When I first heard that Mastercard was releasing an iPhone app called “Priceless Picks,” I thought for sure it would be a lame gimmick. But I must admit, it’s actually a kind of cool gimmick.
If you’ve ever watched TV, you’ve undoubtedly seen at least a dozen of the Mastercard “Priceless” ads. You know the ones, “So and so consumer items: $5. Such and such memorable moment paid for with your Mastercard: Priceless.” Yeah, now there’s an app for those.
Well not exactly. It’s not like this app is limited to the priceless moments mentioned in the commercials, that would be kind of pointless. Instead this is a social app that allows consumers to point out their best deals at their favorite local spots for all to see. The app uses the iPhone location services to figure out where you are. It then shows you on a map and shows all the deals others have placed around you.
That may sound bland and obvious, but the app is actually done in a really nice way. You can choose either a bird’s eye view of the deals around you on the map, or get a more street-view like look (though, sadly, it doesn’t use the iPhone 3GS’ new compass to move the map when you move). If you tap on any of the color-coded bubbles, you zoom into that specific deal and can tap to get more info about it.
You can also flag the deal is “improper” or send it to a friend, all without leaving the app. It also tells you when (if ever) the deal expires.
If you want to add you own deal, you simply click the “+” button, and enter the relevant details. It will tag the place at whatever your current location is.
So will anyone actually use this app? Who knows. But if Mastercard starts promoting it on their annoyingly effective commercials, I could certainly see a bunch of tourists picking up this app to find some deals in whatever city they happen to be in.
The best part of this “priceless” app is that it really is price-less, as in, free. Find it here.
AAA has a similar app, showing all places around you that offer AAA discounts.
What’s it called?
WTF. It is not available in Canada.
you need to move.
Funny but true if he wants to use it.
Andrew There is new aps coming soon in canada
This could be a good app for shoppers looking for a good deal provided it works exactly as you described in your post without any technical glitches.
MasterCard should stay out of the web business. We pay an extra 2% Master card tax for what?
I feel so jealous each time TC writes up a new location-based app or website. If only I lived in Cali or Seattle, I’m sure they’d work great; Philadelphia’s got nothing.
So true, location based apps only work in heavily trafficked locations. For lesser cities the hype of the app never seams to reach further than NY, LA, Chicago, etc.
I’m in Philly. I have bubbles all around me. Its kind of fun to look around and see the deals
Ha! Just got back from Primo’s for lunch .. pwn!
their jerk chicken sandwich is the best!
programing spend $$$$
advertising spend $$$$$
fixing glitches $$$$$
getting on techcrunch: priceless.
the holy grail of mobile – price and nearest place (point A to point B).
you can only imagine the endless possibilities for efficiency and user engagement when this is applied to all business.
This could be a money generator for them if it works. Right now it is free but they could start selling ads similar to google ads but for local businesses running promotions. Very good idea if it takes off.
Kinda funny that Mastercard is using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to seed the list. Check out mturk.com they have the most HIT’s available of any company. 16k!
I checked this out on a friend’s advice, and I think it’s surprisingly good. It’s fun to just explore the local landscape. I expect it’ll be useful to have when traveling.
Good point on the mturk.com find. Very interesting. What sucks about all this is it is mastercard. Like the credit cards need any more money. Death to mastercard! If there is any NSA viewers reading this I am just kidding. Maybe it is time to buy an iphone and develop my own.
You know what’s really priceless?
Not buying shit.
I guess that’s not exactly good for Mastercard though, is it.
All the ‘deals’ around me are advertisements submitted by local retailers.
Primo Patio is a gem. It’s the bomb biggitty.
Since when did MasterCard get into the app developer game? LOL
Oh crap, now the crowd at Primo which is already insane is going to be even crazier. Thanks a lot TechCrunch!!
They should integrate with Foursquare so I can say where I am and talk about deals at once.
This MasterCard iPhone app is really useful for finding local places to eat and great shopping deals at top retailers. ShopLocal provides the deal information for this iPhone app. It was a great experience working with McCann Erickson on this project. We provide deal information for products from mobile, to targeted search text ads, to banner ads and online circulars.
NOT AVAILABLE IN CANADA!!!!!!!!!
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