The latest apps being developed deliver smartphone users information they want, sometimes before they even know what that is.
More and more apps are using location and other data to intuitively present users with the information they need without their having to search for it.
One of the apps leading this wave of predictive technology is Grokr, which uses your location, social networks and behavior to deliver information that’s relevant to you.
For instance, Grokr uses your phone’s GPS to provide traffic and weather information for your current location, where you work and where you go on the weekends. The app also uses Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to understand what you like. Grokr then gives you notifications related to your interests and behavior.
“It brings me information I don’t need to search for or remember to search for,” says Grokr founder and former McAfee head Srivats Sampath.
“Once we understand you, then we just go straight to information, whether it’s on the Web, whether it’s some data that we own, whether it’s some data that someone else owns. We bring that data and that information to you, bundle it up and notify you,” Sampath adds.
Another app that automatically provides users with additional relevant information is Sunrise, which combines data from Google Calendar, Facebook and LinkedIn to give you a comprehensive look at upcoming events.
Sunrise provides additional information about people you’re scheduled to meet within your calendar and directions to events via Google Maps. The app also allows you to get and respond to invitations to Facebook events and birthdays. Sunrise co-founder and former Foursquare designer Pierre Valade says the calendar is working on integrations with other apps and services, possibly via a browser extension, so that more information can be added to your calendar automatically.
The predictive-apps trend has even spread to home-maintenance services like BrightNest, a Web app that’s set to release its first mobile app today.
BrightNest uses information about your house and personal goals as well as your observed behavior to give you customized content, including tips you might not know about, like changing your furnace filter. You can also schedule tasks and get reminders.
“We really set out to build a product that does the thinking so you don’t have to,” BrightNest Chief Executive Officer Justin Anthony says.
Going forward, apps will likely continue to be predictive and personalized.
“The phone, because of the actual software and sensors that it has, can be turned around to become a more anticipatory device or a pre-emptive or predictive device. We think the next generation of apps are all going to be anticipatory, they’re all going to be predictive. And every time you take your phone out, it’s not because you’re asking it something but because it’s telling you something,” Sampath says.
Individual apps may also provide more features than the single-function models of the past.
“If you can have everything in one place and the right information at the right time on mobile, it’s a killer feature,” Sunrise’s Valade notes.
Apps will also become more social and take advantage of the location sensors on the phone, something mobile developers have wanted to tap into for a while, according to CEO of game company Mobile Deluxe Josh Hartwell.
“There’s always been talk about using location to deliver more pertinent information in an app or a game or just to the user’s device generally,” Hartwell notes. “We’re starting to see that come to fruition in a lot of different genres.”