iPhone App Reviews

Q&F: MasterCard Priceless Picks

T.J. Brumfield | Jul 19, 2009 Utilities

User rating: (4 votes, average: 3.75 out of 5)

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I felt bad that the last review I just posted, I only had one free promo code to give away. For this app, I have tons of free copies to give away. By that I mean, the app is free for everybody. But hey, it’s the thought that counts.

MasterCard just launched a new free app called Priceless Picks. It is a great concept, with great execution. I just wonder if Cinderella is arriving late to the ball.

The premise is amazingly simple. Your iPhone pulls up your location and then shows you a 3D map of Priceless Picks around you. The typical pinch-expand zoom features work as you’d expect. Swipes also move you around the map fairly quickly, so it is easy enough to explore other locations. If you swipe too quickly, or get lost, a helpful person-shaped button takes you back to your current location.

The picks themselves appear as vivid colored word balloons. Each color represents a category. You can turn any category on or off, which makes it very simple to browse for a single category, or a group of categories.

Tap on a button and the view zooms in you can more easily read the full details. Some picks are simple descriptions of businesses and attractions. Others provide tips, and sale alerts. If the corner coffee shop is doing a special on cranberry scones, someone can post a time-based pick that expires when the deal does.

Tap anywhere outside the balloon and you return to the normal view. A plus button allows you to add picks of your own as you visit locations. You don’t need to add in an address or directions, as the pick automatically centers on your current location. While simple to use, this limits my ability to review my favorite spots while I’m sitting at home.

If the 3D map is too difficult, you can switch to a traditional, fixed 2D view. But honestly part of the appeal of this app is moving around the map in 3D and seeing the lovely 3D balloons pop-up. Whether intentional or not, my only gripe with the actual appearance and interface is that when I settle on a location, the balloons themselves seem to fade slightly. They loose the bright sheen that makes them so attractive.

MasterCard is very serious about promoting this app. A promotional video ships within the app. MasterCard also has 15, count-em, 15 commercials lined up to promote this thing. MasterCard is also paying for the server infrastructure for the app’s data, and reviewing pick submissions. They’ve also hired people to provide a number of picks already included at product launch. Yet the app is free. And while MasterCard doesn’t make money by displaying ads in the traditional sense either, MasterCard does profit when the economy improves and people spend money.

By showing you nearby shops, attractions and deals, they hope to coax people to go out and spend money. My only gripe is that while this is a very simple interface that anyone can appreciate and have fun with, an app like this is only as useful as the information it provides. MasterCard has partnered with  companies like ShopLocal, Not For Tourists and Amazon to provide third-party data.

MasterCard is also very clear about where each pick comes from. User-generated picks have the traditional round balloons. Third-party data is contained in square-balloons. The content generated by paid users is denoted with a “-turk” suffix. Since the app just launched yesterday, almost all the data I’m seeing right now was generated by “turks”.

One of my main concerns is that the iPhone already has apps that serve this purpose. Competition and choice are good things, except when you’re diluting the pool of data that make these apps worthwhile. My wife is a big fan of Urbanspoon. Some of these apps like Urbanspoon already have a large database of reviews. I can see what my friends recommend, and browse through multiple reviews for the same place.

Arguably Priceless Picks covers a broader range of attractions, shops and locations compared to an app like Urbanspoon. So maybe there is room for both. But in a perfect world, I’d like to see MasterCard also parter with Urbanspoon or similar apps to integrate reviews and recommendations on bars and restaurants.

So long as it helps encourage people to go out and spend money, doesn’t MasterCard win out in the end?