Scoot Blog

Can your business be found 24/7?

Over the last few weeks it has been hard to ignore the fact that iPhone fever has swept the country. After the sad news of the passing of innovative Apple CEO Steve Jobs, interest in the new Apple release sky rocketed. Apple fans were rewarded for their persistence, with many camping outside of Apple stores across the world to be one of the first to own the brand new iPhone 4s. Here at Scoot we know exactly how hard it is to try and prise an iPhone out of someone’s hand which is why we have developed the Scoot app for the iPhone and iPad, to ensure that your customers can find your business without having to take their eyes of the screen!
There’s an app for that!

Apps are designed to offer users a quick, efficient and useful service and the Scoot app is no exception. Whether on the move or just too far away from a computer, the app allows people to search for local businesses and lists contact details and a link to the business website. The app also provides users with directions to the business, so whether they are looking for a local taxi service, a great place to grab a meal or the nearest car garage, they don’t need to look too far!

With more and more people turning to the internet to search for local products and services, it is important to make sure that your business is always there to be found. Click for more information on the Scoot iPhone app

With the Scoot iPhone App and iPad App you can find information about local suppliers of products and services wherever you are.

Scoot iPhone App

Scoot is one of the UK’s leading online directories that gives you all the information you need about local businesses. Now, with the Scoot iPhone App and iPad App that information will always be at your fingertips.

We Have Just Been Voted a Staff Pick by the Staff at Apple

Scoot iPad App in the Apple Staff Picks

Scoot have just launched the all new Scoot iPhone App and the UK`s first iPad Business Finder App. We have listened to the many user requests from our previous iPhone app and have included all of the features that were requested. These include the all new Free Text Search which covers most of the problems people found with the previous versions.

Scoot iPhone App Free Text Search

The Free Text Search allows users to bypass the iPhone and iPad Geo-location and search for anything anywhere. However with the new Apple Software and hardware releases the Geo-Location service is now better than ever so the Find Your Nearest feature is getting better and better.

One other problem some of our users came across was when they wanted to visit the business website or to see the business on a map, they had to leave the Scoot App. In version 1.2 of the iPhone and iPad App this is no longer an issue. We have introduced the In App Browsing feature which allows users to browse a business website see the products and services they need then go straight back to the business listing in the App and view the business on a map or just call them direct from the App (iPhone only).

But it doesn`t stop there

As with all companies who are at the forefront of their field we have add many more fantastic features.

To give our users a more friendly experience we have vastly improved the user interface and have included a Save Your Favourites feature which allows users to find their favourite businesses, special offers or points of interest to a special folder accessible from anywhere in the App. We have also introduced the Recent Searches List which allows users to review thier recent searches, great if you have found a supurb restaurant then search for a taxi to get you there but forget the name of the restaurant. The Points Of Interest feature has brought together a whole range of businesses. These businesses include places to visit such as Parks, Museums and Theme Parks excellent for a day out or even a spontaneous descision to go out and have some fun. Adding an business Icon to the App homepage has been made much easier with the Alphabetical search. if you want to add Mcdonalds just press M, pressing C will get you businesses like Currys, Costa Coffee, Cinemas and Chemists.

Finally we have added two more features that will give our users a more useful App. We have included the Where Am I search which will give the user the up to date geo-location data being used by the Scoot App as provided by the iPhone or iPad. We have also added a new way for people to add a business to our directory. Using the Camera function of the iPhone users can take a photo of the business through the Scoot iPhone App, this get`s sent to Scoot and we will do the rest.

So if you own an iPhone or iPad and are in the UK, even if your just visiting, why not try downloading the Scoot iPhone App or Scoot iPad App.

Market research business, Gartner, predicts that the worldwide consumer location-based services (LBS) market will double in 2009.   

Gartner defines LBS as services that use information about the location of mobile devices, derived from cellular networks, Wi-Fi access points or via satellite links to receivers in handsets. Examples are services that enable friends to find each other, parents to locate their children, mapping and navigation.

LBS subscribers are forecast to grow from 41m in 2008 to 95.7m in 2009, while revenue is anticipated to increase from $998.3m in 2008 to $2.2bn in 2009.  “The LBS industry has matured rapidly in recent months through a mixture of consolidation, improved price/performance of the enabling technologies and compelling location applications”, said Gartner senior research analyst, Annette Zimmermann.  “Factors driving the increase in the next year or so include higher availability of GPS-enabled phones, reduced prices and appearance of applications stores.”  Gartner also predicts that advertising-based or ‘free’ LBS (disregarding data charges by mobile carriers) will gain more traction as users adopt it as a way to limit costs.

Not everyone agrees with Gartner’s predictions about growing LBS revenues, however.  US-based local search guru, Greg Sterling, believes the paid LBS market is going to get smaller and smaller… not bigger:  “Those that are willing to pay… will be a tiny minority in a very short period.  Free (assuming a not-free data plan) will all but destroy the paid market unless those consumer fees are one-time payments or truly nominal monthly subscriptions.”

Meanwhile, here’s an LBS you can use for free.  Try out the Scoot iPhone Web App – www.scoot.co.uk/iphone - to find all the information you need about local businesses in just a couple of taps.  For further information, visit the Scoot website.

A new report from Berg Insight predicts that the number of mobile users in Europe using location-based services (LBS) will grow from 20 million in 2008 to reach 130 million in 2014.  That’s a healthy 37% growth rate.  Local search, navigation services and social networking look like being the top applications in terms of number of users.  Berg also estimates that more than 20% of mobile handsets shipped in 2009 will feature GPS and that the number in Europe will surpass 50% of total handsets in 2013.

For those of you with iPhones already, try the Scoot LBS.  Free to download from the iPhone App Store, Scoot uses the iPhone’s GPS capability to locate you, then find your nearest cafe, bank, restaurant, petrol station and much more.