roadfood app on iPhone and iPod touch

Is anyone in roadfood developer land thinking about developing an app for roadfood? It would list all restaurant with "nearby" geocoding as one suggestion. Anyway, I think such an app would be very popular. :)

Roadfood Insiders can already do that on http://mobile.roadfood.com

I was thinking more of a specific Roadfood application available for download in the iPhone app store. Applications there range in cost from free to a few bucks to fifty or sixty dollars.

The mobile.roadfood service is nice - but there could be a lot more info presented through the app.

yes, absolutely. plase someone make a lovely iphone app for raodfood. it would make me so incredibly happy! I'd pay for it!

Sounds interesting. Please tell me how it could be different/better than http://mobile.roadfood.com

"Zagat To Go ($9.99, App Store) this week, iPhone and iPod touch users have the opportunity to pocket Zagat's vast ratings database for easy access on the go."

Now we need a roadfood one.

I am pretty sure http://mobile.roadfood.com/ has the same features as the Zagat application.

I've used the mobile version of RoadFood, and here is my take:

1. The present web page and search form is not optimized for Mobile Safari, the browser used for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. The text is too small and features an illegible font. The server-side should automatically acknowledge the Mobile Safari browser/user and load the pages optimized for the browser/platform. This is very simple to do. As it stands now, someone accessing RoadFood content is much better off with the non-mobile version of RoadFood.

2. My impression is that you have not yet used an iPhone or iPod Touch. There are a number terrific food-centric apps already available, such as UrbanSpoon in addition to the previously mentioned OpenTable and Zagat's.

3. Mobile/smartphone usage is already growing faster than for desktop/laptop usage where proximity is an important component of the user experience. This is because GPS is built-in to the device.

also - you need to be online with mobile.google.com - not necesarily so with an itouch app - reduces data charges as a result.

Interface also better

Also - you can charge for it.

marberthenad


also - you need to be online with mobile.google.com - not necesarily so with an itouch app - reduces data charges as a result.

Interface also better

Also - you can charge for it.

I travelled last weekend from syracuse to chicago, and would have really appreciated an iphone app for roadfood.  mobile roadfood was ok, but required me to use my mobile data plan, and the interface is all text ..... no maps etc.

well, i guess there is no real interest in making roadfood mac friendly .... roadfood has never worked that well for mac users - an iphone app would have been a way to address that growing market - a market, that by the way, is increasingly not subsribing to websites, and instead buying apps.

 A Roadfood app for i-phone/i-touch would be awesome ! I would definitely pay for that.

If you buy an iPhone for me then I will build you a Roadfood app.  How is that for a trade?

marberthenad


well, i guess there is no real interest in making roadfood mac friendly .... roadfood has never worked that well for mac users - an iphone app would have been a way to address that growing market - a market, that by the way, is increasingly not subsribing to websites, and instead buying apps.

The iPhone is not strictly a Mac friendly thing since its delivery system is on iTunes that runs on Mac OS and Windows. It just happens to be an Apple product. I've looked at most all the apps and find the free UrbanSpoon and especially AroundMe apps meet my needs. Rather than confine to a "roadfood" database I like a database that will find everything. AroundMe fills that bill. The GPS will determine your location and then list all restaurants starting with the closest giving the distances. Then you can select one and get addresses, phone numbers, map locations and directions tied in with Google Maps. The Hungry app does the same by bringing up a Google Map with pins showing restaurants and your current location. You can then get a map view directions and detailed directions. If the restaurant has a web site it you can click on it and go there. Even a strictly free FastFood app exists. There's also Yelp with reviews, Traveler City Search and YellowPages. So many choices and I think every one I mentioned is free. The nice thing about the Safari browser on the iPhone is that the regular web pages are easily viewable and you can use Roadfood.com restaurant views that way. You really don't need the limited mobile designed pages.

Apps are mostly repackaged ways to access the internet. You can app'tize mobile.Roadfood.com or just Roadfood.com by bookmarking and selecting Add to Home Screen instead of Add Bookmark and then it will put a touchable icon alongside all your other apps so you can touch and go directly to that page. It is no big deal.

Here is an example how I made the Roadfood.com home page  as a bookmarked clickable app. It is the first app in the second row.

I have done that as well as in an interim solution, but it requires a full net connection (i have an iTouch, not an iPhone), in order to access, and the issue is the interface, but the point is the repackaging.  Like all other consumer products, packaging is key, and the smaller more convenient the better.

What roadfood offers above the other free services you mentioned, is that it offers not just reviews, not just locations, but a concept that has extremely wide appeal, notable local, and often historical, restaurants that reflect the culinary character of the area they are in.

Sure you can do the website, and if you want to go that route - check out NFL.com - where they have beautifully optimized their site so that the site intuitively knows it is being accessed by a iPhone and displays accordingly.

My point was more that the Roadfood insider service, which people pay for, could have a much wider application, and much broader appeal.  Instead of a $25 annual fee, charge a few bucks on the application and offer similar features, but reach millions more people.

And Stephen, while I can't provide you with a free iPhone, I got mine by being the best man and only member of my buddy's wedding party.  It was a gift - and in exchange, I had to set up 300 chairs in the rain at an outdoor gazebo in a local county park.  I figured I earned a buck a chair.

But I can provide this: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/09/indie-developer.html

And in this economy, people are going to be more willing to spend $1.99, than $25 for a service ...

Over the last month I have tried to use mobile.roadfood.com using both Safari and Perfect Browser while on the road in the general area of New England to the Midwest.  We were trying to find places while in rural areas (including trying to look ahead to urban areas we will pass through at meal times).  In most areas the load times are so slow and clunky as to make this mode of access useless.  We have loaded the files for Road Food onto our Tom Tom but while that's good for finding places it doesn't provide enough information to know what places we would like to visit.  

I agree with most on this thread that there is a real opportunity here.  A good iphone app would be great for us who already love Road Food and would attract many new fans.  

Best,
Tom

I agree with everyone that it would be great to have a Roadfood iPhone app, but unfortunately, I don't know how to use a Mac and programming one is pretty much out of the question for me.  I would be happy to work with someone who is familiar with programming iPhones to get one put together.

Personally, I am looking forward to when Microsoft releases an updated phone this Spring that will be a serious competitor to Apple.  You can count on having a Roadfood app on that plaform.

bill voss

Famous last words are in the Off-Topic and Lighter Fare forum, Bill.

It wouldn't let me delete. But on topic davy, would you have used a roodfood app on your recent trip? Stephen's belief in a MS OS that would match the iphone/ipod touch market seems curious.
I had posted sales figures for the platform, but they didn't translate into the post.
original link:
 http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/07/23/where-in-the-world-are-those-18-6-million-ipod-touches/

Bill,

No, I doubt I would have used a Roadfood app. I have Around Me, Urban Spoon, Hungry, Restaurants, Fast Food, Yelp and several other apps on my iPhone that will find and list restaurants, give directions, etc. and I didn't use them once in 39 days. I try not to consciously chase after others' footsteps. My style is to stick to the roads off freeways and drive into the heart of small towns and take a chance. If I remember a place that has been mentioned here and see it I would be influenced to stop. The most frustrating thing is to see an interesting place at an inopportune time like two hours after eating breakfast. A place called "The Greasy Spoon" in a small town on the Oregon coast was one I passed on. I would have tried it but not at 10 AM.

As for that other platform. I think people that make statements waiting for Microsoft are kind of like that albino monk in Angels and Demons. They must enjoy whipping themselves. Sorry Stephen.   I first encountered that thinking in 1990 when I took my University of Minnesota architectural class on a field trip tour of an architect's office. The office manager was showing off their computer system and made a statement, "Next year when the new Windows OS comes out we'll have a WYSIWYG Microsoft Word application." All I could do was roll my eyes and keep my mouth shut. WYSIWYG MS Word was introduced with the Macintosh in 1984.

Microsoft is no longer a leader in anything and they are getting worse and worse at copying others. Can you say Zune? They can't get it right even when Apple shows them the way. And Google is eating their lunch. But they are the best at perpetuating the mediocre and giving job security to the corporate IT gatekeepers.

Easy...have the ap search using the GPS capability rather than having to enter your street and city.

I just got my iPhone (and LOVE it) and the second app i came looking for was the RoadFood one. It would be great to have but I'll try the others mentioned here.
My first app? U 2 Can Yodel! It's great!

I will be getting one of the new Droid phones next month and would LOVE a Roadfood App for it. I've heard they are very easy and cheap for developers to create apps for. Either way, Roadfood MUST get with the times and create apps for both the iPhone and Droid phones. C'mon guys, enough's enough!

Bluemaxx


I will be getting one of the new Droid phones next month and would LOVE a Roadfood App for it. I've heard they are very easy and cheap for developers to create apps for. Either way, Roadfood MUST get with the times and create apps for both the iPhone and Droid phones. C'mon guys, enough's enough!

Hi Bluemaxx, (aka Rich)
I hear you!  I just got the Verizon Samsung Rogue phone... (which just came out, but almost immediately got overshadowed by your DROID)    I love my full keyboard, and it's real easy to access the internet and send texts...

DAVYDD : Do you know if I can add apps like Roadfood, Yelp, and Chowhound to my home screen?
It's neat that my new phone came with  Facebook and Youtube widgets right on the home page, but I'd love to add MORE !!

I'd like there to be a Roadfood app for the iPhone, and I'm willing to add a little more to the pot.

I'm an Apple employee, and I get employee discounts. I'm willing to share my 15% discount on Apple hardware with someone who'll use that hardware to make a Roadfood app.

(I'd love to write a Roadfood app myself, but my employment agreement adds enough hassle that I can't see myself writing one any time soon.)

Fine print:  My discounts reset on January 1, so in the first months of 2010 I'll be more hesitant about offering this until I know that I have discounts to spare for 2010. But I'm confident I can honor this through the end of 2009.

Somebody has to know someone who can write an app for an iPhone.  I'll give them whatever support they need to build one for Roadfood.

Unfortunately, I don't own a Mac or iPhone, both of which is needed to program, so you probably won't see me develop anything.

Iphone or the Itouch are amazing products. I love my Itouch. For those of you who do not own one you need to look into it. A roadfood app would be great....Russ

Russ Jackson


Iphone or the Itouch are amazing products. I love my Itouch. For those of you who do not own one you need to look into it. A roadfood app would be great....Russ

I agree. I love my touch. Don't need the phone part.

bill voss

Russ Jackson


Iphone or the Itouch are amazing products. I love my Itouch. For those of you who do not own one you need to look into it. A roadfood app would be great....Russ

I agree. I love my touch. Don't need the phone part.

 
Pandora Radio alone is worth buying one. I also love Urban Spoon, Wunder Radio, Yelp,Scanner 911,Big Oven and many more. My Daughter bought me one in April for my birthday and downloaded many of my CDs into it. Next to my Tom Tom it is my favorite thing...Russ