Gentlemen,
Long-time sporadic lurker and just happened to stumble upon this thread. I'm one of the Perfect Pint developers, so I figured I'd explain a few things and answer questions, if you have any.
Yes, you are perfectly right, Rob – it is only as good as its content. A project like this is always going to be very long-term, as one needs to build up a presence and reliability to get ‘over the hump’ of initial reluctance. Once over that hump, I think it will take off on its own. A concept like PP is something people have been wanting for quite a long time, the problem is implementation. Like any technological startup, there is initial scepticism, especially since many (but not all!) similar endeavours have failed and/or teeter on sustainability. On the other hand, there are areas where PP has really taken off and in these places, the pubs as well as locals are very enthusiastic (surprising even my usual cynical self).
The tricky bit is getting there for as many areas as we can. The potential is there but, ultimately, it comes down to staying power, quality of the product and visibility.
In terms of staying power, we know we’ll have to be here for years and that’s exactly what we plan to do. As I said, the clusters we have are showing that the concept works; it’s just about expanding it. And for that, we need to give it the chance to do so.
The quality of the product – the first iPhone version was a start and we got a lot out of pub and user feedback out of it. I’m currently testing the new iPhone version as well as the Android app. These will be vastly improved and, Android release especially, will give us a substantially increased mobile user base. In terms of content, we have finished the first stage of getting the ‘Always Ons’. I know, there’s only so many Greene King IPAs one needs to see around them, but think of it as a foundation for the next step.For the last couple of months, our focus has been getting pubs on board, so that is where we are heading now and this should noticeably increase guest content in the areas we’re targeting.
In terms of visibility, that is partly marketing and partly participation – after all, it was designed as a social app and website. There are areas we target directly but for others, from what I have observed, the places where it really took off are places where users took an active interest – they liked the idea when one pub was using it and so told the landlord of another pub about it and they got in touch with us. Most landlords/ladies seem quite keen on the idea (as it does simplify their life a bit), so that sort of ‘pub crawl spread’ seems to be working quite well.
Or, in the case of aleandhearty, if you find we are missing important pubs – do send us an email with the names and we’ll put them in. There’s eight of us working on this full time, so whilst we’re working, at times, rather eccentric hours to make sure we’re up-to-date, we do get a lot of input and feedback from users. The new versions are predominantly based on user feedback, for instance.
I know it is tricky – I myself use many an app where I think “yeah, this is great… but it would be better if they did this or that”. But, being on the other side now, I realise telepathy rarely works, so unless we know of a problem/deficiency, there’s little we can do to fix it. Also, when we do find out about it, there is development time needed to improve things. Some seemingly minor fixes can take weeks. This I’ve learnt the hard way. Some platforms in particular are a nightmare to work with at times. Which is why it will take a while to get it where we want it to be.
Either way, I’m glad some of you have tried the app. In many ways, this sort of frustrated feedback, especially from people who would be using the app on a daily basis, is best. And I know there are frustrations, which is what led me to jumping on board this project in the first place. And I think you know I can’t say “tomorrow, it’ll all be there”. But I also know that, when it works, it is exactly what I hoped it would be. Hopefully, within a year or so, with the steps we are now taking, we’ll be at a stage where, I think, most of us would want something like this to be.
Finally, if you do have any specific feedback, please do let us know (email, call or feedback form on the website), as I can’t understate just how good user feedback has been so far.
Anyway, since there is a topic for this, I just thought I’d explain a few things ‘straight from the source’.
Reply With Quote
