Darby Sieben -

If you did not have a chance to read the press release for Yellow Pages Group 3rd Quarter Results this past Wednesday, there is one paragraph that is interesting for local search enthusiasts:

The priority in Directories continues to be the introduction of new products. During the quarter, YPG launched a new version of its popular YellowPages.ca™ local search application for the Apple iPhone. The latest version features advertiser video content and continues to put the power of Yellowpages.ca in the hands of on-the-go users. The YellowPages.ca™ mobile application remains in the leading free downloaded apps since launching at the iTunes App Store. To date, the company reports over 500,000 downloads of the iPhone and Blackberry® apps.

I originally posted about Canada’s First Integrated Business and People Search App back in April 2009. At that time, the application was #7 most popular free application within the first week.

Fast forward 6-months and the YellowPages.ca application is still in the top 20 free applications, here is a screenshot from this morning:

So What Makes This iPhone Application So Successful. I get this question alot in discussions with local search experts around the globe. I have summarized the success of this application to the following key points:

1) Simplicity

This is a under 1mb download that gives Canadian’s access to a Business Directory, People Directory and Reverse Look-up where a user can search by City, Landmark, Neighborhood or GPS. This follows in line with the new YellowPages.ca launched on October 12 – check out my post 15 Local Searches I have a Comment On, to see some example hyperlocal searches. The user ratings on iTunes as well as our user feedback prove this with over 200 of 500 ratings given it 5-stars and an average rating of 3.5. Here is the screenshot:

Note: many of the 1-star ratings are from a competitor of this app who have decided to use multiple user names to say negative things and promote their own application. Personally, I think it’s a pathetic marketing strategy that consists of flaming a ratings/reviews engine, but to each their own. There are some legitimate users who have bashed this application and I can assure you that YPG reads your comments and will act accordingly.

2) Content

This application has a boat load of content including up-to-date business and people information, tens of thousands of videos and hundreds of thousands of pieces of enhanced content like hours of operations, payment types, etc. There is more content coming, but as a starting point, there is no other application in Canada that boosts such an impressive array of local content.

3) Usability

There has only been 2 iterations of this application since its launch. The second version of adding video was a very common user request and YPG is working on some new features that users are asking for. Stay Tuned.

Why is this significant. Many local applications release half-baked features (mostly in the hopes of getting some PR value) that either don’t work, work sporadically, have limited usability on a mobile platform, or simply don’t have enough content to be functional.

The YellowPages.ca application is a highly efficient app that delivers value by giving user what they want and when they need it. It delivers on a simple promise to connect buyers and sellers and this seems to resonant with Canadian mobile users. Sometimes simplicity can actually be the most efficient user experience.

What are you thoughts on the local mobile space? Will “cool” beat “functional”? Like the web, is content the king on mobile as well? What features would you like to see on a local application?

Popularity: 6% [?]

Well it has been a very busy week in the world of mobile applications for Yellow Pages Group. We were the first to launch a Canadian Business Directory Blackberry Application on April 1 and then we followed that up on April 2 with Canada’s first integrated business, people and reverse lookup for the iPhone. Read the official corporate press release – Yellow Pages Group Launches Mobile Search Applications For Blackberry® And iPhone™

In 7-days we have managed to become the 7th most popular application in iTunes (screen capture done on April 9). See screenshot below:

So in the last 7-days, here are some of the comments about our application YellowPages.ca iPhone Application:

Read Warren Fray’s review over at TechVibes – Yellow Pages challenges Canpages for iPhone dominance, here is an excerpt:

It’s not that the Yellowpages app is in any way badly put together. In fact, in terms of presentation, the overall design feel is somewhat slicker than the Canpages app. The Yellowpages.ca app doesn’t have speech-driven search and it isn’t as feature-rich as the Canpages app, but by keeping things simple it actually succeeds. Read the full article.

Mike Boland weighs in from a business perspective on the importance of mobile applications on the Kelsey Blog. “The name of the game for directory publishers these days is to build up traction and traffic through their own branded mobile apps as well as listing distribution on other mobile local search apps.” Read the rest.

Sebastien Provencher on this blog comments, “happy to see that directory publishers are releasing new mobile apps. Obviously, in the medium/long term, it is a critical component of the distribution mix.”

Finally, here are some comments within iTunes about what people are saying about this application:

Overall it has been a pretty exciting week on the mobile front for my team. One last comment, many of you might be wondering about traffic and the growth. Although I cannot disclose specifics, I can tell you that so far the doubling of traffic almost daily has been truly amazing to watch. It is glad to see that Canadians love it.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Released over this past weekend was a very cool blackberry application from Yellow Pages Group. The application can be downloaded directly to your blackberry at InstallYP.ca/Blackberry (http://installyp.ca/blackberry) – please note that this link is blackberry specific, if you try to access through a web browser it will tell you that your devise is not supported.

This application features the leading directory services in Canada, YellowPages - for finding a business, Canada411 for finding a person, and a blended Reverse Lookup for finding both people and businesses.

Compatible with the newest blackberries and backward compatible to previous generations, this application automatically detects your device and installs the features that are compatible. For example, GPS search is enabled on devices with GPS, non GPS blackberries won’t see this option.

Lastly, the application auto detects your language settings and is available in French and English – pretty cool stuff.

Some of the high-level features include:

- tab between Business, People and Reverse Lookup
- save listing information through MyFavs or directly to your blackberry address book or both
- people search with integrated find businesses nearby (surprise your date with flowers on the way)
- GPS search (for devices where this is enabled)
- direct connect to Voice Search (no charge usage) if you are on the go

Application is completely free to download and overall is pretty cool and puts the most up to date Business and People information in Canada at your fingertips.

If you are interested, check out other neat local Canadian search applications.

Popularity: 5% [?]