ValPak: Now With More Android; BlackBerry Next
Six months after launching its iPhone app, Coupon giant Valpak has announced an app for the Android platform. Reaching the enterprise BlackBerry set is next on its list. The company currently delivers about 17,000 offers via mobile which is equal to its online volume.
Features of its mobile couponing include (verbatim from release):
- Search savings by categories of dining, auto, beauty, health, shops, leisure, home, professional and general
- Use the phone’s GPS to locate savings around you
- Automatically sort results by distance from your current location
- Click on an offer and use the phone’s mapping function to get directions
- View multiple discounts at any given time
- Tap business phone numbers, making it easy to call for more information
Meanwhile mobile couponing continues to heat up, as it follows the overall growth in mobile data consumption. Fifty-eight percent of respondents to our recently released User View study reported using online coupons when shopping for local products. Mobility makes the coupon search and redemption process more integrated, and we’ll see a greater pace of growth in mobile. New Compete data out this week supports this.
Valpak’s move to Android will be important as the platform’s market share gains pace. Gartner believes Android will be the second-largest mobile platform globally by 2012, behind only Symbian. This will happen as its open nature attracts developers, its price tag (free) attracts device manufacturers, and the combination attracts users in search of iPhone alternatives.
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Related: Flurry released data today showing Motorola’s Droid has outpaced iPhone sales for the first 74 days after launch.
