The mobile key to Melbourne

The small, Melbourne-based mobile entrepreneur company Mcity has developed an innovative city guide for people on the move. The service includes information on the city’s events, restaurants, shopping areas, bars, clubs, weather updates and movies.

Thursday, 29 December, 2005

At Mcity mobile portal people can for example read about restaurants and download coupons.

The Mcity service runs on WAP technology and enables users to search for local information on the go. Mcity also publishes a fortnightly mobile newsletter about the city’s restaurants, bars, shopping spots and entertainment venues. All the information is free and Mcity users can redeem special offers and discounts simply by presenting offers on their mobile phones to participating businesses.

"Mcity was designed for people who end up planning their evenings while already out," says Vincent Cheong, Mcity creator. "If you’re like me, you don’t organize much before you head out and end up needing information such as addresses, phone numbers and opening times while you’re on the move."

Cheong says Mcity differentiates itself from established information sources, such as travel guides, by providing more locally-oriented information.

"We work closely with restaurants, pubs and event organizers,” he says. “We also try to offer information about underground places that can be hard even for locals to find."

Mcity also partners with pubs and clubs to promote the service to their customers in a variety of ways. "One club owner wanted us to set up a mobile guest list, so guests could access it from their phones and go straight in," Cheong says.

The Mcity business model is based on advertising and premium listings – for example, a business that wants to partner with the service will be featured in several ways in the guide.

Cheong says many companies have also shown interest in advertising through SMS, especially during weekends. "That is something we will try to introduce soon," he says. "Of course, it is important to let the users decide what kind of information they want to receive, but so far, the feedback has been good. People receive information about a restaurant, for example, read it, and if they fancy it, either make a reservation or go to the restaurant straight away."

Mcity also provides stickers to put on restaurant windows. Each restaurant receives a code with their sticker and when people type in the code at mcity.com.au/mobile, they can read about the restaurant or download coupons. "We call it M-tag," Cheong says. "Mobile coupons are pretty popular among people in Melbourne. Beside restaurants, we are planning to tag the city’s statues and other interesting tourist spots to give people access to information about them, too.”

Another service he believes could become popular is maps. "It would be excellent to be able to offer that,” Cheong says. “But we are waiting for 3G services to take off, that would really push what we can do on the phone."

Hendrik Bergstén