Matt Cobuzio's Entrepreneurship Blog: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Competitive Analysis

Competitive Analysis of "Find My Friends", "Friend Radar", and "Pearescope"

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Three apps that are very similar to my app, "Connected" in various different ways. First, Find My Friends is an app that is created by Apple that allows users to locate their friends via the map app that comes on all iOS devices. Users can request to follow their friends and find them via email address. The friend that a user wants to follow must also have the app and allow people to follow them in order for the app to work as intended. Find My Friends features a very organized, simple, yet useful interface that allows users to get directions to their friend from wherever he/she is. However, there is no way to easily contact that friend through the app itself. There is no messaging system integrated into the app which makes communication necessary through some other platform or app. Not only is that one of the major setbacks of the app, but it is also strictly for iOS devices only. No android or other device has this app available on the market. This greatly limits who you can track to those friends who have an iPhone AND the app as well.

Next, Friend Radar is a similar app to Find My Friends, however it does features apps in both the Apple and Android app stores. Friend Radar has a less friendly user interface and there is a lot going on that is very distracting to a simple user. The app lets you add friends and track them via maps or in a radar type visualization. This app also fails to have any type of built in communication such as messaging so you'll have to switch to phone or another app if you want to actually talk to or communicate with your friend. The app lets users organize their friends into favorites and specific groups but other than that it has now outstanding features that Find My Friends didn't have.

Pearescope is a big rival in the competitive analysis to my app "Connected". This app allows users to get to know friends of friends on facebook should they wish to and give them locations of friends so they can meet up. Like the previous two mentioned apps, Pearescope can help users track friends via maps and get directions to those friends. Pearescope also has a built in messaging system so users can communicate with their friends while using the app. The app also has a introductions feed where it takes friends of friends off facebook that are near you and may have similar interests to you and helps you get introduced to them. The only real downside to pearescope is it is also limited to iOS users.

The competitive edge I'm looking to bring to my app, "Connected" is allowing nearly all mobile users to be connected easily. As we saw in these apps above, most are limited to iOS users which are only roughly 30% of the market of mobile users. My app will be available to both Apple and Android markets which account for over 75% of the mobile market (and growing) (1). Not only will it allow for more than twice the amount of users to get connected to each other but it will feature all the things that the above apps do, except for the facebook introduction feed seen in pearescope. The app will use a simple interface that is user friendly much like Find My Friends. The app will have tight privacy settings so users can be clear as to who can and cannot track them. Users will be able to connect to their friends through integration via contacts on their phone, email address of their friend or to their friends on facebook or twitter. The app will feature built in communication platforms that include a messaging page (similar to pearescope), facebook posts/messages, and twitter posts. The app will have more useful features than its competitors, will be easy to use, and will allow a much larger range of users to connect to all of their friends.

Works Cited
1. http://gigaom.com/2012/01/18/its-no-fluke-apple-closes-the-gap-on-android-in-u-s/

Saturday, September 22, 2012

LECTURE POST #2: Hardware

My entrepreneurial idea is one for an app that would run on both Apple and Android products, particularly smartphones, ipads and tablets. The app, called “Connected” is one that allows you to stay in touch with your friends easily no matter where you are. Using Apple and Android integrated software, this app automatically shows the location of your closest friends via GPS right on your mobile device. You will never lose your friends again!

This week in class we learned all about computer hardware and the physical units that work together to allow a computer system to work properly. Some of these hardware units are called the motherboard, the RAM or memory, the hard drive disk, the ethernet card, the video/graphics card, the power supply, the case, the optical drive, the sound card and the CPU/processor. The case houses all the other units and the motherboard provides the central hub in which all units connect to and take commands from. The processor or CPU is a small chip with numerous transistors which acts the the brain of the computer system. The CPU sits on the motherboard and gives commands to each specific units to do any particular task.

The hardware we learned about in class was mainly for a personal computer. Although, larger more powerful computers like servers and mainframes have a somewhat similar makeup in hardware, they are not exactly like personal computers. In the same light, mobile phones use similar hardware that is much much smaller than that of a personal computer. In a smartphone, we can find a processor that is the brain of the operations, just like in the PC. There is also integrated graphics, sound, and the battery acts as the power supply unit. Most smart phones do not have an optical drive and the hard drive is in a solid state format (flash memory) which are often much smaller than a typical hard drive with platters.

Because my app will run on mainly mobile phones and mobile devices for usage, it is important that I understand the physical and virtual makeup of the device my app will be running on. In today's age, we are trying to make the smallest, lightest, thinnest mobile devices that are still very powerful. In order to do so, we must find new ways to make these hardware units smaller, but still as effective, if not more effective. Because my app, "Connected" will integrate both Android and Apple OS and use Google Maps to track each mobile device location, I must find employees who know the meticulous details of each phone's physical hardware.

-Matt Cobuzio

Sunday, September 16, 2012

LECTURE POST #1: PRIVACY

In class we learned a lot about social media sights such as Twitter and Facebook are taking over the world as the leading source of real time news. These websites/apps allow users to connect to world events whenever and wherever. My app “Connected” allows attempts to connect users via mobile device and acts as a social media tool as well. I would be able to use these other social media sights to help promote my app and I can also integrate these other sights into my app so people can connect and share through the major media outlets that already exist.

An existing issue with many social media sights, however, is privacy or the lack thereof. Facebook, for example, technically owns the rights to all photos, posts and comments you make on their website. How private is your information really when you are complying to these terms of use? My app, Connected, is especially tricky when it comes to privacy protection. Since you will be able to track others in real time, both users must be in full agreement that this can exist.

There will be a user agreement that states that the privacy of your location is secure unless you accept others manually to allow them to track your location. The app also incorporates events and locations that users can meet at. Any time a user wants to connect in any way with another, they must allow tracking to occur. A user may select an option in the settings of the app to “always allow tracking from certain contact OR from all people.” The default setting, however, will be to manually accept tracking for each individual every time. This way the app will truly be private unless the user requests otherwise.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Get "Connected" [Entrepreneurship Post]

Get "Connected"

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Have you ever been out in public, say, the mall, a concert, downtown, on college campus or even in your local neighborhood and wonder where your friends are or what they are up to? You can try to call them, but sometime cell coverage is poor, it’s too loud, or you’d simply rather not try to work out a meeting point. Some apps like foursquare allow users to update their location to show their friends what they are up to, however, this does not always help people stay connected. Waste no more time getting together and getting connected.

A new app called “Connected” is one that automatically locates your friends that are nearby on your phone’s contact list and pinpoints them on a map of your surrounding area via GPS. This app integrates Google Maps satellite technology for GPS tracking/location service. The app also works directly with the latest Apple and Android software packages to connect and find other users just using their number from your contact list.

The app is simple and easy to use. Download it from the App store on any mobile device (iPhone, Android smartphone, iPad or tablet). The app will ask you to allow it to use your contact info to locate your friends. If you only want to locate certain friends, you may manually select contacts from your contact book to locate and stay connected to. Once you have chosen who you would like to connect to, you just click ‘get connected’ and messages will be sent to all your friends via SMS text (or iMessage should you be on iPhone with Wi-Fi). Your friends will be able to download the app as well to locate you if they wish and they must also chose if they would like to allow you to locate them. Once you choose to locate a certain friend, say Maria, for example, you can either choose go to the app itself to locate Maria, ask siri (or android voice command) to find Maria using ‘connected’ or you can go into your contact list, find Maria and choose ‘get connected’. The app will immediately locate Maria on an easy to read map, give you directions (either by car or on foot) to Maria and assist you to Maria via voice directions if you so wish.

Once your friends allow you to locate them – although some may not – you can now stay up to date in real time about where they are. Other features that the app includes are similar to foursquare where users can check into locations that notify other users who are ‘connected’ to be notified if they so choose. If you want to invite a bunch of friends over to a party or specific location, you can do so with the click of a button. Check which friends you want to invite, type a short message (optional) and send them the location, which sends as a pin. When your friends receive your ‘connected’ message it will include a location pin that drops right on their mobile device map and gives them directions to get there.

-MattCobuz