Popular mobile app Aloqa has a presence across all of the major smart phone platforms, from iPhone to Android, BlackBerry and Nokia. A recent update to the location-based mobile app has added some useful layers to its GPS maps. From real estate to local hot spots, Aloqa is building out its service by adding more filters to appeal to the needs of more users.
One of the new layers includes a real esate search, which displays nearby homes and apartments for sale or for rent. Seeing as this is a relatively popular task utilized by mobile users, it makes sense that Aloqa would want to combine it with its existing features. Other real estate-specific services offer the same option, but they are not always combined with a full-fledged location-aware service for things outside of real estate.
Another new layer shows local restaurants that have an option for take-out, which can really streamline the foodie hunt process. Many location-based restaurant finders don’t have many such filters, or focus on things like making a reservation or reviewing the ambiance. The third new layer offers a list of hot spots that other Aloqa users frequent when they’re in a particular part of town, giving a crowd-sourced approach to location-based recommendations.
Adding such filtered layers to location-based mobile apps is a growing trend, with the bigger providers getting in on the fun. Google and Microsoft have both focused resources on the growth of their map layer catalogs, creating a new market for niche apps. In some ways, this is creating a market for app-specific apps, giving a sub-categorization of a rapidly growing industry.
We saw similar sub-categorization with web-based apps, particularly those found on Facebook. Some took a platform approach, enabling cross-platform interaction for a single app. Others took an advertising approach to this strategy, creating options for the monetization of such apps.
As mobile GPS-based apps are growing quickly in major mobile app marketplaces, it is clear that focused efforts to support this will be in the best interest of device manufacturers and developers alike. Though one issue to address for added app layers is the ability to successfully drill down into a person’s needs, the current approach to all-inclusive apps is still relatively new.
Eventually we may see the parsing out of mobile, location-aware apps. Those with stringent selections over what type of locations it will help you find will have their own level of success, likely creating an additional app or layer to work with the all-inclusive apps. This will become a more clearly defined space as those ouside of phone manufacturers begin to offer their own mobile devices that are centered around location-awareness, such as Garmin has begun to offer.