Hipmunk was built from the ground up to search for hotels and flights. At one level, Hipmunk can be compared to other hotel and flight search sites including hotels.com, Expedia, Kayak, and Priceline. But there are distinct differences that I highlight in my road test below.

At a deeper level, Hipmunk is about improving the search experience and optimizing the time we spend on Hipmunk. Interestingly, there are other topics that lend themselves to Hipmunk’s deep and vertical approach (shopping, real estate, tickets, job and wine search engines, just to name a few). You have to wonder if Hipmunk doesn’t have expansion into other travel related verticals on its roadmap. (Peggy adds: You are on the money with this one Charles! In this companion post Steve Huffman, Hipmunk Co-Founder, talks about plans to do just this.)

What stands out

Right up front Hipmunk shows off two features the company is quite proud of (and for good reason). First, Hipmunk thinks like a human. Search for a flight and the search results are not simply ranked by price or time of day. Hipmunk knows we take more factors into consideration than just that. To help us make a holistic decision Hipmunk has come up with an ”Agony” Index, defined as a mix between price, duration of flight, and number of stopovers. Hipmunk also has an “Ecstasy” Index for hotels, that combines price, amenities and review/star ratings.

Second, Hipmunk is agony-free. The search engine displays your flight results in a colorful, visual timeline, aiding you in understanding your choices and trade-offs and selecting the best flight for YOU at a glance. From there you can proceed to book your flight by leaving Hipmunk and clicking through to the airline website, for example. The most recent update of the Hipmunk app also integrates your calendar and your hotel and flight results, allowing you to see the proximity of your meetings in a destination to hotel options and find flights that don’t conflict with events on your calendar. Now how cool is that?

You can also tap over to conduct a search of hotels. These search results are shown on a map so that people can view where in a destination they will be staying and the landmarks near them.

Hipmunk in action

Now for the road test, or test flight in this case. Beginning with the iPhone app, the first impression I have is that Hipmunk is a playful, family-oriented travel search engine. It starts with its ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks-style’ icon (which GigaOM dubbed the world’s cutest mascot), which is continued through to the splash page, the hotel search (check out the Hipmunk bellhop!) and so on.

Even the searching timer is a tiny flying Hipmunk. This is great if your audience appreciates a lighter-approach. But I have to wonder how this resonates with the hardened, hard-nose ‘ Up in the Air-type’ business travelers, and if they might not feel more at home with the more corporate look-and-feel of sites like Expedia and Kayak.

But there is also a real value to being different — and showing it. In fact, as we move through this series, I will introduce you to other search engine apps that have chosen this tack. Milo, DuckDuckGo, and Goby all have cartoon animal icons, and — like Hipmunk — they are all regarded as successful and well-engineered apps. Perhaps the very nature of the iPhone and the AppStore lends itself to more whimsical approaches. Disney and Pixar, I have heard, have also been fairly successful.

My only concern with Hipmunk is that one of its heat-maps, areas of concentrated activity like shopping, food, or walking, is labeled “vice.” That’s like having a liquor store in Disneyland! I would at the very least use a less explicit term!

To put Hipmunk through it’s paces I naturally searched for flights and hotels on an apples to apples basis with the likes of Kayak. Not surprisingly Flight 515 leaves at the same time and costs the same amount on alternate apps.  The same goes for hotel searches, although here not every app had exactly the same selection.  What I found most amusing was that the hotel results were different on the Hipmunk iPhone and iPad apps.

One note about the flight search results, when you do choose a flight, you leave the app to go to Delta, which isn’t so bad, but let’s assume that you have to make the slightest change in your itinerary. You have to conduct your new search on the Delta website. That’s good for Delta, but it means the user has to jump out of Delta and back into the Hipmunk app — and back again.

For booking hotels the user is taken to the hotel supplier such as Hyatt.com or Orbitz to make the purchase.

Overall, what you see is what you get: solid search results arranged in a way that allows us to select what we want —easily and intuitively. But I did spot a few shortcomings. I would have wanted to see my flight and hotel information appear back in my iPhone calendar. An itinerary email to forward to my family or office would have been a great plus as well.

We all have our wish lists but they can be a tad bit unfair. For example, I suggested to Adam Goldstein, Hipmunk Co-Founder, that his app should have a Flight Tracker or an On Time flight board (similar to the features offered by the Kayak app). Not surprisingly he replied that Hipmunk has them covered. They are just located below the (secret) Top Priority project. Reviewers like me make the easy suggestions, but it’s the CEOs like Adam who have to make the tough decisions!

Hipmunk iPad app

Now let’s move on to Hipmunk’s iPad app, which is free and represents a spot-on translation of the Web experience. Put another way, the Hipmunk iPad app is, for the most part, a large version of its iPhone cousin with a few added features. This approach has its merits, but it also conflicts with my guiding principle for Universal or iPhone / iPad app combinations. For those of you do not attend my iPhone / iPad or App classes (currently in Philadelphia) here it is again: The iPhone is for Now; the iPad is for Wow!

Admittedly, following this philosophy can put the burden on companies that have released an iPhone to invest heavily in an iPad app that delivers even more impact and features. Therefore, I can understand (but not entirely accept) why companies choose to simply ‘super size’ their iPhone app as an economical way to get on to millions of iPads.

In my book the prize goes to the companies that take their iPad-sized apps to the next level. A large Hipmunk map could achieve just that with a national map complete with miniature flying airplanes on a flight tracker.

My own research revealed apps that are making the most out of their screen real estate. One app uses the space for a large seat guide, while another searches for hotels with a sweeping radar motif — complete with the beeps. I also downloaded the Priceline Negotiator iPad app which takes advantage of sound and motion, as well as its alternative approach to hotel search. I encourage you to check it out.

Granted Hipmunk is first and foremost about vertical search and optimizing the time we spend searching and selecting hotels and flights. It’s not about cool stuff and graphics. Nonetheless, there are a few improvements Hipmunk could make to its iPad. My recommendation: Allow the long list of horizontal flight results to be swiped to the left, revealing a red delete box so that I can winnow down the list. The hotel search has three ‘Save’ boxes which are functional but nondescript, they could also be swiped away when in list view.

Additionally, the iPhone and iPad apps do not have an (i) information screen explaining the all-important Agony and Ecstasy formulas. (If they do, it is certainly not easy to find!) To my knowledge they are only explained back in the App Store description. Similarly, I had to go through the App Support link to access the Internet website where the useful About and FAQ pages are displayed. All this information belongs on a concise ‘Info’ page within the apps. It would be quick and inexpensive to address both points in an update. Likewise a link to all of the “Tips” would be great.

My take:

Hipmunk started as a snappy, solid flight search engine with a great hook, its Agony index. Now you can flip it over and do a decent hotel search. Using my calendar brought up a bold Conflict! alert; a nice feature. So what does Adam have up his sleeve that is more important than the flight tracker and arrival board that I  personally would like to see? It’s tough to call since he isn’t talking. Hipmunk’s Steve Huffman did talk strategy (roadmap, expansion, biz models — the works) with Peggy in this companion post [I will insert link], so we do have our hunches.

Meantime, I encourage you to download the free Hipmunk iPhone and / or iPad app(s). They have excellent ratings (in addition to my own Seal of Approval which I make official with this post). Another reason to download the apps: you will be automatically notified of each Hipmunk update, and I know that I don’t want to miss’ em!

Next in the series: DDG

 Editor’s note: The mission to discover and promote every alternative Internet search engine in the world took Charles three years and over 4,000 posts to accomplish. Now he’s back with his pick of mobile search engine Apps. If you have a mobile search app or service, or would like to suggest a company for this series, then please reach out to Charles (csknight1@hotmail.com).  Through Appaholics Anonymous (AA) Charles hosts the informal and formal sharing of the very best Apps he has discovered in the Apple App Store, and encourages discussion around the gems that other ‘Appaholics’ have found. What’s the coolest app you have? Let Charles know and you just might end up an honorary member of Appaholics Anonymous!

Related articles

• Hipmunk adds calendar integration to mobile apps(gigaom.com)

  ---

• Mobile Search App Review & Road Test: Biznar(mobilegroove.com)

  ---

• Hipmunk nears 1 million-downloads mark(sfgate.com)

  ---

Why “alternative?” Because that’s where the excitement and the innovation is! Sure, our smartphone devices present us with three whole choices — Safari / Google, with Bing and Yahoo! (GBY) available in your ‘Settings’. However, our requirement (even demand) for more personal and precise search services and results on our personal mobile devices opens the door for dozens of alternative search engines to make their mark — and gain market share.

That takes us to Biznar, a serious and comprehensive business search engine developed by Deep Web Technologies that uses a technique known as Federated Search to deliver results that GBY do not. (Biznar also has a sister app Mednar, which specializes in medical search.) More about the company and its mobile strategy in the companion post.

Deep Web Technologies has built a reputation as the “researcher’s choice” for its advanced information discovery tools, and I concur. As I stated in the press release when their App was released in November of 2011: “For business and medical research, Deep Web Technologies has selected just the right approach for their Biznar and Mednar Apps: advanced Federated Search.”

Why is this approach significant? Because Biznar takes a different tack than crawling and indexing the Web. That’s a good idea since the Web includes good and bad source material, old and new articles, legitimate and not so legitimate scholarship and a whole lot of marketing — all of it warehoused for some period of time by the time your search query comes along.

On the (mobile) mark

Biznar has preselected a corpus of around 70 high-quality business sources and searches them all in real-time the moment that you launch your query. These sources include leading information destinations such as ResourceShelf and MarketResearch.com and Fortune, as well as Deep Web Technologies partners APA PsycARTICLES and APA PsycBOOKS.

In some cases the results may take you to a site that requires registration or subscriptions), so it’s up to you to decide if you want to pursue that information in greater detail. The main point: these are 70 top-notch sources sure to provide results you can appreciate — a far cry from what is available if you conduct your search using GBY.

Moreover, biznar.com— the website that you can pull up in your mobile browser —gives you the freedom to pick and choose among the sources. If there is a source that you don’t want included in your search, you can simply deselect it from the list. This is not a feature currently available on Biznar’s mobile app, but you do have the option to suggest a new source you think should be added to the corpus via the ‘Contact Us’ page. What’s more, you will receive a personal reply.

As I mentioned, Biznar is real-time, a capability that allows it to deliver genuinely relevant and useful results. In practice this guarantees that your query will fetch the freshest results — even if one of the sources had a brand new article added to it just minutes (or milliseconds) before you submitted your search query. So, this is indeed “advanced federated search.” It’s real-time federated search of a numerous high quality sources, and who wouldn’t want that?

The test drive

Once you have downloaded the Biznar app onto your iPhone or iPad and launched your first search, you will notice that you are immediately presented with two choices. Specifically, the app will start off by asking you if you want to look at the very first results returned to it, or if your would rather wait for a synthesis of all possible responses.

I find that the additional time needed for all 70+ sources to return results is well worth the slightly longer wait, so I suggest just pressing the black “Display New Results Now” button every time. (Should DWT just drop the red bar altogether — I wonder?)

Additionally, there is a gauge in your ‘Settings’ when you select the Biznar App which allows you to select the precise time the first batch of results are fetched. Again, simplify your life by setting it in the middle and forgetting it.

Search query: Absinthe

For my road test I chose the keyword “Absinthe,” which regular readers will know is an inside joke with me and my own avatar over at my new consulting business ap(p)tly named Appaholics Anonymous.

Absinthe can actually mean many things. It’s a drink, a band, a jailbreak software and even a Las Vegas show. But a quick search on my iPhone 4S using Safari / Google returned seven shopping related sites within the first 10 results! Hardly useful for a serious business person.

The same search with the Biznar app on my iPhone produced a mixed-bag of results. There were good business articles from Forbes and Financial Times, several Wikipedia results (not surprising given the query), a broken link, some pages that required an account or app to view, some frozen Google results, and one fleeting case of nasty spam. But when I performed a web search for “Absinthe” using the internet website www.biznar.com I was delivered results all neatly sorted by topic, publication, date, etc,  with a host of ways to rank order and filter them but on my mobile phone with its small screen these great results were too detailed to keep zooming in and out.

This brings me to a wider observation I’d like to make about many search engine apps. Some search engine companies develop mobile optimized Web apps made for mobile devices, and possibly a native iOS iPhone app as well. Several companies have gone on to make their apps universal, which often just means releasing a larger screen version of the iPhone App. Making a truly stellar iPad app is a tall order for many smaller companies.

Given the search results from the road test, I think the company should consider making the current version of its iPhone app “Beta” x.x, and allow their growing community of app users to be honorary beta testers. It’s crowd-sourcing at its best because Biznar users are serious about business and well equipped to offer valuable input on bugs to fix, as well as suggest savvy new features that would make this finished product even better. A crowd-sourcing approach could also forestall negative reviews on the Apple App Store. What better way to arrive at the ultimate goal of having the capabilities to conduct a quick, easy Biznar search with a limited feature set made for the task?

Bigger is better

That leaves us with the iPad app. When I do a quick search on my iPhone I expect a stripped down version of the full Biznar website. Not so when I’m surfing on a tablet device. When I pull out my iPad I’m usually looking for a slick touch and swipe version of the online website. (Of course, pulling up a medium-sized view of the website is easily done using the browser.)

So is there a compelling argument for a company like Deep Web Technologies to undertake what would likely be a very expensive and intricate effort to develop an iPad app? Is there a distinct difference that would merit such a sizable investment of time and resources?

I went back to my iPad, switching back and forth from the full-size website site in my browser and the iPad app version. For sure, the print appears smaller on the full site, but in both cases the search results themselves are identical iPad sized pages.

If I was Biznar, I would put a notice and link on the opening splash page of their iPad app to read, “To take full advantage of our advanced technology, please click here to go to our online website.” They should say this right up front, not in a subpage. Secondly, the larger screen size of the iPad would allow for in app settings to allow for more features such as deselecting sources (like Wikipedia in my example) and some sorting, perhaps even swiping to delete unwanted search results.

My take:

Serious about business search using a mobile device? I tested three options: Safari with GBY, the Biznar apps, and the Biznar internet site on both my iPhone and my iPad. Predictably, Safari/Google misses the mark for a business researcher. Ultimately serious research will continue to be done with www.biznar.com on a PC or Mac or a decent laptop. So why have an app? Because professionals also need access to Biznar’s search technology whether they are on the go (truly mobile), or just multi-tasking. The Biznar iPad app will continue to coexist with the iPad sized website, but as feature and filters are added to the app it will no doubt grow into a better fit for the device.  Personally, I like the idea of a very simple iPhone version. When you only have your mobile phone to search for quality business results, that’s exactly what you want. Simplicity. In the case of the iPhone app I would stick to the Beta and tweak, tweak, tweak until the testers get 20 solid results consistently.

What do you think? Download the free Biznar and Mednar apps to your iPhone and/or iPad and road test Biznar.com / Mednar.com across all your devices (including PC), and please come back and share your thoughts in the comment section.

Next in the series: Hipmunk – the travel search app. Download it now so you’re ready for my next road test! You may want to start a folder of these apps and label it “Search Engines.”

Editor’s note: The mission to discover and promote every alternative Internet search engine in the world took Charles three years and over 4,000 posts to accomplish. Now he’s back with his pick of mobile search engine Apps. If you have a mobile search app or service, or would like to suggest a company for this series, then please reach out to Charles (csknight1@hotmail.com).  Through Appaholics Anonymous (AA) Charles hosts the informal and formal sharing of the very best Apps he has discovered in the Apple App Store, and encourages discussion around the gems that other ‘Appaholics’ have found. What’s the coolest app you have? Let Charles know and you just might end up an honorary member of Appaholics Anonymous!

Related articles

• THE Future of Mobile; Authorities Weigh In On Mobile Megatrends (mobilegroove.com)
• Federated Search: A Definition (arnoldit.com)

* * *

While Google may have sewn up the market when it comes to general or horizontal Internet search, the race to dominate the mobile and alternative search space is far from run. In fact, it’s just starting. A top contender for a lead spot is Goby, a mobile search app available on the Apple and Android platforms designed from the ground up to help people find fun stuff to do nearby.

The concept certainly sold TeleNav, a leading provider of location-based services (LBS) to consumers, enterprise, wireless service providers and automotive companies with more than 24 million paying subscribers as of June 30, 2011. TeleNav was one of the first companies in North America to launch a GPS management service and has since grown to provide products in 29 countries through 16 mobile carriers.

TeleNav quietly snapped up Goby last week for an undisclosed sum. Additional details on timing and extent of Goby content and technology integration will be announced at a later date.

Peggy adds: The motivation is no doubt linked to TeleNav’s increasing focus on the delivery of location-specific, real-time, personalized services such as GPS navigation and local search. After all, the fit between turn-by-turn navigation and finding fun stuff nearby is a no-brainer. What’s more, Goby, a search and discovery engine, counts nearly  500,000 users as of the 1Q2011 — a figure Goby said was on track to reach one million by 4Q2011.

Goby: At-a-glance

RATING: Reliable, easy to drive, and with an attractive exterior!

Availability: You can find Goby at www.goby.com, in the Apple App Store (iPhone and iPad) or in the Android Market.

In my view, Goby has a jump start on most other search apps. I consider it to hold the pole position because Goby moved so quickly from the web to the iPhone, cruised right through the Android Market, and then roared onto the iPad!

I invite everyone to download the free app on their device(s) and take Goby out for a spin. I did, so now let’s look at the results.

Goby is the brainchild of co-founders Mark Watkins (CEO), Vince Russo (CTO), Michael Stonebraker, and Andy Palmer who developed it to help people find fun things to do on short notice. They did this because they are self-proclaimed adventure junkies and they wanted to build a site to help other people find great things to do as well, all in one well organized place. It hit the Apple app store in March 2010 and launched its iPad app in June of 2010. It then joined the Android Market in July of 2010 and now counts approximately one million (!) downloads since.

Firs and foremost, Goby is a search engine for finding places to go and things to do there. Every part of it is designed to fit that need, a singular focus on a niche that makes Goby a powerful alternative search engine. As a result, Goby  exposes the shortcomings of Google when it comes to well-honed vertical searches. Sure, you can try to *make* Google tell you what’s on nearby, but Goby is designed from the ground up to do it better and do in on your mobile.

There is no tutorial within the app. but Goby doesn’t need one. As you can see for yourself (in the images below), Goby is  menu driven and completely intuitive.

How does it work?

You simply select a category, a location, and a date(s), and hit search.

In like fashion the search results are also laid out so that you can easily select a destination and then all of the necessary ephemera flow neatly from it.

Add up these usability pluses to its clean design and free availability and it’s easy to see why Goby earned the pole position in my book.

Q&A with Mark Watkins, CEO:

Where does Goby get its data from?

Mark: Goby uses something called “Deep Web” technology to search carefully selected databases and other sources of information that are pre-qualified for relevance. Then Goby organizes your query results in a meaningful way.

How can I suggest a site for Goby?

Mark: We have a process for qualifying and introducing high-quality sites. Drop us a note at content@goby.com and we’ll take a look. If it’s not a site we’ve already found and we end up using it, we’ll send you a Goby t-shirt to impress your friends!

What is the Fun Feed?

Mark: The Fun Feed allows you to personalize the types of activities that are most interesting to you. When Goby comes across some new information it can alert you on your phone or by email.

Goby is available in the U.S. via the iTunes App Store and the Android market. What can you tell me about your roadmap and plans for markets beyond North America?

Mark: Goby has its sights on launching internationally just as soon as possible.

Mobile means search is not desktop search. It can be a new experience that is people-assisted, location-linked, or even pure app discovery. What directions are attractive to Goby and why?

Mark: Well, Goby is not just a vertical search engine. We are rapidly becoming a search, discovery, social and recommendation engine. I encourage all of your readers to try our new Fun Feed for personalized recommendations.

Tell me more about Goby going social…

Mark: Social media is a logical addition to the whole Goby experience. If you’re headed somewhere or at some place that Goby recommended, naturally you’ll want to tell your friends and maybe invite them to join you. By integrating social media like Facebook and Twitter, we just want to make it easier for you.

With the rise in smartphones, conditions are aligned for increased interest in, and usage of, mobile search, but how does Goby make money?

Mark: Goby is a search engine, and we make money the way most search engines do. We sell ad space on the site, and we will always clearly mark it as such. Also, some sites pay us if you click through to their site and buy something, but of course, there’s no pressure.

Goby road test

Naturally, I took Goby out for a spin myself!

I was truly a typical user, lost in a new city in need of a hotspot and some coffee. I gave Goby my location (it should be the default setting) and used the category system to select “coffee cafes.” Goby found two nearby. The first was a dud – but an accurate dud!

The second one was surreal. I spent 15 minutes looking for that coffee shop that “wasn’t there” according to the results. However, I knew different — or at least I thought I did. I got to the bottom of the mystery when I called the coffee shop. It turns out the owners were actually at the window (looking at me – the idiot) as I paced back and forth in front of the coffee shop I was looking for in the first place. The shop was there –but it had changed its name! Goby was right and I was close. I then recalled some low ratings that I had read for Goby’s results from users, and it all made sense.

Goby isn’t perfect because the world isn’t perfect. Shop names change, for example. Once Goby finds something fun for you to do, call ahead! You can bet it’s right on the mark, literally.

Overall, my Goby test drive got high marks. The results are extensive and straightforward.

I’m also impressed by the simple and effective branding. Goby has a great logo, a very attractive color scheme and the company sticks to it. (Personally, I would love to see a custom Goby case in blue with the ever-popular orange fish logo. It would give a real boost to word-of-mouth adoption of the app and maybe even start a movement (!). That said, I am also the type to very discreetly pay $.99 for the ad-free version.)

Where would I like to see Goby go next?

Well, when I open up my iPad, I want more. An iPad app should be more than a large iPhone app, at least in this case. At the very least, I want the Goby fish to swim or blow audible bubbles. I want an awesome splash page (see image). I want downloadable brochures because I couldn’t afford the 3G model.  As Steve Jobs would say, I want “one more thing!”

Peggy adds: No doubt we will see more than that now that TeleNav has bought Goby, Charles. I expect the acquisition to produce services with more stickiness, a sharp focus on social and new emphasis on discovering fun stuff nearby — and recommending still more of the same. Add aware advertising and this is a model with a lot of mileage!

Next in the series: We go searching with a duck!

Editor’s note: The mission to discover and promote every alternative Internet search engine in the world took Charles three years and over 4,000 posts to accomplish. Now he’s back with his pick of mobile search apps, starting with iPhone and iPad apps and later moving to look at mobile search offers across other platforms and – ultimately – the mobile Web. If you have a mobile search app or service, or would like to suggest a company for this series, then please reach out to Charles (csknight1@hotmail.com).