Appsaurus (YC 07) debuts iPad recommendations before Apple, Mitch Kapor invests

techcrunch.com

22 points·lukexi··4 comments

Shouldn't this company be very worried about the implications of this article's title and the line "The App Store has not yet switched on the Genius feature for iPad apps, so this functionality is definitely compelling"?

What are they going to do once Apple does "switch on the Genius feature"?

Hi Mr. Shoe (an excellent name for discussing matters with a company called 'Hello, Chair', if I may say so),

Perhaps we're assuming too much foreknowledge of the Story So Far — Appsaurus has been out since December of 2009. We were, at the time, racing to be the first recommendation engine for the iPhone. Apple beat us by a few short weeks, which would have been a big bummer, except that Genius was universally panned, and the eventual reviews of Appsaurus nearly all contained the line "better than Genius" (see http://appsaurus.com/press). So it turned out to be great that reviewers had something to compare Appsaurus to.

So, we're making the announcement more as an indication of how dedicated we are to this space. I'll also note that Genius's quality has remained pretty static since its release, whereas we've been steadily improving our recommendations. Anyway, you can email me at luke@hellochair.com — I'd be happy to give you a promo code so you can judge for yourself.

—Luke (CEO, Hello, Chair Inc.)

AFAIK, there's no comparable service for Android apps. And in the field you don't get competition from the mother ship, like with Apple and Genius, since Google does not seem that interested in controlling the Android market.

This seems to be an excellent opportunity.

Shouldn't there be a dot in the title? Or are Apple and Kapor investing?

"YC07 Appsaurus debuts iPad recommendations before Apple. Mitch Kapor invests"

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