Publishers and developers who want to include local search to their mobile apps have a new tool at their disposal — a software development kit from Sprylogics.
CMO William Mougayar (whose social inbox startup Engagio was acquired earlier this year) told me via email that after a developer integrates with the Sprylogics SDK, their app will have local search functionality, and users will also be able to share their results with other users (as you can see in the screenshot).
Users can always use other local search apps, but if by adding the functionality to, say, a messaging app, publishers don’t have to send their users somewhere else, and they can make some money in the process. As Mougayar put it:
Users of mobile messaging applications generate content based on their intention to do something, e.g. see a movie, go to dinner, grab a coffee, attend a concert, and this intention has value. But this value is not being captured. It is being leaked, because users leave these messaging apps mid-conversation to search and find content, and they can’t share within the conversation. So, Sprylogics enables users to search and share within messaging, and message and share during search.
On the monetization side, Sprylogics will introduce ads into the results and share the revenue with the publisher. If a user is actually searching, they’ll see relevant ads in their results. If they’re messaging another user, then Sprylogics can also recognize when words like “movie” or “pizza” could link to relevant search results — which, again, could include ads.
“It is almost like Google AdWords, but done natively, and with a local bent,” Mougayar said.
Sprylogics’ initial partners include messaging app Nimbuzz, which uses the SDK to allow users to search and share results without leaving the messaging stream. Other possible partners include travel apps, hotel/booking apps, and gas station finders, Mougayar said — and there are probably many others that he hasn’t thought of.
The actual installation process should take hours or a couple of days, he added.
If you haven’t heard of Sprylogics, the company recently acquired the mobile search app Poynt and continues to offer the app while also building out related developer services like an API. (It sounds like the API has similar functionality but takes longer to integrate). Mougayar compared TechCrunch Disrupt winner Layer to Sprylogics, but he said that while Layer is focused on adding a messaging layer to apps, Sprylogics is (as you probably guessed) more focused on local search, with messaging as an additional option.
Interested developers can learn more here.
