Dads Can ShopWise, too!

Apparently I may not be the target audience for Yellow Pages' new iPhone app, ShopWise. (At least, that's what I'm left to assume after not being invited to the ladies-only launch party. Humph.) In the end, I did get to go, and I'm glad I did! On the day of the event, my lovely wife Alexandria (@Clippo) was robbed of her health by a sinus infection, and Erica Ehm (@yummymummyclub) knows that I work only steps away from the event, so just a couple hours before it was to start she invited me to take Alex's place. w00t! Finally, a perk to this gig!

The event was slick: cool venue, nice ambiance. A small group of mom bloggers (some of whom I'd met before) were gathered in the Pantages Hotel bar (which, by the way, was only 81m and about a one minute walk from my office, according to my iPhone maps app).

One "Shoptini" into the event and I forgot all about being the only male attendee and was having a great time chatting it up with some seriously cool women. About 30 minutes in, the presentation started. They ran through some stats, intro'd the app... all that good stuff.  I was a little turned off by the level of (what I felt was) pandering to moms, but I guess that's par for the course for the original invitees. I felt the presentation stereotyped moms, but maybe I'm over-sensitive?

The app, as it turns out, is great! The presentation by the Yellow Pages folks was focused on moms, of course, but I actually think the app is equally well-suited to dads. Or, anyone, actually. In a nutshell, the app displays all the deals around you on a map identified by what looks like gift tags. Tap on a tag to get the deal details, or should I say dealtails (groan). It's that simple. Also, there are featured deals to flip through as you enter the app. Some deals are hot. Some are time-limited. 48 hours before a deal ends, a counter begins telling you how long you have left to get the deal. You can search for deals, too.

But here's what I really like about it: it's situational, quick and fun.Trapped in the mall running boring errands? Use ShopWise to get the bird's eye view of all the deals around you. Killing time before your next meeting? Fire up ShopWise and see what's around. Dads, moms, whoever, this is good stuff.

And yes, I now use it. I happened to be rolling into the train station the other day and tapped into the ShopWise app on a whim. Found out chocolate milk was on for $1 a litre at Loblaws (chocolate milk is awesome, bee tee dubya. We're still drinking it!). The app is quick, easy, and free. It works well whether you planned to be out shopping or not. You've got nothing to lose but a couple minutes and some data on your iPhone plan. Try it. Who knows what you might find.

A couple caveats worth mentioning:

1. I haven't tried anything similar before, and I know there are similar apps out there.  What I do know is that ShopWise is built on the same deal database as RedFlagDeals, which has been my go-to deal site for years.

2. Fair disclosure - at the event, I won a CHI hair straightener and in addition to the aforementioned "Shoptini" I was given, I also received several coconut shrimp, mini burgers, pieces of sushi, mushroom tartlets, a box of sweet potato poutine, and a small cup of Hagen Daas - yum.

- Ryan.