built to solve the problem of “app discovery” – that is, a way to supplement the limited app search mechanisms built into the vendors’ own application stores. This is primarily to benefit mobile app developers, who can’t get their apps found. The end results of these products are pitched to consumers as tools to “find new, cool apps,” “find apps your friends like,” or “find the best apps that do X.”…
Unless your app is appropriately titled and optimized for search, on-device app search is severely lacking, at least on the two major platforms, iPhone and Android, which I’ll address in this post.
But, oddly, this isn’t always the case. Type in “recipes” on iPhone and Epicurious appears. But not on Android. Type in “deals” on iPhone, and there comes BiteHunter. Type “Shopping” on iPhone, and there’s FastMall and Zoomingo, but not Target or Best Buy. And, in similar tests on Android, apps have to be searched for by name, not function….
To read the full article, click here
Free iPhone Apps that Make Shopping a Cinch
Posted on December 19, 2011
Filed Under Advertising, apple, FastMall iPhone App, FREE iPhone App, mall, Mobile Navigation | Comments Off
FastMall has been featured on Mashable Tech as one of their 7 Free iPhone Apps that Make Shopping a Cinch.
Never get lost in the mall again! This navigational tool provides an interactive map of your the mall you’re currently browsing. Find the fastest route between stores or locate a restroom with the punch of a button. It even allows you to map out where you parked so you can locate your car after hours of shopping.
To read the full article, click here
If you have to go to the mall you might as well be a jedi.
Posted on November 23, 2011
Filed Under apple, Black Friday, FastMall, FastMall iPhone App, FREE iPhone App | Comments Off
FastMall featured on ZDNet’s “Tactical shopping with Black Friday apps for iOS”.
I don’t like malls and I like them even less on the day after Thanksgiving — a.k.a. Black Friday.
The problem is that there are some Black Friday deals that are only available in the meat space, forcing millions of brave bargain hunters to camp out at dawn in front of big-box retailers. Adapting with the times many Black Friday deals are now available online, and before and after Friday, making bargain hunting even more complex.
If you fancy a tech gadget at a low price, there are Black Friday deals to be had. You just have to be smart and plan your shopping quest in advance or risk waiting in long lines or worse, not getting a deal that you did wait for.
To read the full article, click here.
MindSmack Launches LiveAtBestBuy.com
Posted on June 15, 2011
Filed Under Best Buy, Full flash website with content management system, Interactive, Lady Gaga, Live Music, LiveAtBestBuy, MindSmack | Comments Off
MindSmack and Best Buy team up to create the most robust event calendar for a music-based site in existence.
Phil Chacra, Glenn Feinberg, Roberto Irizarry and Adam Schneider from Best Buy approached MindSmack in early 2010 about the possibility of developing a new site that would provide a platform for talented, local musicians to be seen and heard.
The idea quickly blossomed into a powerful website that showcases video recorded in-store at participating Best Buy locations. This content is viewable on-demand along with the many photos that have been shot of the events. The resulting site incorporates an elegant calendar listing of upcoming performances for both national and local acts at flagship stores in New York, Philadelphia & Boston.
The site serves as a portal for fans to watch many of the larger events LIVE as they happen, from anywhere in the world. The media section is perfect for fans looking to explore the program’s varied talent offerings as it displays tons of videos and photos from past performances as well as links back to the artists’ respective websites.
The project was spearheaded by MindSmack project manager David Buivid whose drive and determination kept the project within budget and on schedule. Buivid’s deep connections to the music industry allowed him the vision to, as he eloquently put it, “fill a gaping hole in the on-line music calendar space.”
The site’s unique design and interface was devised by MindSmack art director Aviva Maltin and the lifeblood of the site, programming, architecture and interface was engineered by MindSmack lead developer Christina Lutters whose attention to detail and long hours have made the unique functionality and robust CMS a triumphant reality.
MindSmack principal Mike Feuer says, “Our team really came through once again” The simplicity of allowing visitors a single location where they can sonically sample bands playing the stages before going to a show is simple genius, This is what the Internet is all about “making life easier and more fun for everyone.”
In a fortunate turn of events, Lady Gaga appeared live at the Union Square store in New York City on the day of the site’s launch. She signed copies of her new album “Born This Way” (which also launched on Monday) in conjunction with a Best Buy Mobile promotion that lead up to the in-store event. Over 230,000 viewers logged in to the site to watch the livestreamed event, for a total of 1.6Million minutes viewed. The site can be viewed at: http://www.liveatbestbuy.com/
Bloomberg.com – Malls Bet on MindSmack’s FastMall App to Draw Shoppers Back.
Posted on January 3, 2011
Filed Under Bloomberg, Exclusive Coupons, Interactive, Map Advertising, MindSmack, Mobile Navigation, Save Money | Comments Off
Foot traffic at U.S. malls has dropped each of the past three holiday seasons, according to retail intelligence firm ShopperTrak. Reason: People are doing more shopping online. To bolster mall sales, a new group of mobile startups, such as New York’s MindSmack, are developing indoor-mapping applications to entice shoppers.
President and Chief Executive Sam Feuer founded MindSmack in 1999 as an online advertising designer. In January, the 40-employee company launched its first iPhone application, called FastMall, which offers turn-by-turn navigation to any store, restroom, or eatery in nearly 900 malls in 24 countries. The free app has been downloaded more than 500,000 times, and MindSmack recently launched a version for Android phones.
With the number of downloads growing 25 percent each month, the 33-year-old Feuer plans to launch an advertising platform underneath FastMall’s maps early this year. The technology will let retailers display promotions on the maps to drive shoppers to stores. In addition, the application will bundle data on which stores users visit with demographic information they enter when they register, including their ages, genders, and zip codes. MindSmack plans to sell the aggregate data to mall owners, retailers, and potential advertisers.
Feuer is forecasting revenue to increase to $5.5 million in 2011, from $3.7 million in 2010, driven largely by advertising on FastMall. Feuer spoke recently with Bloomberg.com contributor Antone Gonsalves about his plans to meld advertising with indoor mapping and how he will satisfy clients information needs while also protecting user privacy. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow.
Antone Gonsalves: Indoor-mapping services on mobile phones are so new that everyone in the market is a pioneer. What do you see as potential moneymakers?
Sam Feuer: Our thing is this advertising platform, which is really where we believe stores, retailers, [and] brands will pay to offer deals, coupons, [and] information on the maps themselves. Not only stores in the mall but outside as well. We’re working on mapping Rodeo Drive [in Beverly Hills], the Las Vegas Strip, Newbury Street in Boston, the Santa Monica [Calif.] Pier.
The user will open up the map and see a logo for X store. It could be the Gap logo, for example. And then next to the Gap’s logo they’ll see a deal icon that, when tapped, will showcase a deal or information or coupon code that can be shown to a cashier. There’s a huge amount of metrics that we’re capturing here that’s never been captured before. We know what routes people take at a given mall, so we can send this data to the mall owner, to the retailer, to the advertiser.
Q: Are you concerned that Google could one day expand its mapping service into the inside of malls and put you out of business?
A: We’ve led the pack. There’s always got to be a leader and then followers. Still, Google is Google, and if Google wants to build what we’ve built, then I’m sure they can do so. But they haven’t yet, and I have the patents on navigating the way that we’ve done it, without a signal, without Wi-Fi, without GPS. We’ve patented the entire process.
Q: If indoor mapping becomes a lucrative market, do you see yourself as a takeover target?
A: I definitely do. We’ve already been contacted by many companies about data, just to use the data that we have, and we’re debating what to do with it. I’m not sure if I want to license the data to different companies or not. We’re sort of working out those details.
Q: So after spending $1.5 million of your own money over the past two years, you believe it’s time to bring in investors?
A: It’s a no-brainer. I don’t have the world working for me, and we can continue to hire, and we are, but this is something that could live on and should live on everyone’s device.
Q: Mobile applications like yours raise serious privacy issues, since you will be tracking people’s activities and sending the data to advertisers, retailers, and other third-party companies. How do you plan to address these issues?
A: We’re selling that information to the retailer to enhance everyone’s experience that’s involved. The user will have to opt in. Once we get to that point that we’re offering deals on the map, we’re going to be asking users to sign up, so they get not only a deal, but a deal that means something to them. That’s the winner, and people will sign up in droves.
Q: Do you support the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s recommendation for a do-not- track option for everyone using the Web?
A: I haven’t thought that much about it, but whatever the government decides is legal, then we’re going to go along with it, obviously. If I’m mobile and I choose that it’s O.K. [to be tracked], then why can’t I track [that] person? Really, people want to be tracked. Anyone who’s using these applications, they actually want to be tracked in some way. They want to see information that means something to them. We have to have a defined structure of seeing ads we care about, and I think that’s going to make everybody’s life better, not worse. But it still needs to be handled in a professional way.
Direct article link – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-03/malls-bet-on-mindsmack-s-fastmall-app-to-draw-shoppers-back.html
Download FastMall 3.0.7 for iPhone or iPod Touch FREE – http://getap.ps/fastmall
