There are already a number of iPhone apps designed to help you find other iPhone apps that you might like. Chomp, Appsfire, Appolicious, Chorus, Apptizr, and even one – Angel’s Choice – which turns the app recommendation process into a virtual venture capital game.
Now there’s a new entrant called Vive. It’s the work of a startup team working within mobile industry giant Qualcomm’s Services Labs division, which was set up to fund innovative new app ideas. The first result was an app called Qilroy, and Vive – it rhymes with ‘five’ – is the second.
It’s all about recommending apps, and earning rewards if other Vive users act on your tips. It uses a Foursquare-esque method too: each app on Vive has a ‘Super-Viver’ – the person whose recommendation has generated the most clicks/views.
Earn five Super-Vivers in a week, and you get a $10 iTunes Gift Card from Vive for your efforts. Which should certainly get people recommending – and encourage people to seek out new or overlooked apps.
However, the downside is that the gift card rewards are only for US users, despite the fact that the Vive app is available elsewhere in the world. We can’t imagine why this is the case, but being based in the UK, it’s certainly made us less likely to dive in and start using Vive heavily. Which is a shame – the idea behind it is a neat one.
Leave a Reply