London, 20th January 2009. Qype, Europe’s largest local search and recommendation website and lastminute.com have launched two location-based applications for users of Google’s new Android platform and the iPhone.
lastminute.com’s nru (or “near you”) app andQype Radar are applications that allow users to browse personal reviews and recommendations from Qype users for each venue and, once a preference is selected, use the inbuilt satellite navigation device to get to their chosen venue.
The two applications have been launched to coincide with the pan-European launch of the Google Android Market this week.
The nru application is the first third party application to have been developed using Qype’s new open API. The app enables users of T-Mobile’s G1 phone - recently launched in October and the first UK phone to run Google’s Android platform – to find user reviews and recommendations for a host of venues, from bars and clubs to cinemas and theatres, using the phone’s GPS compass tool.
In addition to nru, Qype Radar, Europe’s first location-based iPhone application to feature integrated user reviews, has hit 50,000 user downloads since it was unveiled a month ago in the UK. The free application has spread virally amongst iPhone users across Europe and, from today, is available on both the iPhone and Google Android.
Stephen Taylor, CEO of Qype, said: “Both nru and Radar offer the perfect marriage of cutting-edge location based technology and the credibility of over 700,000 user reviews. The launch of nru today follows rapidly on from the iPhone launch of Qype Radar and cements Qype’s position as a driving force in the evolution of the sector.
“With two highly innovative applications now widely available, both of which are available for Android, we are capitalising on the excitement that the launch of the Google Android market is creating – and consequently the demand for location based search has never been greater.”
For more information, please visit www.qype.co.uk.
To download Qype Radar or nru visit:
Qype Radar for the iPhone: www.qype.co.uk/qype-radar
Qype Radar for the G1: http://www.android.com/market/#app=qype
nru for the G1: http://www.android.com/market/#app=lastminute
