Filed under: Software, Freeware, iPhone, App Store
Yelp updates with check-ins, Foursquare not happy
In this case, the imitation isn't appreciated -- Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley tore apart Yelp's new feature in a recent tumblr post, both comparing the two extremely similar "check-in" systems to each other and claiming that Yelp "copied the wrong stuff," and that Foursquare is already working on improvements to their own system.
Which is the good news for us consumers, as competition tends to breed some great innovation. Personally, I haven't been too interested in an app that helps me broadcast my location everywhere just yet, but there's no question that these are popular apps and their popularity is growing. We'll have to see what new features Foursquare has planned and how Yelp eventually responds.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Moose said 9:03PM on 1-19-2010
You can almost always tell who is the imitator and who has been imitated. The original is usually the more well thought out (even though Crowley claims its not even that)... Beyond the functional arguments, look at the proportions, the icons, the fonts, and the adherence to iPhone UI doctrine.
To paraphrase Dr. Malcolm, "I'll tell you the problem with the iPhone app design power that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You looked at what what Foursquare had done and you took a next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could..." Geniuses might be going too far, but you get the gist.
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Justin said 9:24PM on 1-19-2010
I was hoping you would carry that through to the plastic lunchbox part.
JKT said 10:04PM on 1-19-2010
Not always. Sometimes the "imitators" add innovative ideas to the original concept. "Taking it and running with it" per se. Example: iPod was not the first MP3 player.
Moose said 12:57AM on 1-20-2010
@JKT: Ah, but earned, learned, and applied discipline from user focused design is precisely why the iPod, and later the iPhone, were such runaway successes, and not just rote imitation a la the above screenshots.
Yeah, the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player or the iPhone the first mobile phone, but by effectively redefining the markets for those products, they may as well have been.
In fact, I would argue that counter to them, simply "Taking it and running with it", it was just the opposite. Both the first iPod and iPhone stripped away features on the road to a better product, be they voice recording (not on early iPods but many other competing products), AM/FM radios (ditto), physical keyboard (iPhone), removable batteries (both), and so on. In essence, they redefined the products to redefine the category... thus, not imitators.
Some will no doubt argue that there are only so many ways to slice info architecture (or product design, as you insinuate) for a given UI, but believe me, as a designer, that Yelp screenshot is no accident. It is imitation for expediency, plain and simple. To be clear: adding a feature is not imitation, but effectively copying and pasting the design of that feature from a competitor most assuredly is...
colouroflight said 9:45PM on 1-19-2010
Whatever, they both suck. Gowalla is where it's at.
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macserv said 12:04AM on 1-20-2010
Agreed. I'll just eschew the whole argument and drop some Clickity-Bricks (#12451) right here to become a founder.
Aaron H said 3:23AM on 1-20-2010
Absolutely right about Gowalla.
It seems to me Mr. Crowley needs to worry more about fixing his broken non-location-based location based app before he complains about someone else's work.
Noah said 9:07AM on 1-20-2010
I also love Gowalla.
I tried using the FourSquare iPhone app, but couldn't get past the registration screen. The app kept crashing. So I deleted it and haven't looked back.
Scott said 11:20AM on 1-21-2010
The users in my area clearly disagree. Look at the Milwaukee airport number of check-ins for Foursquare vs Gowalla. I'll go with the one that has 5x the number of users, YMMV. I've noticed many more foursquare locations in my area as well.
http://foursquare.com/venue/117208
http://gowalla.com/spots/40392
JKT said 9:59PM on 1-19-2010
Announcing where you're Yelping from is a pretty natural extension of the app's functionality. It's a bit hard for FourSquare to complain TOO bitterly.
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Chad said 11:39PM on 1-19-2010
I agree. I understand they are a bit miffed but I think this implementation is actually useful... I mean, gowalla and foursquare only let you announce where you are and compete for 'virtual' goods and awards. It's something I don't quite get, although people love it.
Yelp, by contrast, is actually useful beyond announcing. I use it all the time, and it serves a very good purpose. Being able to tie in a location announcement to it is awesome, and while both gowalla and foursquare sit on my phone unused, I'm pretty likely to actually use Yelp's new features.
Ben K. said 10:53PM on 1-19-2010
Yeah, I'd have to go with Gowalla — it's funner than Foursquare, IMO — and better looking.
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Ken Villines said 5:24PM on 1-20-2010
Brightkite was out before any of the above mentioned Social Apps....they have had a check-in feature from the beginning. The idea of a check-in feature isn't original to Foursquare which means they are basically replicating the functionality of Brightkite. They don't have much to complain about IMHO.
They should move on and just deal with competition. All web browsers have Tabbed browsing but we didn't see any of them crying about someone copying the other....whatever Foursquare, get over it!!
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Trystero said 10:19AM on 1-20-2010
I use Centrl - which has way more features than these apps - and you dont need an account to use it! I'm sick of creating new accounts and sending personal info to all these dubious social network entrepreneurs.
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keiths said 12:41PM on 1-20-2010
Gowalla is so much better than both. Plus it uses GPS and looks much better. Just my opinion.
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foresmac said 12:45PM on 1-20-2010
Brightkite ++
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