A new breed of iPhone applications aims to provide a modern guide to the historic British capital city.
With its winding streets, bustling crowds and lively nightlife London can be a tricky place to navigate for those who are not quite sure what they want to do and where they ought to go.
Traditionally, print publications like Time Out have been a useful tool for those looking to plan an evening out, but a couple of lesser known entertainment guides are looking to put themselves on the map with new offerings for the iPhone.
Alexander Will is the co-CEO of Spoonfed, a London based startup that’s just launched a free application for the iPhone.
“With the radar what you get is a picture of what’s going on around you now”.
“For example, there’s one [of] MacBeth at 8pm. If you click on that, it will give you the venue, the address, the phone number, how far away it is from you, the genre, and it also links to Google Maps if you need directions,” says Mr Will.
“We’re a young brand trying to get eyeballs. And that’s always going to be a battle and having the iPhone app has allowed us to showcase Spoonfed and the great content that we have.”
From inside a ship anchored near BlackFriars bridge on the Thames River, the staff of TV London have been covering the city’s theatre scene for the What’s On guidebooks and websites. Now that content will also be delivered to the iPhone via the company’s new app.
“I think the theatre going crowd is changing, and if you don’t change with it you risk losing it,” says Sean James-Cameron, Editorial Director or whatsontheatre.tv The application also offers a way for people to buy tickets. Of course, in the world of mobile, just because you build it, it doesn’t mean it will be a hit.
But given all that London has to offer, these new mobile guides do not seem out of place.