PhoneBook (iTunes Link) is a new iPhone application looking to make it as easy as possible to call your most important contacts. The application plugs into your AT&T account, allowing it to dynamically rearrange your list of contacts depending on how often you call them.
After entering your carrier account information, PhoneBook can suck in your call data, which it can then use to update your list of friends so that the ones you call most are always the easiest to dial. Using Facebook Connect, users can import and automatically assign photos to their friends’ phone numers. The app also allows users to monitor their phone usage (so they don’t get charged for extra minutes).
Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I doubt many people are going to jump through the hoop of entering their phone carrier’s account information primarily so that the photos of their friends are arranged in the proper order. Most people simply don’t call that many friends, and there are plenty of similar apps that allow users to rearrange their contacts without having to let the app access potentially sensitive data. Granted, there are some services like BillShrink that ask for the same information, but that site has a more practical use that may be a little more enticing: it saves users money.
That said, there are certainly some cool things that can be done with this kind of data – PhoneBook just needs to figure out some innovative features that will tantilize users enough to sign up for the app. The PhoneBook developers say that more features are on the way, and that they may eventually offer premium features to generate revenue (it may also serve up advertising for free users).
So this is definitely an awesome idea, however, I’m not sure I’d want to give my account information to them. There needs to be like a trusted 3rd party (like paypal for account info), where you give them your info and these guys can use apis to access it. It would be cool for financial info also…I just want to enter it it once to a party I trust and then let all of these guys use it via apis, so they don’t get the actual info.
CallMe from Installer does one better. It lets you put your contacts’ thumbnail photos on the home screen itself without having to launch an application first.
I love the concept of this, but I see it being a privacy issue.
The T-Mobile G1 already does this by default in the Dialer under Favorites.
I approve of your choice of most-called individual.
Sarah Bennett is my sister.
I’ve always wanted a better address book.
Specifically, I want:
– to be able to tag contacts and filter by tag (e.g. city)
– a temporary contact – so I can include someone’s name and other meta data without polluting my address book (would be nice for transactions and other one-time contacts)
maybe AT&T should look into an API for mobile apps for AT&T services and account data.
What’s really interesting about this app is that it really gets at what your “real” social network is. I downloaded it and realized that I only really talk to about 15 people or so on a regular basis. Very fitting in times like these with the advent of Facebook and other websites that expand the connections you have with other people. At the end of the day, no matter how many friends you have on Facebook, you really only have the capacity to have deep relationships with a handful of folks. As for the privacy issue, a) you put a certain amount of trust in every online site you use, so the risk of your privacy being violated is the same as it is anywhere else, our info is out there with banks, facebook, paypal, the government and a myriad number of other places. I guess I’m over it and b) does it really matter anyway? I’m not giving up my credit card information or my social security number. What’s the worst that could happen? They log into my account and sign me up for a new calling plan? Or maybe in some ridiculous universe, the government or worse yet, the girlfriend calls up to check who I’ve been calling? I bet my mom would be disappointed to know that my sister is ranked higher than she is.
RACIST !!! There is only one black dude out of 9 pictures. Racist !!!
i don’t think this application is useful for us.
PhotoDial does the same thing, but without you having to share sensitive data.
iTunes link: http://tinyurl.com/5j6tda
Yeah, it’s great that it’s all user generated content.
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Karoly Domonyi
AriesTrade Network
http://www.AriesTrade.com
This guy really like’s his Bakers.
How does facebook connect link up your friends photos with the contacts listed in your phone? Is it based on whether or not you have an email entered for that contact?
why do people think this is an acceptable privacy trade off? why can’t the app just order the list based on the call data that’s already stored on the handset?
Why is the guy named Dick sitting on a toilet?
This looks great, but I must agree with others’ comments about potential security issues. Also, I understand from this it won’t work with other 3rd Party contact lists? (i.e. AT+T only, not google, Plaxo, Address Book or whatever or… O2 in the UK?)
Sort of limits its potential a bit. Design looks good though, and the concept is perfect…
What really needs sorting, though, is that I can’t share contacts with the most sophisticated mobile device yet. That’s ludicrous, really.
I loved seeing all of the Bakers. Keep us informed!
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