Partnership Potential |
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With Summer in full swing, it is definitely the time to be out and about, exploring and enjoying the sunshine. Whether this means finding new ways to experience your own city or taking your journeys out-of-town, there are many apps that can help amplify your adventures and enlighten you to all sorts of special and scintillating activities.
One such app is Picksie. The premise is that, based on both your interests and on picks by Picksie experts, the app shows you all the kinds of events and entertainment options occurring around you, so you don’t miss out on anything (even things you didn’t know were happening!). You can also search for different kinds of places or activities if you have something particular in mind, sync up with your Facebook profile, and see all the options on a comprehensive map of your location.
Similarly, AroundMe takes into account where you are and links you to all the different things you could want nearby (e.g. parking, banks, restaurants, clubs, you-name-it). With easily accessible map and street views, an augmented reality view when you turn the phone to landscape mode, links to online reviews, one-click calling to locations of interest, and the ability to quickly share your finds on Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and SMS as well as save them to favorites for later, the app definitely makes accessing what’s around very agreeable.
While they both have great things to offer and enormous entertainment potential, I actually think they could take some cues from each other and would be better if their efforts combined. For instance, I love that you don’t need an account to use AroundMe. I get that Picksie takes cues from your interests, but if you could simply input your immediate desires, wouldn’t that be just as effective? Also, despite things that I searched for (and, might I add, knew for a fact were in my area), Picksie returned with some odd, albeit interesting, things and did not at all link me to what I wanted. For that reason, with specific locations in mind, AroundMe definitely had the edge, as it shows you everything around with no details to spare.
However, I am fond of the Picksie design, with its cute graphics and sleek yet simple aesthetics. While the augmented reality element of AroundMe is pretty cool, it’s interface is a little lacking, and visually does not do justice to its functionality. Furthermore, I love how Picksie has quick links to “Here & Now”, “Entertainment”, and “Dining”, as opposed to just places of interest. I think AroundMe could certainly benefit from the addition of activities as well as locations, and the whole element of spontaneity and picks by experts certainly adds an intrigue that AroundMe currently lacks. Sometimes I don’t know what I’m looking for; sometimes the best way to experience a place is to get lost and simply just discover the events around, instead of having a solid place or point in mind.
Therefore, I propose PicksAroundMe. Put the two together and see what kind of magic can happen. Enable expert input, incorporate festivals, activities, entertaining ideas, as well as the ability to find what you need when you need it. What do you think? Are you partial to one or the other, or do you think there is partnership potential?
