Guest Post by Lawrence Ingraham @lawpower, Founder/lead developer at TriOut. This is the ninth in a series of posts detailing the history, design and features of TriOut v2 for iPhone.
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. We’ve been absolutely slammed trying to get the app complete in time for the NC State Fair. (If you’re in North Carolina, plan on coming by the State Fair on Thursday to take part in the TriOut scavenger hunt and say hi while you’re there!)
We submitted the new app to Apple last Monday and hope to see it approved later this week. I thought I’d review some of the main things we’re focusing on this week so you know what to expect. We’ve done a lot of thinking about user habits for Location Based Services since launching TriOut in November of last year. Features are great, badges and coupons are great, but what people really care about are their friends.
Of all the users we’ve asked, the biggest reasons to use any service are:
1. Tell my friends where I am
2. See what my friends are up to.
TriOut 2 makes your friends the priority. The first thing you see when you launch the app is where your friends have been recently. Not just your TriOut friends, but your friends on Foursquare, Gowalla or Facebook too. If you’re already a Gowalla, Foursquare or Facebook user, signing up with TriOut is just a few clicks.
We show you your friends last 3 hours of activity. With most services (not Gowalla just yet), we can also filter it down to just your friends who are local to you. Since I live in North Carolina, I’m less interested in Jeff eating at St Johns in Sunnyvale, CA than I am with Branson having a cappuccino at 3cups down the street.
Friends are the core of TriOut 2. It doesn’t matter what service you use, or what service they use, your friends are what’s important.
We’re really excited about TriOut 2 and looking forward to seeing everyone outside of North Carolina using TriOut. TriOut version 2 has been submitted to the app store and we’re waiting for Apple to approve it in the next few days.
