There is always more then one way to solve a problem. I wrote a post titled, Tailgating Direction from my iPhone, to explain how I used the Google Maps feature of the iPhone to share the location of our tailgate with friends that wanted to stop by. A colleague asked me to take a look at an app his son Nick wrote called ASSEMBLE. Â ASSEMBLE takes the GPS location on your iPhone and shares it with friends you select along with a short message. We all do this all the time, send out 5 -10 SMS messages, saying "we are going to TGIFridays for happy hour in 5 minutes". ASSEMBLE allows you to send 1 message to the people you want with your GPS location, a short message, and the time you will be there. It's simple, free, and can be used by anyone that can text message.
The Problem
The problem is rather obvious, your meeting a bunch of people and need to share your location quickly. Locations can vary from a specific address, to a location in a specific address. You can also have a GPS location that has no address at all (think parking lot). Furthermore, some locations need more than an address or GPS coordinate, because the 4th floor of the library, near the information desk, is only accurate when described vs. punching it in a GPS. Additionally, people want to know:
- When did you get there?
- How long will you be there?
- Who else is invited to come?
Nick wanted to build a location app too. The challenge for him was several apps already exist, so how do you make Assemble unique. The answer was to address what he felt all the other apps were missing.
The Current Market
When you think about broadcasting your location you think about Foursquare and Gowalla but they are more games than problem solving apps. On the other side, you have Loopt and Google Latitude, but they constantly broadcast your location, which raises some privacy concerns. Do you really want to turn your phone into a tracking device? All your trying to accomplish is the ability to tell certain friends where you will be and how long you will be there. The important part of that statement is certain friends. While I love the concept of Google Latitude, what I don't like is your location is broadcasted as long as the application is running. The idea that I am constantly sending out my GPS location just bothers me. With ASSEMBLE your location is not constantly broadcasted which I like. Instead when you send out the message about your location, your location is sent to only the recipients of your choice. Nick wanted every user to know when their location information was being sent. No one needs to know where you are constantly, and if it is going to be communicated, let me control it.
The Goal of ASSEMBLE
When I asked Nick why did you build ASSEMBLE he said our mission was to:
- Build a Utility
- Make it easy to send directions to others
- Make it as simple as text messaging
- Do one thing and do it well
The fact that they have a clear mission is impressive. There are so many apps that try to address too much too fast. While there is so much planned for this app, the goal is to keep the app simplistic.
So I told a couple friends about ASSEMBLE and the usage have varied widely. For example a couple iPhone moms are using it for kid play dates. Rather than making calls to everyone constantly they just send out the notice and those that can come over do. My friends son uses assembly for parties and college study sessions. The nice thing about ASSEMBLE is it takes a process you currently do already and makes it better and more accurate.
Cross Application Integration
These guys are working on integration with all the hot apps from Bump Technologies, Twitter and Facebook. Just adding support for ASSEMBLE to Twitter and Facebook will be a huge step in embracing a new user base. I think once they flush out the SMS functionality that it is going to be a huge game changer for them.
Currently, the app is for iPhone users only but Nick says he wants to take ASSEMBLE cross platform. As Ray Ozzie said something like, all great apps must exist on all platforms, and I hope to see ASSEMBLE going to other platforms soon. I suspect he will go to Blackberry, Android, then hopefully WIndows Mobile. Nick believes that SMS support will allow all non smartphone users to leverage ASSEMBLE. I will continue to use ASSEMBLE on the iPhone but look forward to the day this is a ubiquitous app that is native to many platforms. Nick has major plans for advancing ASSEMBLE in the near future. I am excited to see how this application is embraced. Give it a shot and let me know what you think.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This little application is brilliant. I will use when I go dancing with my girlfriends. This is a cute idea. Please more iPhone Apps like this
I could have used this application at MacWorld. My mates use Android would love a follow-up when the beta for Android is available. Hope you have an inside track!!
This helps me with iPhone friends but I think I need more operating systems or the SMS option.
Site changes are nice but you need the highlighted blog post area like other sites. I missed your twitter contest because I never saw the post. When is that coming?
When are you doing the next give away. Someone mentioned something for us podcast listeners. I am still listening….
Great work. Look already downloaded
We are working on the next giveaway. We are looking to make and announcement on one of the next 2-3 episodes.
I will keep in contact with Nick I hope he will allow us to get and early hands on and blog around the time he releases the software on Android.
Featured posts are coming soon. We still have many changes we are making but all occur late at night and on the weekends. Thanks for noticing.