Sometimes even a do-gooder company flubs something badly enough that it deserves to take some crap. So I give that honor to Zipcar, which over the past few months brilliantly and boldly promoted its iPhone app even though, for all practical purposes, it didn’t exist.
The story begins with a giant coup: Zipcar won an invite to show off its App at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference in San Francisco this past June, the one at which Apple rolled out its 3GS phones. It’s the kind of exposure that could turn an App into the mobile equivalent of a summer blockbuster—and that, presumably, was exactly what Zipcar execs had in mind.
So on June 8th, Zipcar CTO Luke Schneider and principal engineer Jonathan Wolfe took center stage before a packed house and gave a slick demo of the car-sharing company’s futuristic App, which, as Schneider proudly announced, “We’re very excited to introduce….”
Wolfe played the role of Zipcar customer, Schneider narrated, and the audience—which of course extended to the Web—watched on a giant screen.
Schneider described how Jonathan, a carless San Francisco resident, needed a Zipcar to pick up friends for dinner. Jonathan taps the Zipcar icon, and a map emerges on his phone. It locates Jonathan via GPS, and then shows him nearby Zipcar lots, complete with bright green pins to indicate available cars. Jonathan taps a location, selects a Mini Cooper and reserves his wheels for the evening.
This was cool stuff, but the duo wowed the audience even more when Schneider described how Jonathan nears the parking lot, taps on a virtual key fob and—voila!—the car horn honks. Next, Jonathan reaches the car, taps on his fob once more, and the Mini unlocks, as if by magic. The crowd applauded enthusiastically.
It was a sweet victory for Zipcar. The press picked up on the futuristic idea of smart phones controlling your car. Bloggers got excited. And the company said its App would be available this summer.
In the following weeks—nah, make that months—Zipcar scored all kinds of adoring press, culminating with a September 14 cover story in Fortune (the actual release date is a couple of weeks earlier) in which the magazine hailed Zipcar as, The Best New Idea in Business.
The article naturally opens with newest and coolest thing: That iPhone trick. The writer describes Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith entering the parking lot at his office in Cambridge, Mass., and using his iPhone to make his Mini Cooper honk and then unlock itself. The story goes on to explain how this revolutionary company is growing like mad, about to turn a profit and on track to go public in 2010, which likely explains why Zipcar has been courting the media so hard. This was killer press for any company, well worth the visit Griffith paid to Fortune headquarters in June to make his pitch to the editors.
As for the iPhone App, however, Fortune didn’t bother to mention one little thing. It still wasn’t available.
More than a month after that story came out, on September 29th, Zipcar at last announced the “immediate availability” of its Zipcar App at the iTunes App Store—a full 114 days since Schneider introduced it back at the Apple conference, which, in the age of Twitter, seems roughly equivalent to a decade.
Okay, then. Great! The App must be killer, what with all that extra time.
So let’s go to the user reviews, where the leading category is….
The two key complaints: One, the App crashes the phone. And two, Zipsters, as they’re known, still need their Zipcard access card, and they want the App to replace it entirely.
So what gives?
I emailed Zipcar spokeswoman Nancy Scott Lyon. “In just a few weeks,” she wrote, “We’ve had nearly 140,000 downloads of our app. About 3% rated the app and less than 1% of those who downloaded the App have reviewed it–we’ve noticed that this is a trend that many other popular apps have experienced such as Starbucks, ESPN, Bump, Gap, and Whole Foods.”
In other words, the reviews offer too small a sampling to draw any conclusions but are enough of a concern that we’ve roped in others to show we’re in good company.
But does the App really cause the phone to crash? Well…
At Zipcar, we constantly are pushing the envelope when it comes to technology. We’ve already submitted a point release to Apple that currently is in their review process. This point release addresses every crash/freeze bug we have become aware of since the 1.0 launch. Once approved, anyone who has our app automatically will receive an update that they can download.
Oh, shit, sometimes it does cause iPhones to freeze.
As for replacing the Zipcard access card, Lyon said the company’s aware that some members want this, but that the first version was made this way so that people “don’t get stranded because their phone battery goes dead, they lose their phone or can’t get a network connection.”
Fair enough.
Really, though, why did it take almost four months to get the damn thing out when you showed a working demo back in June? Lyon sent me an answer, but, in truth, she didn’t answer the question. I’m guessing it’s a sore subject back at Zipcar HQ.
Just for fun, let’s look another car-controlling iPhone App that just hit the market, the Viper SmartStart, which came out October 13. The Viper App differs from Zipcar’s because it’s made for your car and as such requires installing hardware in your vehicle.
But it has features Zipsters want: It can unlock the car on the first try (Zipcar requires you to first sign in with your Zipcard), and you can start the car, not just open it, from anywhere, which could come in handy on sub-zero days in big Zipcar markets like Boston.
The Viper App was made by after10Studios, an App-building company in Santa Monica that’s run by a 24-year-old named Mohamed Alkady. I asked Alkady how long it took his team to get the Viper App designed, built and in the App store. Answer: Three months.
Now, I know this is just an App—it’s not like Zipcar is knowingly putting people in exploding cars. But when you reach a certain size, you become fair game. So when you start posing on the cover of Fortune and talk about becoming a multibillion-dollar company, well, the honeymoon is over, even if you are great for the environment. Besides, Zipcar likes to point out that more than 25% of its 325,000 members have their lives on their iPhones–so this whole App thing seems like something they might want to be a little more careful with.
Wondering if they’ll release similar apps for android phone?
I dunno, those might be harder to crash lol
I guess you’ve never worked with or used Android apps before…
Wondering if they’ll release similar app for android phone…
Let’s see what happens and see where the zipcar app goes from here – Maybe it will be a killer app but the hype just kind of blew it off of the ramp of being good due to overhyping it up.
In LA I’d rather have my own car, or two.
Reminds me of another app that is way overhyped by bloggers and crashes constantly, an app called FourSquare.
It’s not that the sampling of reviews is small, it’s that people are more likely to be motivated to leave a negative review than a positive one. Also, Apple prompts you to review the app only once you delete it.
another useless app
another great comment
Gutted to find that Viper system is only available in the US.
Now that you can unlock your car using your iPhone, how long is it before someone comes up with door/window locks for your house you can control with your iPhone?
Wait… I was there, at that keynote in June. The author seems to have confused two keynotes.
The 3G was introduced in 2008 and was the frat iPhone with GPS. In June 2009 we saw the release of the 3GS, not the 3G, and was when Zipcsr denied their app.
Good catch — fixed.
To be fair, making one for your own car is different than integrating it into their existing system. Their business is a fleet of self-service rental cars after all and there’s tons of other issues they have to consider.
The app did take forever to appear, but it’s very high quality. It’s a very intuitive interface for tons of Zipcar’s services and it makes the entire experience of using the service that much easier.
And what’s the big deal about still needing the key card? Don’t you just keep it in your wallet? By far the biggest time spent managing Zipcar is making reservations and finding your car, and the app handles both of those beautifully.
I haven’t experienced the app crashing on my 3GS, that’d be very annoying.
My experience as a Zipcar customer has been markedly improved with this app.
I have this app and it makes zipcar excruciating to use.
I have attempted to use the app 2 times to open my car. Each time took 3-4 minutes. The first minute is “fetching markets.” After that it is still 2 or 3 taps to get to my reservation. The wait for it to refresh my reservations and then finally be able to access the fob will make the person waiting for your street parking spot honk like mad. Finally you can send the command to unlock then wait wait wait for the car to click open. Man, it takes me about 5 seconds to open the car with the card I don’t even have to take it out of my wallet.
The one time I tried to actually use it to make a reservation I had to stop dead in my tracks walking down Market Street and poke at my damn phone for about 10 minutes to get to a time and car I wanted. Still the first minute was “fetching markets,” Jesus, I live in SF and since I am using zipcar I obviously don’t have a car to leave SF, so its safe to assume I am still in the same market as the last time I opened the app. Anyway, on the mobile web page I can load available cars near my saved locations and reserve a car in under a minute. The app is just painful.
I’d say nothing about the zipcar app is beautiful unless you think very very very slowly (so you don’t notice the minutes spent waiting) and have nothing else to do with your time but look at a “fetching markets” message then watch a map of the whole city load instead of the 4 blocks you are in. Then pinch zoom pinch zoom pinch zoom wait load wait wait wait click click.. BORING.
I find it snappy. Is the slow response another example of AT&T San Francisco poor performance? Or, are the reports of AT&T improvements true?
You’d think they had at least some weeks to beta-test the app in important markets such as San Francisco.
I totally agree that it is a pain in the ass to use the app. The worst part about the app is that i pretty find it much easier and quicker to get my reservation, location, etc via the mobile web version of the zipcar site. I have a 3G and maybe that is the problem with the slow load time. But really, when i have a reservation already booked, why is it fetching markets and cars before the app freaking loads??!!! I think the app is a huge fail.
The one time i went to use the unlock feature this weekend, it didn’t work because I had a BMW 3 series. I love zipcar, but i feel that they did not make an easy to use intuitive interface.
Clearly they had a great idea, but the execution was terrible. Fantastic amount of ‘free’ advertising with the press, and they still managed to cock the whole thing up.
I wonder if its the monkey, or the organ grinder running the company!!
“I asked Alkady how long it took his team to get the Viper App designed, built and in the App store. Answer: Three months.”
Let me guess, all the Viper app does is unlock your car and starts it. The starting mechanism was already developed by another company that does remote start.
So the Viper app is actually much simpler than Zipcar’s which let you locate AND rent the cars on your iPhone.
I think you’re comparing apples and oranges here.
Exactly. It seems Paul has a particular distain for the company he is writing about. While I can appreciate the negative points raised I really don’t think they warrant such an overall negative review of both the company and their app.
One could easily argue that, according to the stats published in the article, an almost equal number of users to those who gave it 1 star thought the app so good that they took the time to give it 5 stars.
Maybe Paul is a ‘glass is half empty’ kinda guy?
Three months for an app that probably has 2 buttons: Unlock and Start? It shouldn’t take more than 3 days.
“Let me guess, all the Viper app does is unlock your car and starts it. The starting mechanism was already developed by another company that does remote start.
So the Viper app is actually much simpler than Zipcar’s which let you locate AND rent the cars on your iPhone.”
actually the entire system, from the iPhone app to the backend support to the device management and communications (gps device installed in your car) was all done in 3 months. The whole thing. And it does a whole lot more than unlock your doors. The iPhone app just has the most basic stuff, but the backend supports a ton of other functionality.
“App” in the second paragraph shouldn’t be capitalized…it’s not a proper noun.
Sorry, not just the second paragraph on that.
Also, “phone batter” should probably say “phone battery.” Or, if the typo is from the original quote, throw in a [sic] so you don’t sound like an idiot.
“Scott Lyon sent me an answer, but, in truth, she didn’t answer the question.” I’m pretty sure Scott Lyon is a dude. And even if he were actually a she, you used “he” to describe her elsewhere.
TechCrunch, please convince Paul Carr to proofread all the articles you post. He’s the only one on here who doesn’t sound like he’s in high school.
Oops, I just saw that “Scott Lyon” is “Nancy Scott Lyon.” Sorry about that, but the way it’s written is still confusing.
It is to iPhone fans.
Shame on the author for not doing even the most basic research on this (actually trying the app) or perhaps purposely ignoring the fact that the app does indeed do everything promised (including remotely unlock/lock car).
This is a sad attempt to create drama where it doesn’t exist. The whole point of this article (if you look only at what is true), is that a company gave a fancy demo of things to come and then delivered on that promise. And the problem is???
Who built this App for ZipCar?
And, if you note the comparisons…who built many of these other apps with similar “trends”:
“this is a trend that many other popular apps have experienced such as Starbucks, ESPN, Bump, Gap, and Whole Foods.”
I only know of one company who claim to have built Apps for ZipCar, Starbucks and Whole Foods.
They may need a new App themselves after this.
Spoke with the lead developer of the Zipcar app at iPhoneDevCamp 3 this summer, and when demoing the application prior to release he pointed out that most of the issues they were running into at that point were server-side and infrastructure related.
Compared to Viper there is a considerable amount of integration that has to occur for the Zipcar app to work with the service, which might explain the great delay time. That said, the complaints are legitimate from a customer standpoint in my mind.
Clearly the Zipcar app has a long way to go.
I saw a great article in Fortune magazine today about Zipcars. They are a little bit behind on the scoop as I heard about the company 3 years ago. But they did a pretty thorough job of explaining the business positives and negatives the company faces.
Please pick on LifeTouch too. They did a big demo on stage and have no plans to release anything soon. Just that it was a demonstration of what “could” be accomplished. I bought a $7000 Insulin Pump based on that demo
add FitBit to that list. Excellent product idea but a year after its announcement (Sep 2008) its still not available.
you could write the same story with meebo and its iphone 3.0 vaporapp.
One thing to keep in mind is that when you delete an app from the phone, you get prompted to rate it – and this is the only time you get actively prompted to rate an app. Since the people most likely to delete an app are those who are unhappy with it, I expect this leads to at least somewhat-skewed ratings.
I don’t have any direct knowledge of or need for this app – I might find it great or terrible – I just think that the rating bias should be considered. And I also note that there are quite a lot of 5-star ratings in that screen grab – it would appear that lots of people are very happy with it, at least so far.
This is a good point.
But, maybe what we need is an Install and Uninstall number. That might speak louder than “star ratings.”
If a high volume of people Uninstall, that’s a good enough indication for me that it’s not doing it’s job.
Good point. All those deleters are likely not ZipCar users… just developers and people who read the press… in which case the app seems pretty dumb. If you are actually using it for its intended purpose, it is pretty awesome.
Wow. How can they mess up an app this simple? Lose all the horn honking and car unlocking gimmicks and just make a “show me the nearest available car” map searcher with maybe an extended search for car type.
This didn’t need to be a life-changing app for iPhone users…just make it simple and make it work.
I’m guessing they had a bloated team of managers and stake holders throwing a bunch of stupid ideas around…talking loudly trying to validate their bloated salaries.
For an app this simple it should have been: pick the smartest developer in the company…tell them what to do…leave them the hell alone for a week and let them work. Done.
The author is really blowing this out of proportion. Its not like Zipcar is the first company to take longer than expected to deliver on a promise.
That’s true. The point was more missed opportunity given all the juicy press Zipcar got.
I find the app to be unimaginative. It would be very useful to have the app:
1) have a find a gas station feature built-in that shows gas stations where the ZipCar fleet gas card is accepted.
2) allow users to snap photos and send them to zipcar of damage they observe at the time of pick-up.
3) report various issues with the car with check boxes or a dial-type menu (low gas, service car requests etc)
4) allow customers to rate their experience with certain cars and locations.
5) anonymously post messages to previous borrowers of cars that don’t leave the car in good shape.
6) allows zipcar members to vote on new places for zipcars to be parked.
Yah, right? Your ideas are practical and useful…the exact stuff that should have gone into the app….not the silly hornhonking and unlocking stuff they went for…and failed at.
I do agree … the app sucks. I tried several times last night to use it to extend a reservation. It crashed every time I tried to access my rez. I gave up and returned the car on time. Zip could have had a few extra $$ of revenue if I could have gotten that f’in app to stop crashing. I deleted it today and gave it a 1 star review.
Hey guys, this app is free right?