Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has launched a travel assistant app called Radar for Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS users so that Yahoo Mail users can discover places that they wish to visit.
The new app gathers information about the user’s imminent flights by connecting to their Yahoo email accounts. The radar app also gathers rental car information and hotel bookings so that it can compile ample information and provide recommendations to the users. A user can also communicate with Radar’s virtual assistant by clicking on the response bubbles. A good example is the “Lunch” button which provides recommendations for places to eat. The app also provides a range of buttons that can be used to customize search results.
Radar also provides brief descriptions where users can gain more information about the places they intend to visit. It also presents the locations together with their scores from TripAdvisor. The recommendations provided by the Radar app are based on various factors including location popularity, expert opinions from locals and TripAdvisor ratings. The app is therefore designed to take advantage of Yahoo’s know how in search.
The app also represents Yahoo’s efforts in mobile apps in a time when the company has been struggling to maintain relevance. It was therefore not anticipated that the firm would still be interested in developing mobile apps. The performance of the app is a demonstration of the company’s prowess in handling information as well as machine learning. This is because of the app’s reliance on data collected from the user’s activities or plans. Since Yahoo has the ability to integrate into other email services, it is possible that the app can gather information from AOL, Outlook, Gmail and Hotmail.
The Radar app could become more refined based on the frequency of use. It is designed to learn to make better suggestions as time goes by. This means that the app does not have much to offer by itself but thanks to machine learning it can become a powerful tool for the user. The app is currently available to iOS users, and it is not clear whether Yahoo will make versions for other operating systems.
