I finally got around to testing and comparing some of the YP iPhone apps yesterday, something I’ve been meaning to do literally for months. Among the ones looked and and compared were:
- YPMobile
- Superpages
- Sensis (Australia)
- Eniro (Sweden)
- YPG (Canada)
- Pages Jaunes (France)
- Dex
It’s quite interesting to see what features are present or missing on each of them. While there are some differentiated elements on some of them, most don’t stray too far from a basic template. There are some clear leaders in the group but no single app that “brings it all together” in a breakthrough or break out way. Which is your favorite? Do you use any of them?
The update of the YPG app adds SMB video to many of the profiles (AT&T is the other app that offers video). Here are the list of new or improved features on the YPG app, from the press release:
- Full access to merchant content, including video and photo montages
- Business, Person and Reverse phone number look-up
- Save to your favourites (My Favs) and/or address book
- Share listing results with others via email/sms
- Local proximity-based search using GPS & Maps
- Direct connect to Voice Search (no charge usage)
YPG also has an Answers product (not a part of its app), which conceptually is the same as Aardvark. While Aardvark was something of a longshot before its iPhone app, it how has a much greater shot at mainstream adoption. And it works pretty well in my experience.
___
Related: Praized and YPG launch “real-time” local search site Calgary.com:
Praized appears to be hitting its stride with implementations like this.
Screenwerk 
September 17, 2009 at 1:53 pm
[…] Greg Sterling says “Praized appears to be hitting its stride with implementations like […]
September 17, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Greg:
So what’s your favorite? I believe superpages app has video.
what’s your definition of “bringing it all together”? IF you could create the perfect app for local information, what would it look like? Just curious. I know mine would have a mix of urban spoon, starbucks locators and the closest Target. All the places I shop or frequent on a weekly basis.
September 17, 2009 at 7:56 pm
[…] Press Release is here. Greg Sterling posted this morning here and for a related topic and a cool real-time implementation of local search go to Calgary.com […]
September 18, 2009 at 1:57 pm
There are a bunch of smaller apps which pull results from various sources like the Yellow Pages. I’ve used many of them and find that many have outdated information, although they are generally useful.
September 20, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Celine:
It’s challenging. I’m thinking about this question now.