Some mobile startups do something that can’t be done online. Others copy an online business and bring it to mobile. And then there are companies like Scoutmob [iTunes link]. They take a great online business and make it ten times better by allowing you to take advantage of the service on-the-go.
Scoutmob is Woot on mobile, done on a local scale. Scoutmob provides location-aware coupons directly to your mobile device. They launch in Atlanta, and their first offer is for 50% off at Murphy’s, which is a 4-star restaurant according to Yelp. The offers, according to CEO Dave Payne, have a rapid expiration time (in this example, 24 hours), so you need to use the coupon within one day. They’ll have a different offer every day, so don’t weep if you can’t fly into Atlanta by midnight – you’ll be able to hit up Octane Coffee Bar and Lounge tomorrow.
For those of you who caught it, one obvious downside is “they launch in Atlanta.” That’s not to say Atlanta isn’t a cool place (hey, they brought us Coca-Cola and the Dirty Bird), but just that I doubt there are as many iPhone owners there as in San Francisco or New York City. That said, Dave’s existing business, SkyBlox, is a company that provides WiFi to 2,500 local businesses in Atlanta, so they’ve got an incumbent customer base to draw on for their offers.
Scoutmob seems to be entering an interesting business at a great time. Real-time and location-based mobile apps are hot as balls right now, and the virtual coupon business is making headlines too. Of course, it’s also super crowded – as there are many location-aware coupon apps on the iPhone, including Yowza!, which has made headlines because its founder is Heroes star, Greg Grunberg.
An interesting side-story (and a knock against Scoutmob) is that Dave has no technical expertise himself and does not have a technical team to make or maintain the application. Instead, he outsourced the technology to a web developer friend from college who didn’t know Objective-C. How the hell did he make an iPhone app with Push, a native UI and geolocation with a web developer? He used Appcelerator’s Titanium product, which enables web developers to create iPhone and Android applications. I’ve sat down with CEO Jeff Haynie, and Titanium, which is free, seems to be a cool way for web developers to create native-looking iPhone apps without having to code in Objective-C.
Scoutmob is available on the iTunes store and their first promotion is today.
We love Dave’s story. Cracking the code for local mobile is tricky, which is why lining up 25,000 folks and hundreds of local businesses is a solid start to building a business like his. It all comes down to a critical mass of buyers and sellers. As of this comment, there are 214 people redeeming the first offer for Murphy’s, which should make the pub a popular place today.
Dave built his iPhone application in a couple of weeks with Appcelerator Titanium. It would have taken him a couple months… or more in Objective-C. He’ll be able to add Android using the same code base. All written in Javascript and compiled to native code. If you’re interested in giving Titanium a spin for iPhone application development (or Android or PC or Mac or Linux), check out http://www.appcelerator.com
Scott Schwarzhoff
Appcelerator, Inc.
Big fan on great deals but this article is definitely “curious.” Not sure how ScoutMob made it into its own category of an online business making things “ten times better.” LivingSocial Deals already offers great deals (online and via their iPhone app) in a bunch of cities (http://deals.livingsocial.com/cities) and launched deals in Atlanta back in November.
And the idea of having a great deal available for a limited time makes sense but having to redeem the deal in a short timeframe (seriously, a day?) seems like a great way to get people to flush money down the toilet! Definitely “absurd” deals.
LivingSocial? (Obv, you work for them) Those aren’t deals. It’s like a garage sale for crappy service businesses. I live in NYC and their current “Deal of the Day” has been up for a week. Oh, and the “Big Deal” – $5 for a crappy 2 drink minimum comedy club. I’m pretty sure they give these away to everyone and anyone.
It’s like there their claim to fame with 15 year old girls…’Pick 5″ crappy businesses and we’ll get a deal for you.
Also, the Scoutmob website corrects this article stating you have 3 months to redeem.
You have 3 months to redeem.
Scott–any ideas of how many people lining up actually go redeem that deal? Like they said, it’s a virtual pinky swear, but there’s really no punishment (and should be none) if it’s not followed.
Winston – the offers are ‘geo-fenced’ using the iPhone’s geo-location feature (eg: it’s activated at a certain range from Murphy’s). So you need to be within the area for the offer to become live (and tracked as a distributed coupon… and redeemed).
Redemption is done by showing the phone to the merchant.
I have been advising the Scoutmob team a bit, the deal only has to be claimed within 24 hours of being posted/pushed. The user pays nothing when they claim the deal. The then user has 3 months to redeem the deal. Little different business model then other folks out there today.
cant get past the email entering screen .. fail
How the hell us this original? Haven’t you ever heard of Groupon dumbass?
First – it’s free! Groupon is not. Secondly – it’s free.
Dumbass!
Also, scoutmob, that was dumb to hype up your service when you are just launching in Atlanta first. Think about people reading this story, i have no reason to go get the app, Im from SF
SF people can suffer with lame Groupon until Scoutmob gets there…who the hell wants to pay upfront???!!!
I can’t download this app because my iPod touch doesn’t have a microphone? This is dildos!
Cool application. Great use of appcelerator too, which is an awesome company.
This doesn’t help me much in Portland Oregon.
Check out also MyDeals which aggregates multiple deal and coupon sources (http://www.utarget.me) and targets by location and preferences.
Check out also MyDeals in the AppStore which aggregates multiple deal and coupon sources (http://www.utarget.me) and targets by location and preferences.
Brilliant – it’s like a combination of Groupon and nothing!
Andrew
Now, now Andrew :-)
a rising tide and all. I’m certainly going to check it out.
hahah
Andrew, did you miss the part about how consumers don’t have to pay up front and businesses get to keep way more than 50% of the deal price?
To me it sounds a bit like groupon except much better for both consumers and business owners….
FYI, I don’t work for any companies in this space just calling a spade a spade…
Requires iPhone 3.1.2 update… which I’ve been too lazy to install -
I love how people bitch about press and say thanks for nothing I live in SF. Read it for what it’s worth and then move on. The tech world doesn’t revolve around you nobs in SF. Actually, this is a bigger article for Appcelerator and the ease of use and app deployment possibilities.
As a small business owner, and marketing expert, I’m always looking for ways to get the word out about business.
And it’s no surprise to me that cell phones are replacing phonebooks as the medium of choice for finding information on the run. Gone are the days we stopped at a local phone booth to grab the telephone directory.
Sadly business owners are not adopting this technology very quickly. However, I believe that savvy marketers will and I just wrote a blog post about 5 Ways to Market Your Business Using Mobile Phone Technology.
Thanks for the head up on this app!
Just redeemed my scoutmob deal at the Mercantile today. I picked up some random stuff, got 45% off and chatted with the owner for a few minutes. She was great, and acted like this was really helping her little grocery store’s business. All in all I’m a pretty big fan of this transaction: I found a cool spot I never would have on my own…got a discount on stuff I probably would have bought anyway…and helped the owner of a really sweet local business.
Just used my first Scoutmob discount at Murphy’s Sat night. Haven’t been to the restaurant before that, but 50% off is a great excuse. Food was great… I will be back. The coolest part was that I had the deal texted to me without the pressure of having to use it. When I’m looking for a new place to grab food, etc, I’m going to look no further than my scoutmob texts.