One of the inherent benefits of the massive number of apps in the iPhone App Store is that there’s usually something for everyone, an app for every need.
Need sushi? Yelp. Need pizza? Yelp? Nah, why bother with a general app when you can get a vertical market app that focuses only on delivering the pizza goods you want, and nothing you don’t. Yes, friends, there’s an app for that.
Finding Mystic Pizza
Frankly, we should not be the least bit surprised that there’s an iPhone app dedicated to finding the nearest pizza joint. It’s like having a tiny subset of Yelp without having to wade through a million other categories.
That’s Pizza Compass. It does pretty much one thing and one thing only. It finds the nearest pizza place.
Instead of having to enter the word pizza into Apple Maps or Yelp or any of a dozen other search and review apps, Pizza Compass already knows where you are and what you want.
Pizza. The built-in pizza-to-mouth indicator tracks down the nearest pizza joint and maps it out so you can get there in the shortest amount of time and shortest route available.
See? I’m not kidding.
Is it even possible to find pizza faster from your iPhone?
Only if you are working at Pizza Hut.
Yes. I’m serious.
Pizza Compass is a serious app which brings new meaning to 99-cent vertical marketing efforts.
Once Pizza Compass finds a nearby pizza dispensary you’ll have the option to call, view the menu (if available), map out directions, or even share it all on Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, email or iMessage.
You’ll get ratings, restaurant hours, reviews from Foursquare, and photos where appropriate (my wife is certain she can see a photo of a pizza and know if the quality is bite-worthy).
What’s missing, of course, are the pizza’s ingredients, nutritional value, and what kind of beer is served alongside the pizza. I’m sure that’ll show up in the next version.