Archive for January, 2009
Klicktel for the iPhone
30 Jan. 2009 | Author: 
Many local search services have released iPhone applications (see our post). Klicktel now joins these with their “klicktel for iPhone” special app for the Apple-mobile phone.
As announced by the operators of the online directory telegate Media AG , Klicktel now offers iPhone users access to approximately 30 million adresses und telephone numbers of private and business users.The search results can be used in various ways: one can call the found location directly, save the contact details in one’s contact book, or use the location to generate a route plan. Further, it offers an inverse telephone search (for obtaining the details of a missed call) and even traffic details en route. Using a local area search, one can for instance locate cash machines, fast-food restaurants, emergency pharmacies or coffee bars within a specified distance of the iPhone user. The integrated GPS-function delivers the actual location of the user and links to the data in the app.
New developments have also been announced by Klicktel for other (non-iPhone) users – Blackberry devices are now able to use many local search functions. “klickTel for BlackBerry 3.2″ now offers simpler navigation, expanded map functions and inverse searches.
Both these applications can be downloaded via http://mobile.klicktel.de, though the iTunes AppStore is the actual source of all iPhone downloads.
t-info is now Searchteq
The operators of the local search engine suchen.de has changed its name: Munich-based company t-info GmbH is now called Searchteq. This was announced by the company in a press release.
“With this rebranding, we wish to strongly emphasise the competence of our undertaking”, explains director Andreas Arndt. As t-info before it, Searchteq is a daughter company allied with German telephone directory publishers and Deutschen Telekom Medien GmbH, DeTeMedien.
Along with suchen.de, Searchteq’s portfolio, the company also offers also project-specific web content searches for businesses, search engine optimization and other innovative technologies, such as as software for protection from unauthorized data copying.
Qype releases API; announces new CEO
Qype is on the move: alongside its announcement of its new head, it has also released its API and is offering to reward developers for the best mashups.
It was recently announced that Qype-founder and CEO until now, Stephan Uhrenbacher has resigned his position. He will become Chairman of the Board, as described by the company in a press release. The new head of Qype is Stephen Taylor, whose credits include Regional Vice President and Managing Director von Yahoo! Europe as well as Managing Director of Overture Europe.
Just a few days before the change in management was announced, the company released their API. As announced in a press release, content from Qype, such as places, ratings, locations, place categories or photos become accessible for integration in mashups and other apps. The recently released ‘Qype Radar” application for iPhone (see our post) is based, for example, on the API.
Developers can download version 1.0 of the Qype API, and start designing applications. In fact, the best apps will be rewarded: first prize will receive a prize of Euro 3.500, second prize Euro 1.000 and third prize Euro 500. To participate, developers must submit their completed new apps by February 28, 2009 to Qype.
The API is not going to remain at v.1.0. As Stephan Uhrenbacher announced in the company blog, the first quarter 2009 should see the appearance of the Qype-API 2.0. Using the innovations of this API, it is planned to also integrate photos and reports from Qype.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, News, Practical features | 
Tags: API, Bewertungen, Bewertungsplattform, Bewertungsportal, Community, Empfehlungsportal, lokale Informationen, lokales Such- und Bewertungportal, Qype, Qype Radar, Stephan Uhrenbacher, Stephen Taylor, User Generated Content, web2 0 | 
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Yelp starts in the United Kingdom
In July 2004, the local search and ratings portal Yelp was founded in the USA. It has continued to expand since its launch, introducing a Canadian version in August 2008 and finally has crossed the Atlantic to Britain.
Yelp-CEO and co-founder Yeremy Stoppelman detailed the changes in the company blog. Now Yelp users can also search for undertakings, and relevant ratings in London and surroundings.
In a press announcement, Stoppelman disclosed that London has long been a planned destination – it being the center of the English-speaking world, and comes additionally as a result of the wishes of British Yelp users.
Yelp is one of the market leaders in the area of local Web2.0 portals in the USA. According to sources, Yelp’s users have submitted more than 4,5 million ratings. In December 2008 alone, the website recorded a total of 16,6 million unique visitors. Can one predict a similar success story in the UK? The competition has not been sleeping ¬ Yelp is going head-to-head with successful contenders, including Brownbook, Trusted Places and the German search and ratings portal Qype (already in Britain since June 2007).
GelbeSeiten.de: Leading online branch directory
“GelbeSeiten remains clearly the number one of branch directories – online and offline”, recently announced by GelbeSeiten Marketing GmbH in a press release. This is supported by the current data (regarding the online sphere) released by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Online Forschung (aka AGOF).
The statement concerns the conclusions of the AGOF, the leading online marketer in Germany. The AGOF publishes quarterly the market media study “Internet facts“. The latest evaluation appeared mid December 2008, covering the 3rd quarter 2008.
This analysis counted an average of 3,05 million unique visitors monthly to GelbeSeiten, for the period July – September 2008. This is 19% up from the 2nd quarter total million unique visitors. Y=The portal thus moved up to position 33 in the study, and became the most visited site of its kind during this period, at least in a limited field. This was discussed by Uwe Frigg, COO of GelbeSeiten Marketing GmbH, in a press report. “Contrary to other competitors, we do not obscure our market by combining our field of expertise of branch directories and telephone directories, with private customer data.
Moreover, GelbeSeiten is the only one of the studied local search services that exclusively offers searches of commercial addresses. In comparison with other local search services analyzed by AGOF, GelbeSeite was actually trumped by DasTelefonbuch (place 15), DasOertliche (place 15) and meinestadt.de (place 17). Lower ranked were Qype (place 58 with an average 1,49 million users), tying with Klicktel (also 1,49 million users). GoYellow was even further down the list at place 65 and pointoo at place 101.
Posted in General, Local Search per PC, Local Search, News |
Tags: AGOF, Branchenbuch, Branchenverzeichnis, Branchenverzeichnisse, dasoertliche, DasTelefonbuch, GelbeSeiten, GoYellow, internet facts, Klicktel, lokale Informationen, lokale Suchdienste, meinestadt.de, Onlinebranchenverzeichnis, pointoo, Qype |
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Create websites using Brownbook
Since mid December 2008, the UK-based local search and ratings portal Brownbook (see our post) has been offering companies the possibility of implementing up their own web presences.
The reason: there are still countless small and medium-sized undertakings without their own websites. This new feature was discussed in a recent press release. According to the operators, the feature “Web Site Creator” is easy to use. Within a couple of minutes, one can set up and design one’s own Internet portal. How this is achieved can be seen in a short video, as described in the company blog by Brownbook co-founder Marc Lyne.
This new service is however not free – Lyne announced a price of US $98 per year. Everything is all-inclusive, including hosting fees. Clients can post unrestricted numbers of pages, and updates are also included.
Google Maps becomes a translator
Recently Google Maps added an automatic translation function for ratings that were written in a different language to that of the user.
This new feature is accessible after a search, in the left results list or on the overview page of the found companies (“More info”) under “Ratings”, called “Translate ratings”. This is most practical, for example, when preparing/researching a foreign journey. Most ratings are usually posted in the language of the respective countries. However, the delivered automatic translations are often quite idiosyncratic, but all-in-all the reader can usually get the gist of the original rating.
The new function is to be found in numerous localized Google Maps editions. Alongside the German and North American versions, it can also be found, for example, in the Italian, French, Russian and Spanish Google localized searches.
Local Search 2009. Where next?
At the start of each year, it is usual to read prognoses of trends for the coming months – so also in the Local Search sphere. The outlook indicates many developments especially in the mobile sector.
At least, that’s what Greg Sterling of Screenwerk sees in his crystal ball. His view is based on the theory that large areas of the internet, such as social networking, will in the future be available for mobile use, as users increasingly buy and use laptops, netbooks and other mobile devices. Michael Boland of Localsearchnews also shares this opinion. In his eyes, the iPhone is playing a pivotal rôle in the development of the mobile internet, with local search coming out the big winner. He sees a clear connection between local search and mobile applications.
Alongside the mobile development of the internet, Sterling also sees the geolocation of PCs also being of growing significance. And in the marketing zone, current development continues to expand: small and medium sized companies are increasingly using new advertising methods such as video and online marketing. This trend is having a detrimental effect on the print media, especially newspapers and printed directories.
Most local search services are already equipping themselves for the future, implementing not only the static internet, but for quite a while have also targeted the mobile area. Many firms already offer mobile applications (such as DasTelefonbuch, GoYellow, Qype, 11880.com). And with Ö-Navi, DasÖrtliche has been a pioneer in ad-financed, gratis-use for mobile navigation.
Yahoo! Maps: international coverage expanded
Whether looking for Ireland, Vietnam, Oman or Brazil, the US-version of Yahoo! Maps, the map and route portal of Yahoo!, one can check out ever growing international maps and generate routings.
As Yahoo’s Gus Maldonado in the Yahoo! Geo Technologies Blog explained: at a relaunch in mid-December 2008, map data for 45 new countries was added to the service, and the maps of previously represented 30 countries were revised and updated. So now one has access to detailed maps and route descriptions for example in Sweden, Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, Botswana or Argentina, just to name a few.
The country list will not remain limited to the present offering – according to Maldonado, Yahoo! Geo Technologies Team has a bunch of improvements up its sleeve for 2009.
Posted in Local Search per PC, Local Search, News, Practical features |
Tags: Kartenportal, Routen, Routenportal, Yahoo, Yahoo! Local Maps, Yahoo! Maps |
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Qype’s iPhone app is here
Announced a while ago by Qype-CEO Stephan Uhrenbacher (see our report), the app has finally made its appearance. The geo-sensitive application has been released, tailor-made for the iPhone.
As Uhrenbacher details in the company blog, the app is called Qype Radar. Using GPS or triangulation, the app recognizes the location of the user and automatically show the best addresses in the user’s vicinity, including ratings of other Qypers. Through this, one has the choice of varied categories such as restaurants, bars, shops, hotels or clubs. Thanks to the integration with Google Maps, at a click of an address one can navigate to its location on the map and generate route plans.
iPhone users can download this free application from the App Store.
Qype has also been busy on the (non-mobile) web. The local ratings portal continues to target the international sphere (see our post). In November 2008 a Brazilian version was launched, following the German, English, French and Spanish versions. And as of mid December 2008, there is now a Polish edition as well.
Posted in General, Local Search on the go, Local Search per Mobile phone, Local Search, News |
Tags: Apple, Beurteilungen, Bewertungen, geosensitiv, google maps, GPS, iPhone, Kritiken, Mobilfunkzelle, Ortung, Qype, Qype Radar, Local Search |
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