Groupon, Inc.

There are over 500,000 applications for the iPhone and iPad, 300,000+ on Android and thousands more on other platforms. The average user has 65 apps installed on their phone . 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.” While these efforts are appreciated by app developers and end users alike, they don’t solve what is increasingly becoming a real problem: finding the apps you already have installed on your phone. Before sourcing factual data from mobile analytics firm Flurry as to the average number of apps users have installed on their devices, I did some informal polling on Facebook and Twitter. I asked my friends and followers how many apps they currently have on their phones. The answers were surprising. Although there were a few outliers – the person who only had 10, for example, and a couple of others who have upwards of 300, most people fell within the 40-100 app range. More often than not, they had closer to 50 or 60. Again, this is anecdotal data, but speaks to trends within the tech community. It’s interesting that this non-scientific polling shows that early adopters have roughly the same number of apps, on average, as all smartphone users worldwide – around 65. But how many apps do people actually use? According to Flurry, the average consumer uses only 15 apps per week. That means that the majority of the apps installed on the phone are for occasional use. The games you play while killing time, the tip calculator or bill splitter you only pull out when dining with friends, the calorie counter for that diet you began in January (and again June), the garage sale finder, the photo-uploader, and that game that you kid totally loves…you know, the one with the bunnies? What was that called again? And herein lies the problem. 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 Read More

There are over 500,000 applications for the iPhone and iPad, 300,000+ on Android and thousands more on other platforms. The average user has 65 apps installed on their phone . 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.” While these efforts are appreciated by app developers and end users alike, they don’t solve what is increasingly becoming a real problem: finding the apps you already have installed on your phone. Before sourcing factual data from mobile analytics firm Flurry as to the average number of apps users have installed on their devices, I did some informal polling on Facebook and Twitter. I asked my friends and followers how many apps they currently have on their phones. The answers were surprising. Although there were a few outliers – the person who only had 10, for example, and a couple of others who have upwards of 300, most people fell within the 40-100 app range. More often than not, they had closer to 50 or 60. Again, this is anecdotal data, but speaks to trends within the tech community. It’s interesting that this non-scientific polling shows that early adopters have roughly the same number of apps, on average, as all smartphone users worldwide – around 65. But how many apps do people actually use? According to Flurry, the average consumer uses only 15 apps per week. That means that the majority of the apps installed on the phone are for occasional use. The games you play while killing time, the tip calculator or bill splitter you only pull out when dining with friends, the calorie counter for that diet you began in January (and again June), the garage sale finder, the photo-uploader, and that game that you kid totally loves…you know, the one with the bunnies? What was that called again? And herein lies the problem. 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 Read More

2 December 2011 18:01 GMT / By Dan Sung The best Android shopping apps come for free. After all, why would someone charge you for one when you're about to spend so much money with them because of it? So, picking a bunch out from the Android Market and downloading until you find the ones that work for you is not such a bad idea. At the same time, we're well aware that you're someone with little time on your hands and, besides, we don't want you to be wasting your data in the process. So, here are Pocket-lint's best Android shopping app suggestions and, if you care to make any of your own in the comments, then we'll be sure to add them in. There are already some pretty hefty internet market websites out there in the shape of Gumtree, eBay and Craigslist but somehow EggDrop has just about found enough of an angle to justify its existence. The focus here is that it’s not so much about what’s for sale but what’s for sale near you. What’s nice is that you still get the feeling that there are bargains to be had. The seller posts their item along with its location, a picture, description and a price tag, and it’s up to you then to make an offer if you see fit. The offers stay good until the seller decides to accept one and the deal is done. Pretty straight forward stuff. What it has over eBay is that it feels a lot more instant with everything a Buy It Now type scenario and no one sitting around until the last minute waiting for lots to expire. It also, of course, gives you an opportunity to shop according to what’s nearby and EggDrop really hammers this home by allowing you to search for items on a map view. Read more Market: Link Price: Free Rating: 3.5/5 Amazon was partly responsible for the popularisation of online shopping and has long been a first port of call for shoppers looking for a bargain. They've long since expanded the selection on offer to more than just books and DVDs, you can now get all manner of toys, tools, furniture and gadgetry from the online retailer. Having their app in pocket, nestled in your smartphone, is one of the smartest shopping tools you can take with you when you hit the high street.   Read More

Just as the Internet and e-commerce forever changed the retail industry more than a decade ago, smartphone and tablet applications are having a dramatic impact on how consumers shop and locate the best deals near them. By some estimates, more than 75 percent of smartphone owners use their devices to influence purchasing decisions. So what are the best shopping apps to snap up and use throughout this holiday season? You’ll find good deals downloading any of these five applications. Spreading out newspaper coupon circulars all over the breakfast table on Black Friday morning for many of us remains an annual tradition. But if you are looking for a new method to identify the best deals near you, Catalogue by TheFind beautifully condenses these promotions all in one place. The free iPad app (also available for many Android tablet devices) showcases catalogues from the likes of more than 70 retailers including Nordstrom, LEGO and J.Crew. Stay tuned for an update that will bring an augmented reality element into the app. This breakthrough technology will enable users to do things like visualize how a prospective couch they might purchase from Crate & Barrel would look like in their dens. Pretty cool. For more than a decade, the popular website BradsDeals.com has helped bargain-hunters scout out great sales. A new iPhone app specific to Black Friday 2011 was just released that allows consumers to carry around coupons from more than 100 retailers in their pockets. Dial-up redeemable coupons from the likes of Best Buy, Sears and Toys R Us while you’re in the store, or purchase discounted products from participating retailers right from your device. Virtually every major retailer now offers one or a series of several mobile applications designed to attract new consumers and better engage existing ones. Rather than copying and pasting information published on their websites, the most innovative companies offer shopping experiences specific to the devices that carry their apps. Earlier this month, Walmart debuted a brand new iPad app and updated its existing iPhone and Android applications. All of these applications are free. The new iPhone app update includes features like a voice-activated shopping list and a feature to compute the running tally of your bill as you add more items. The new iPad app lets you see what’s in stock at Walmart locations near you before you leave the house. For hybrid shoppers who like to like to Read More

Groupon South Africa announced the launch of its official application for iPhone and Android smartphones and iPod touch yesterday, 1 November 2011. It joins a growing number of the company's markets worldwide that offer mobile app capabilities via mobile devices, including North America, Australia, Hong Kong, Germany, the UK and others. The mobile app group buying service has proved extremely successful in the European market. The smartphone market in South Africa has more than doubled in number in the last year, with the number of devices in the market now around 6.5 million, according to data from various South African cellphone networks. "South Africa really is a mobile-tech environment; we have limited access to internet compared to other countries, so most people access the internet through their phones. Groupon international now features Blackberry, iPhone and Android apps and, as these options become available in South Africa, it will start to have a real effect on the way consumers purchase," said Wayne Gosling, joint CEO of Groupon SA. "The smartphone apps make it even easier for customers to get their daily Groupon fix," said Daniel Glasner, VP of Groupon Central Europe. "The apps allow shoppers to buy, manage and redeem Groupons while on the go, bringing the best of their city directly to their pockets, no matter where they are." Both Guasco and Gosling believe that as mobile devices are no longer just about making phone calls or sending text messages, commenting, "Mobile apps may very well be the future for daily deals. The extent to which mobile devices and their applications have become an integral part of our daily lives (and the possibilities that this offers) can't be overlooked." To download iPhone and iPod touch Groupon applications from the App Store, go to http://itunes.apple.com/za/app/id352683833?mt=8 or search for the keyword 'Groupon' in the Android market. Read More

By Leanna Lofte, Saturday, Sep 3, 2011 | Every week a few of us from team TiPb will bring you our current favorite, most fun and useful App Store apps, WebApps, jailbreak apps, even the occasional accessory, web site, or desktop app if the mood strikes us. As long as they’re iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch related, they’re fair game. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break! Anyone living on the East Coast last weekend either heard about or had to directly contend with Hurricane Irene as the storm tore a path northward, bringing huge amounts of rain and heavy wind. While not as damaging as predictions had indicated for many, the storm left a swath of destruction in its wake. Our basement flooded in February of this year, due to our sump pump failing. Some of you may even remember me diving out of an iPad live show at the last minute to deal with it. We’ve since replaced the sump pump, but it still needs power to work. If Irene knocked out power to our neighborhood, we would have found ourselves in a similar predicament. Exhausted, very late last Saturday night, I made plans to set my iPhone to alarm every 30 minutes, and was prepared to sleep with a lamp on, so I’d at least have a clue if the power went out before it was too late. I desperately needed a way to determine the moment the power went off, and quickly, because by my estimate, I had about 10-15 minutes before water would make its way into our house. As I was laying there, I kept thinking about how I wouldn’t be getting much rest at all, periodically waking up in a panic, and turned as a last resort to the App Store. To my amazement, I found an app that did what I needed. Blackout Alarm is an app that does exactly one thing: it tells you when your power goes out. That’s it. The end. You fire up the app and plug your iPhone into its charger. If at any point, the app detects that the phone is on battery power, a loud alarm sounds, waking you up. There’s also a log within the app to see exactly when the power went out and for how long. There’s nothing more to it. I tested it Read More

We all know that apps can help you study and be quite educational but all work and now play makes Jack and Jill dull boys and girls. So, we’ll take a look at some of the best apps to help you blow off some steam after spending hours hitting those books. Yes, Rovio’s Angry Birds is not a unique or novel pick but there’s a reason why it’s such a world-wide hit: Using these angry birds to destroy those dastardly pigs is an absolute blast. If it were just a fun, silly and repetitive game, I wouldn’t be recommending it at the top of my list but what really stands out to me about this game is that Rovio completely understands how constantly updating its games can bring added value and make these games infinitely re-playable. It’s not hard to find this game, as you can download it on the iPhone, Android, Symbian, webOS, Windows Phone, on the web through the Chrome Store, with the new Roku box and on almost any other phone (besides a BlackBerry). The free versions come with some unobtrusive ads but plunking down a dollar or two will get your hours and hours of ad-free, pig-squashing fun. This is another mainstream choice and I have to be honest when I say that Pandora isn’t even my favorite mobile music service but this is the best choice for many people because it gives you access to free tunes, no matter where you are on almost any device. I like Slacker Radio, Mog and Spotify more but these either have no free versions or won’t work just through a browser (Spotify is a desktop app). You should know what the deal is with Pandora by now: You pump in a track or artist and it plays similar songs for free with the occasional audio ad in the way. It’s a great way to discover new tracks from artists you would have never heard of but it can get annoying if you’re the type who wants to listen to specific tracks at specific times. I’m okay with turning over the turntables to Pandora on the go or in the background on my computer as I work and I think it’s recent success shows many other people are too. It’s available for nearly every mobile platform (in the United States, at least) and it will work in nearly any browser. Read More

For all of the money and time saving tips and tricks that Android gives us, every service deserves it's 15 minutes of fame. Yes, there's LivingSocial and Yelp, and even things like our dear friend GasBuddy, right now, the moment belongs to Groupon. And for good reason, too. Besides the services that Groupon offers to us, like sweet coupons for all sorts of stuff (food comes to mind), they've actually developed a pretty strong Android app to let us all carry a bit of Groupon around with us. For starters, the interface is really, really green and pleasant to look at. Everything is pretty easily laid out, and it's not hard to get around. Open up the app and once you move past the giant logo, you're presented with your coupon of the day. Don't like what you're being shown? A simple tap on the "More Deals" tab will pull up a larger, longer, and more comprehensive list of all the deals that'll lighten your wallet (all while saving you some dough at the same time). If your city is wrong, the top left corner pulls up a list of all of Groupon's cities, leaving you to find your city of choice. Quite possibly the coolest feature I discovered (if this has been out for a while, cut me some slack) is ability to find deals that are within a certain time frame, but only today! You can find all of this by clicking the "Now!" tab, and after your phone gets a rough idea of your location, you can see all sorts of different deals, along with their price and time frame you're allowed to use them in. You can also (obviously!) log into your Groupon account, and if you don't have one, sign in with Facebook, if that's your sort of thing. The settings menu is a bit bare, but it lets you turn on and off Groupon's notifications, which is really helpful, especially if you're not planning buying everyday. It's completely free to download and install and it runs pretty well, so if you're a bargain hunter extraordinaire, you know what to do. Pictures and download links are after the break. Read More

A smartphone is a powerful tool you should use on every trip, if nothing to save some cash along the way. In addition to the must-have navigation apps and local guides from the likes of Lonely Planet, there are other applications that could help you save money while travelling. Here are the apps we suggest you to try out on your next trip: Groupon You’ve probably heard about Groupon and may have also used it. The daily deals service is getting more and more users every day, despite facing a tough competition from the likes of Facebook and Google, with Nokia and Microsoft planning to join the race, too. Their mobile application is available for multiple platforms, including iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and they also have a mobile website for users of other mobile devices. To take advantage of Groupon, simply sign-up for the local version of the service (your travel destination) and wait for the great offers to come in. Then when you hit the ground, you can access your deals from your smartphone. If you happen to travel to some place where Groupon still doesn’t existing, simply google “groupon alternative in [name of the city/country]” to access local daily deals sites. Finally, if you’re not sure where you want to go, you can check out Groupon Getaways — which is a service developed in partnership with Expedia — that offers great deals on travel arrangements. Public transportation apps If you’re travelling to a big city in Europe or Asia it’s safe to bet it has a solid public transportation which is both cheap and can also be pretty effective (especially if we’re talking about subway/metro). For those places, it’s good to have some app that helps you get around the city. My personal favorite is MetrO, which is available for multiple platforms and supports hundreds of cities all around the world. If it can’t work on your smartphone, there could be other city-specific apps in the mobile app store you use. For instance, you could search for “Vienna metro” or “Paris metro” and see if that returns any good apps. Get that flight for less You can search for the flight either from your computer or from a smartphone. If you opt for the latter way, we suggest you trying out Orbitz and Kayak‘s mobile apps, using which you can search for and book flights while on the go. As Read More

A smartphone is a great companion for every trip. There are a number of apps that can make your travel easier, whether it’s about finding a place to stay, monuments and historical sights to see, or learning more about the city/place you’re visiting… there’s (usually) an app for that. Here are some apps I’ve found useful in my travels. Please note that I’m linking to iOS apps and that not all of them are available on other platforms. The point is to get the idea which apps to use for what purpose, to better plan and ultimately enjoy your trip. Let’s start with the flight search… Flight search Pretty much every major airline now has its iPhone app. Moreover, some companies support Android and BlackBerry whereas some others are experimenting with newer platforms like Windows Phone 7. If you live near a major airport, you should grab the app of the airline which uses that airport as one of its hubs. Additionally, there are other apps that could be of help such as Kayak and Orbitz. If you’re not using an iOS-based device, you can search for “flights” in the app store you’re using to see what’s available. Accommodation Hotels.com and Expedia Hotels are two apps every frequent traveler with an iPhone should have installed on his or her smartphone. For those feeling adventurous, Hotel Tonight provides last-minute hotel booking in several cities across the U.S. As they recently got a fresh influx of capital, we’re hoping they’ll be expanding to Europe and Asia in the near future. Budget conscious travelers and the backpacking community will appreciate the Hostel Hero app which queries the same-named website, searching for a low-cost place to stay in a number of cities. Again, I would advise non-iPhone owners to search for “hotel” and “hostel” in their respective app stores. Know the place It’s a good practice to learn something about your destination prior to arrival. Luckily there’s an abundance of choice when it comes to “guide apps.” Lonely Planet has quite a few titles in Apple’s App Store, and there are other guides produced by smaller companies, some of which even come with ever-useful offline maps. Moreover, TripAdvisor’s mobile app is available for multiple platforms, showing you what people think about pretty much any point of interest in cities all around the world. Getting around the city Presuming you’ll be visiting a city, you may Read More