Flook came under my radar not too long ago and it immediately caught my attention. It is a location browser that allow users to share what they discovered and others to know what are the interesting stuffs they should check out at a particular place.
I had the chance to chat with Tristan Brotherton, one of the co-founders of Ambient Industries, the company behind Flook. During the chat, he shared a lot about the application as well as tips for entrepreneurs looking to get into the field of mobile applications.
Flook is definitely one application that you should pay attention to and try out immediately. Read the conversation that I had with Tristan and remember to get Flook now (iTunes link).
Introduction to Flook
Wayne: Hi Tristan, thanks a lot for taking time out to do this interview with me about Flook, which I think is a very interesting mobile application utilizing location based technologies that are out there.
Wayne: There’s a decent coverage on the Ambient Industries site regarding the company and the background of each founder but just for the benefits of my readers, can you quickly skim through what is the company all about and what is Flook in plain English?
Tristan: Sure. Flook is a location browser. We aim to help people find interesting things around them. They can also share what they found around them and record it in Flook by making a ‘card’, which is tied that location for people to find. We also transform location specific content from the web, and make cards for people to discover as well, specifically at the moment focusing on events. The application is initially launching on the iPhone and the interface is very different to traditional "map and pin" applications, to highlight the visual appeal of discovery.
Wayne: For me, Flook adds a fun twist to existing apps that use location-based technologies. How did the idea come about for Flook? Did it come before or after other location-based applications like foursquare or Gowalla?
Tristan: We have actually been working on the idea for Flook for nearly two years. Jane and I met some time ago in Ukraine and had been discussing the concept and later on, Roger joined in. It then turned into a funded company, and evolved into the product you see today. However, I would say the current version of Flook is just the "tip of the iceberg" of where we want to go. I should mention Dave too, who was our "employee number one" and does most of the hard work!
Wayne: How was the response from the first batch of users? I’m sure you guys are getting a lot of feedback from early adopters. What kind of feedback is the application getting?
Tristan: Well, we ran a limited beta for some time, with about eighty users, which gave a lot of very valuable feedback and allowed us to hone the product before our public launch. Now we are "in the wild". If anything, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, which if anything makes it a bit harder because when there is criticism there can be a fix! So we are so far very pleased with how Flook has been received, but a lot of that has been for the contributions from our early beta users.
Tristan: It’s very interesting after working on something for so long, to see the adoption by people you don’t know. We have been talking to users all over the world, and it’s great to see what they are up too in their home towns.
Fun Approach of Flook
Wayne: That’s nice. The feeling would have been pretty amazing. Just to sidetrack a little bit here. The application has a fun interface and to quote the article on Mashable, "Flook Takes a Playful Approach in Location Discovery". How does the theme of being fun and playful come along? Is it some kind of positioning strategy or it is just an application that is in line with the personalities of the team members?
Tristan: We did put a fair amount of thought into that. There is no doubt that all of us here wanted to make it fun. We also wanted to avoid the "utilitarian" type nature of applications like Google Maps, and make the experience absorbing and engaging.
Tristan: We decided to build on that and work on the game-like feel to the application, because it’s not designed to be used in a task based manner – open it up and close it in two seconds. The playful character of the application, hopefully lends itself to engaging our users. Also, discovery should be fun. It’s not just about finding the nearest pizza joint, but could be about the hidden stuff people don’t normally know about.
Upcoming Features of Flook
Wayne: Yup, that is what I find very interesting with Flook too. You mentioned that what we are seeing now with Flook is just the tip of the iceberg. Do you mind describing just a little bit of how the upcoming features will be like?
Tristan: Sure… We have built the interface of Flook initially to cater for sparser content, the app has only been public for a little over a week, and we did our best to make it easier to find new content. As the app and our user base grow, the challenge is dealing with more populated content. We do this behind the scenes learning how and what a user likes to see, prioritizing content that is timely (events) and other time based cards, and also making it easier for people later on to go and browse content by tangents, so they find something they like, and they want to see more like that.
Tristan: We are also going to be adding more transformed content from the Internet, and making it much easier to build custom streams of content based on searches. On the web, we will make following people much easier, and focusing more on the content created by people you know, and the social elements. Finally, some super cool secret stuffs. 
Wayne: OK. I understand that. Most people expect location-based mobile technology to go mainstream in 2010. With this, an increase in applications, or should I say, copycat applications, that utilize the same technology is unavoidable. What are some of the plans or strategies that the company will take, other than the introduction of new features, not only to raise the barrier of entry, but also to remain competitive among applications like Layar, etc.?
Tristan: Well, the easy answer to that is that we don’t really seem to compete with many of them. I’ll come back to mention that Flook is a "location browser". We don’t want to be a walled garden. We aim to make it easy for people to access that content through a very cool API and of course, because we make use of other location based content, we can allow people to interact with other location based content sources or companies, very easily. Those companies in turn get another route of exposure. We also obviously believe in our product and product strategies, and think we have what it takes to build a continually engaging and fun product.
Wayne: Noted. So, are there any side projects currently for Ambient Industries? Or is it all about Flook right now?
Tristan: Yes, we are thinking about starting a cheese factory…. I jest. No. Ambient Industries is solely about Flook right now, and that’s where we are investing all of our time and thought.
Mobile Application Trends in 2010
Wayne: Haha.. Let’s get a little insight from you. What do you see as the biggest trend for the mobile applications industry in 2010?
Tristan: I think we are going to see a lot of "game based" applications, that will be fun to use, but perhaps struggle with getting valid content created by users, and as a result start to evolve quite rapidly as they try to find their niche. I think that a lot of the social orientated applications, like Loopt and Brightkite, are going to be in a rather precarious position when Facebook decides to concentrate on geo, and as a result try to transform into something different. Let’s face it. Most of our friends are on Facebook, not on Loopt or Brightkite, as good as those products are.
Tristan: I also think it’s going to be interesting to see content companies do their best to make sure their content is available in a location friendly format. A lot of new APIs and perhaps, just perhaps someone will come up with a proper, working location orientated advertising system, but it sure won’t be anything like that terrible "Starbucks sends you an SMS when you walk by" example, and more akin to the offers foursquare is trialing in their applications.
Tips for Developing Mobile Applications
Wayne: Wow, that will be very interesting to see. Tristan, you and your team have an application developed and I’m sure you have learned a lot of things along the way. For entrepreneurs who are reading this and thinking about developing their own application, what will be your number one advice for them?
Tristan: Work with the right people. If you have a good team and you can deal with the ups and downs with them, you will be fine. Don’t be afraid to fail, we expect to make plenty of mistakes. The best thing is, it hopefully can be quite quick to learn from them. Don’t wait to long, try stuff sooner rather than later. Don’t hold back on launching the "perfect" application. We are only doing a tiny part of what we want to do now, but it’s great to see people using it regardless, and finally, don’t burn yourself out – getting it built is only the start of the fun!
Tristan: Oh and one more thing… Fairly obvious, but don’t give up. We tried really hard to find the right investors. We had worked out of our own pockets refining the product and nobody quite seemed to get what we wanted to do. Then, right at the last minute, we found two great funds that really understood where we wanted to go.
Learn More About Flook and Ambient Industries
Wayne: Great advice there, Tristan. Before we round this interview up, where can my blog readers learn more about Flook and how can they get in touch with you to just connect or to learn more from you?
Tristan: The product website is http://flook.it – from there you can download our iPhone application. We also have a blog at Flook Blog. We are on Twitter @ambientwit and finally if you use Flook we are on their 24×7, we have some prizes coming up for the best Christmas flooks! Oh ya, and by the way, the company site will be ambientindustries.com.
Wayne: Tristan, you’ve shared a lot and I really look forward to see Flook and Ambient Industries grow. Thanks again for doing this interview with me.
Tristan: Thanks Wayne. Please feel free to stay in touch, and I’m really glad you like the product.
What Do You Think About Flook?
Have you tried Flook? What do you think about the application? If you are a mobile application developer yourself, feel free to share some tips because I’m sure it will help entrepreneurs who are reading this.
Let me know what you think by posting a comment in the comments section below.
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