Poll : 04 June - 17 June 2014

Analysis

We've been mulling over ideas for apps for awhile now, but first up we want to clear up any confusion concerning the distinction between a mobile-friendly version of a website and an app. The former is basically a website presentation that has been "intelligently" resized and custom formatted to work on the dimensions of a phone screen. An app, on the other hand is a specific "application" that offers one or more defined functionalities, whether it's a "cartooning" option for your photos or a quick way to geo-locate the nearest happy hour to wherever you happen to be standing.

As far as Las Vegas Advisor is concerned, we have several great ideas for diverse apps that would complement and add new dimensions to the LVA brand and the products we publish under the Huntington Press umbrella, but these will all take some intense development time and right now we're focused on getting our ongoing massive website-upgrade project completed. However, in the meantime we're developing a straightforward mobile platform for some activities we feel you might logically do on-the-go, like reading a great review and deciding to book show tickets on the spot for that same evening, or receiving timely alerts about a drink special or seat giveaway one of our partners has decided to offer last-minute to boost the numbers on a slow night.

To begin with, we're going to keep things pretty simple with a Preview Version that will allow people time to get used to using the new interface before we start introducing anything too fancy. We're a good way along the development road and should be launching very soon. The app will be available free for iPhone and Android and we'll be soliciting your suggestions and feedback as we fine-tune and expand its capabilities. To this end, your email feedback was especially useful and insightful this time around and has all been duly noted. Here are some representative comments and observations:

• "Im tech savvy but I mostly use my smartphone only when I have to: Internet searches are done like most people do them ... at work. Typically, smartphones are somewhat slow and dependent on signal strength and battery life. You might have 4G outside but walk into a casino with tons of concrete and steel overhead and you could drop down to only 2 bars of 3G, in which case you might as well use a dial-up. Can you imagine being in a long line at a popular buffet and having to wait for people to get a coupon to download so it can be scanned before the line will move? Yeah, I know the obvious thing to do would be to already have it loaded on your screen but how many times have you been behind someone that waits until they are told their total, THEN they start to dig for their wallet or open their purse? I think I'm always behind them and what if every location in Vegas isn’t equipped to handle cyber-coupons? Then how do you get your two-fer? This is America; don’t keep me from my buffet any longer than necessary!" [Ed: Fear not! Developing a platform that works for every type of vendor, from hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop restaurants, to major Strip resorts, is one of the main challenges that app developers and deal disseminators face, but for the time being the system we'll be using should work for everyone, plus we won't be abandoning other modes of delivering most deals anytime soon (i.e., the printed Member Rewards Book of annual offers and the downloadable deals at CouponsInVegas.com, which we'd pretty much put on ice for awhile pending the completion of the main website.
  
  
• "I love the actual MRB, but the extras like the coupons online would be nice to redeem from my phone."
  
  
• "The only problem I see for digital coupons is in the redemption. I have run into employees who can't or won't understand the technology, while I've also had pit bosses act like I'm trying to rip them off when I display a match play/bonus coupon."
  
  
• "Even though we both have smartphones and do use them for redeeming coupons and various other things, the printed coupons help me plan the trip and remind me of where I want to go before I even arrive. Somehow, if the offers were only available using my phone, I'd probably not try some of the things I want to, just because I won't take the time to scroll through my phone when in Vegas."
  
  
• "Being from overseas, I don't use my phone when in Vegas, due to the high roaming charges."
  
  
• "Having used the other options, I’m now on a Windows phone, and for my use I wouldn’t go back. The only shortcoming seems to be that the platform is ignored by many, which leaves me going elsewhere for whatever service is involved. Don’t forget us!"