Mobile-related technologies for the past week, in 3 (or almost) words: Predicting Future, Mobile Search Engine, The End Of Smartphones

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THE WEEK IN 3 WORDS

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SEASON #02 – WEEK #11

3. PREDICTING FUTURE
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A Portuguese company, Wizi, is launching a mobile
application called FacesIn (Android only) that promises to
go one step ahead in localized social network: instead of
telling users where they are “now” they give them hint of
where they will be in the near future.
The magic is done by cross-referencing data about events and people
names (a few “VIP” identified by Wizi will be the first persons users will
know where they will be). The target is entrepreneurs and investors that
want to keep in touch with their “gurus”.
The initial scope of the application is a “niche”, but this initiative – pretty
similar to the one started in October 2014 by Adsquare, a Berlin-based
company, that I mentioned in the Season #01 Week # 44 of the W3W –
mainly shows that there are still rooms for innovation in the geolocation
field.

5. MOBILE SEARCH ENGINE
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In the Season #01 Week #25 of W3W*, I mentioned the shift from traditional search (through a
WEB-based search engine) to a more opportunistic search, through specialized mobile
applications (to find nearby restaurants, events, get flight information, etc.)
Vurb, a new mobile search engine (it launched on Feb 26th), is aiming at becoming
the first mobile-specialized opportunistic search engine, by mixing data from different
sources (Yelp, Rotten Tomatoes, Uber, Google Maps) into one single card combining
all relevant information in one single place. You can look for a restaurant, read
reviews, book it, send invitations and get a cab to it all from within the same app.
The final purpose of Vurb is to bring information to the users, instead of having users
searching for information: it’s the age of contextual search.
Vurb is definitely surfing on the mobile apps trend and is quite relevant in what it tries to
achieve. But users will have to shift again from an opportunistic search (I want to find a
restaurant, so I open Yelp, I want to find a place to stay, so I open TripAdvisor, etc.) to a
centralized search they can trust (in that they won’t miss a good
opportunity/recommendation): this is probably the main challenge for Vurb.
(*): http://www.slideshare.net/PatrickHerrmann3/week-25-36230542

7. THE END OF SMARTPHONES?
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Apple Watch has been (finally…) announced this week. But the (long)
wait may have been worse it: Apple may (again) disrupt the usages.
Apple Watch does a lot more than other smart watches: the several
previews* of the portage of the major iOS apps (Facebook, Uber,
Twitter, Map, etc.) show that the Apple Watch is more than a
companion to the iPhone. It actually allows doing things, and does not
require the iPhone for it (expect for the connection…) Additionally, the
Apple Watch also embeds a heart rate sensor and an accelerometer to
measure user’s movements**, which makes it even more an (almost)
autonomous device.
Once the connection will be embedded in the smart watch, what need
of a smartphone will users have? This is a provocative question, but
that a connected smart watch (and a deported display, such as Google
Glasses) will soon cover some users’ full needs in the near future is
very likely to happen.(*) http://watchaware.com/watch-apps (**) https://www.apple.com/watch/health-and-fitness/