最诚信的票务软件

    设想一下，你正在为周五晚上安排点活动。你仔细研究本地的活动列表，在谷歌（Google）上搜个不停，到处向朋友们打听，只为了寻找本地眼下最有意思的活动。然而，等你终于找到了，门票很可能已经卖光了。

    因此，不如干脆登录Applauze。这款集查找活动和购票功能于一身的手机应用程序既简单又好用。今年三月在iTunes应用程序商店发布的Applauze与餐厅点评网站Yelp以及演唱会信息通知及推荐类应用Bandsintown类似，为36座城市的用户罗列出当地的各类活动，包括音乐、体育类活动、电影以及免费的社区活动。

    Applauze是现年35岁的基兰•贝鲁比最新的智慧结晶，已经与美国和加拿大的500多家票务经纪公司进行过合作。贝鲁比是位于加州山景城的移动应用新创企业955 Dreams的创始人兼首席执行官。955 Dreams已从500 Startups、m8 Capital、Kapor Capital、Felicis Ventures以及CrunchFund等公司筹到了420万美元的种子资金。Applauze打算向用户提供“找到活动的最简单、最棒的方式”。

    和竞争对手不同的是，贝鲁比认为Applauze是一款“门票转售软件”。955 Dreams本身并不拥有门票一级代理权，它选择与门票分销商合作转售门票。后者的销售网络遍布美国和加拿大，很希望找到愿意出高价购买门票的消费者。贝鲁比说：“这是完全的市场经济。我们需要合适的工具去搭建购买者和销售者之间的桥梁，让市场的需求和供给最终决定门票价格。”

    虽然面临着Ticketmaster、Ticketfly和StubHub等老牌门票销售软件的竞争，但Applauze凭借优雅友好的用户界面脱颖而出。Applauze会在屏幕上显示热门活动的标题，用户只需滑到自己感兴趣的活动，轻轻点击，活动页面就会展开，显示出活动描述、路线、花费和其它相关信息。页面上还出现购票提示；如果是免费活动，会有立即回复的选项；用户还能通过Facebook邀请好友。Applauze还集成了聊天功能，用户可以随时咨询客服问题。贝鲁比解释道，所有这一切都是为了把Applauze打造成以用户为中心的购票软件。贝鲁比称：“大家时间都有限。我们必须尊重使用我们软件的用户，不要用垃圾软件愚弄用户。”

    Applauze还承诺不会收取隐藏费用，而这种费用对于别的门票销售网站很常见。Applauze显示的门票价格就是用户最终的购买价（举例来说，门票手续费通常是票价的3-10%。Applauze的价格直接包含了手续费，而不是在用户付款时再突然蹦出来。）所以，Applauze上的门票看起来会贵一些，但贝鲁比表示，最终售价和其它竞争对手相差无几。贝鲁比承认，消费者需要时间去适应Applauze的定价策略，不过他相信这种诚实的销售方式最终会赢得客户芳心。

    Band of the Day的490万用户也将成为Applauze发展的一大助力。Band of the Day是955 Dreams公司开发的一款每日寻找乐队的应用，该应用于2011年在iTunes年度应用的评选中获得亚军（仅次于图片分享应用Instagram）。贝鲁比预期，Band of the Day的成功将延续到他在活动和票务市场的新作Applauze中。他说：“我们在许多唱片公司和艺术家中已经颇有名气，我们是这个社区的一部分。”贝鲁比计划Applauze未来提供后台通行证以及无需排队等特殊待遇。（同时，他还计划继续强化这款应用的探索和计划功能。）

    贝鲁比期望Applauze成为一个社区平台，而955 Dreams成为一个生活方式和娱乐品牌。然而，他最大的野心还是在技术本身。贝鲁比开发的Applauze完全只针对移动平台，因为他认为移动平台对于年轻人互动的方式至关重要，还因为他认为应用开发能改变人们生活的方式。“作为软件开发专业人士，手机是我们使技术再次充满人性的大好机会。”（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    Picture yourself trying to make plans for Friday night. You pore over local listings, Google endlessly, and consult friends, all to find the most interesting things happening around town that -- when finally found -- are probably already sold out.

    Enter Applauze, an event-finding and ticket-purchasing mobile app that is as useful as it is easy to use. Similar to Yelp for restaurants, and Bandsintown for concerts, Applauze -- released this past March in the iTunes App Store -- gives users in 36 cities a list of options from across the event spectrum, from music, to sports, theater, and free community events.

    The app, which works with a network of more than 500 ticket brokers in the U.S. and Canada is the latest brainchild of 35 year-old Kiran Bellubbi, the CEO and founder of 955 Dreams, a mobile app startup in Mountain View, Calif., that has raised $4.2 million in seed funding from firms like 500 Startups, m8 Capital, Kapor Capital, Felicis Ventures, and CrunchFund. Applauze sets out to provide customers with "the simplest and most beautiful way to find events."

    Bellubbi considers his new app a "secondary ticket market play," differentiating it from its competitors. Although 955 Dreams doesn't own the primary ticketing rights to events at venues worldwide, the team resells tickets provided to them by brokers with whom they have networked in the U.S. and Canada, scouting for the best deals for their customers. "In a true market place," Bellubbi says, "we need to build adequate tools to facilitate a dialogue between the buyers and sellers and let supply and demand determine what the fair price of the product is."

    However, Applauze's elegant, user-friendly interface is what most separates its service from that of longtime competitors in the ticket industry such as Ticketmaster, Ticketfly, and StubHub. Users simply scroll through a list of event titles, tap, and the tile expands and displays a description, directions to the event, costs, and other pertinent details. There's the option to purchase tickets, RSVP to free events or to invite friends via Facebook. The app also features a built-in chat engine that allows users to talk to customer support in real time. Bellubbi explains this was all part of his vision to make a customer-friendly ticketing app: "People have limited time," Bellubbi says. "They should be respected for using your product -- don't insult them with crappy software."

    The app also promises to protect customers from hidden fees and charges that are common at ticket-booking sites. The price listed is what you actually pay for the ticket (i.e service charges, which result in a 3-10% markup, are included in the ticket price, rather than popping up when it's time to pay.) This means tickets at Applauze appear more expensive than those at competing sites, but according to Bellubbi, they ultimately cost the same amount. Though Bellubbi acknowledges it will take some time to habituate customers to the pricing strategy, he believes users will appreciate the honest salesmanship in the long run.

    Applauze will also be helped along by the 4.9 million users of Band of the Day, a daily band-finding app developed by 955 Dreams that in 2011 earned runner-up status (behind Instagram) for the iTunes App of the Year. Bellubbi expects that success will carry over to his work in the events and ticketing market: "We've developed a big reputation with a lot of labels and artists," he says. "We're a part of that community." Among his future plans for Applauze is to offer perks like backstage passes and line-skipping privileges. (He also plans to continue to enhance the app's discovery and planning functions.)

    Bellubbi envisions Applauze becoming a community platform and 955 Dreams becoming a lifestyle and entertainment brand. Yet his biggest ambitions relate to the technology itself. Bellubbi developed Applauze to be mobile-only because he saw the platform as central to the way young people interact, but also because he sees app development as a way to transform how people live. "Mobile is our opportunity as software professionals to make technology human again."