It looks like the guys at Spoonfed have stolen a march on Time Out and other event guides with the release of their iPhone app, the Spoonfed Events Radar, available free from the App Store as of today.
The launch is the first step of the startup company’s mobile strategy which extends the Spoonfed events listings database to the mobile platform, making it easier for Londoners to find interesting things to do while already on the move. It also puts paid to one of our major criticisms of the Spoonfed service when it officially launched in January this year, when the mobile strategy was one of many planned but as yet unrealised features.
Using your location as a point of reference, the Event Radar scans the surrounding area for events happening that day. Found events are represented as blips on the radar dial, and users can then tap each of the blips to find out more information about cost, artists, genres, time, distance and what to expect from the event itself.
The radius scanned expands or contracts dynamically depending on how many events it finds in your vicinity, and results are usually limited to between three and 10 events from which to choose. Each event listing integrates with Google Maps, so you can find your way to the venue without a hassle.
You can see a screencast of the navigation, which is among the smoothest I’ve experienced using an iPhone app, here:
Events Radar was developed in conjunction with mobile apps agency Ubinow and is the frontrunner to the next stage of mobile development, which will bring the same functionality to other handsets.
Another recent addition to the site’s functionality is integration with venues’ Twitter feeds, so that Spoonfed users who aren’t on Twitter don’t miss any of the last minute cancellations, news of secret gigs and other announcements venues such as the Science Museum or Koko make via their Twitter feeds.
Spoonfed’s revenue model includes ticket sales and outsourced advertising as well as event marketing services targeted at venues and promoters. Being able to drive the website and brand over mobile will no doubt make the company’s offering more appealing to a corporate client base.
Alexander Will, who co-founded the company with Henry Erskine Crum after they met studying at London School of Economics says all the planned mobile products are about differentiating Spoonfed from their competition.
Given a recent comment posted by a employee freelancer for TimeOut on the Mobile Geeks of London Facebook group looking for an iPhone developer to work “on spec” to help pitch the idea of a mobile phone application to an editor “too busy to hunt for developers or business plans”, it seems the kids Spoonfed are on the right track.
UPDATE: We’re happy to point out that the person on Facebook who appeared to be speaking for Time Out was in fact an over-enthusiastic freelancer and not someone acting in an authorised, official capacity.