On the Go and Hungry? Dinner Is an App Away

This article I found on the New York Times website discusses the new application for phones and the internet called Snapfinger. This website and phone application allows you to pre-order takeout food or restaurant food before even going anywhere or when you're on-the-run. The article stated that, "Diners craving a pizza or burger can pull out their phones on their way home from work and arrive at the restaurant to find their meal waiting for them" (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/technology/31snapfinger.html?ref=internet). For example, instead of going to a restaurant, sitting down, ordering your meal and waiting for it, you can order it on your phone with the tap of your finger or where there is a computer and then arrive at the restaurant with the food waiting for you. This application is available for iPhone, Android, and Palm phones and will be available for BlackBerry in June. Snapfinger plans to soon add various independent restaurants, not just chain restaurants to their company.
I think this is a good idea for people who work all day and need food quickly or on the run. It is very convenient to be able to pre-order your food on the go or at home or work from your computer. However, it is not good if you are trying to watch your weight because it shows how lazy as a nation we are getting where you have to order food from your phone and can't even go out to order pre-made food. Since we are fighting obesity, people should probably try and cook more often than they eat out, however, not all lifestyles can accommodate for that. Snapfinger gives the daily specials and offers that you might not see in the restaurant to add extra sides, but it will cost more. This adds profit to restaurants because people are more likely to buy these extras that would normally be offerred by servers, however, people will be spending even more on take-out food than they normally do, which seems like a waste of money. "The amount people spend using Snapfinger is 25 percent more than other takeout customers spend". This is true for the extra sides that are offerred when you order, however people will be spending even more extra money than they already are on the food and application (costs money everytime you use it). In the article, they said this will take over to become very popular, however, not everybody has the type of phone you need to download the application even though I think more people will soon have phones with internet and the availability for these applications. This is a good idea if you need this type of service in your everyday life, but it could also work for certain occassions that call for takeout on-the-go. It would probably work better for a specific group of people who's lives or work this application will accomodate or that calls for this type of service.



Trina Polkinhorn
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