App Review: Save a Few Bucks by Using an Expensive Phone

By Shane Craver on October 12, 2009

Late last week we were contacted by the developer of the mobile application, Yowza!! (yes, it has two exclamation points) to take a look at their mobile coupon product.

We had the chance to take a gander at the app on the iPhone after downloading it from the app store for the rock bottom price of $0.

Yowza!! is a handy app that will take advantage of the iPhone location detection to find deals at retailers closest to you. Now, only those retailers that are part of Yowza's network will appear, but the deals are worth the cost of data storage on your mobile device. Yowza's merchant network is 200 strong giving it 10,000 locations, which is impressive for a new application.

As an app, Yowza!! is not all that impressive but has potential. The app has a few user interface issues and is still a bit buggy (in two minutes of use, Yowza!! crashed when switching from map to list view). The distance dial at the top of the retailer index is a handy feature as is its ability to easily shift to a map view (complete with retailer icons) when you rotate the phone.

User reviews are mixed on the iTunes app store but that's par for the course for the app store's review system that too easily allows competing app developers to manipulate ratings as well as boost their own reviews.

Oddly, one reviewer noted that his coupon was not honored unless he brought his iPhone and digital coupon into the store, proving that owning a smart phone does not make you smart.

One unique aspect of Yowzaa!! is that it comes with a bit of celebrity cache. Behind the application is Heroes star, Greg Grunberg. According to his media contact, Greg came up with the idea, hooked up with some developers via Twitter and got the app off the ground. A fairly impressive feat for an actor. Grunberg already had a good deal of geek-cred thanks to his nerd-beloved Heroes role and now he can list "software developer" on his resume.

Since we're pretty bad about summarizing a product in marketing terms, we'll let Greg do it for us:

Yowza!! came from an idea I had to save people money by using their iPhone through signing up a bunch of retailers and getting them to offer discounts—10 percent off at Gap, 20 percent off at Barnes & Noble, free coffee at Starbucks—and offer it as a free application you use while you are in the mall, or wherever you are going to spend money.

Download from the app store for free or visit GetYowza.com.