Windows PhoneCustomer Solution Case Study

Local Marketing and Search Provider Develops Powerful Mobile App in Only Three Weeks

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Professional services

Customer ProfileYellowbook provides Internet and print marketing solutions to help small businesses connect with local consumers. Headquartered in Uniondale, New York, the company has a nationwide footprint with thousands of employees.

Business SituationAs a company that connects consumers with local businesses, Yellowbook must make information available to people wherever they are searching. This necessitates supporting all major phone platforms.

SolutionYellowbook developed an app for Windows Phone 7 in only three weeks, enabling the company to participate in the United States release of the latest phone from Microsoft.

Benefits Unique and compelling user

experience Rapid time-to-market Increased business reach

“Windows Phone 7 provides a new take on phone-based user interfaces, and we’ve been able to capitalize on that to deliver an app that’s unlike anything we’ve done in the past.”

Andrew Buchanan, Director, Mobile and Search Products, Yellowbook

To help connect highly mobile consumers with local businesses, Yellowbook is committed to delivering mobile apps for all major phone platforms. The company built a mobile app for Windows Phone 7 in only three weeks, delivering a richer and more compelling user experience than it had originally envisioned by taking advantage of unique Windows Phone 7 design elements such as panoramas. By supporting what it views as “a major new phone platform” from day one of the phone’s release, Yellowbook is maximizing its user base and reinforcing its position as an innovator in marketing and advertising solutions for local businesses.

SituationFounded in 1930, Yellowbook is a 360-degree marketing company that connects consumers with local businesses. The company’s expansive portfolio of Internet and print offerings—designed to help Yellowbook customers effectively market their businesses—includes website design, hosting, and optimization; search engine marketing and optimization; online advertising and video; yellow pages print advertising; and direct marketing services.

To fuel business growth, Yellowbook must be able to connect with consumers and help them find local businesses whenever and wherever the need arises—a need that has led to a strong focus on mobile apps. “Three years ago, most people used their PCs to search for local businesses,” says Andrew Buchanan, Director of Mobile and Search Products at Yellowbook. “Today, people want to access that same information on their phones, when they’re out and about. To remain relevant in the market, we need to deliver the information that people want, when and where they want it, in a form that makes the information easy to digest and act upon.”

The company’s focus on mobility dates back to mid-2008, when Yellowbook delivered a website optimized for mobile browsers. Yellowbook then shifted its focus to mobile apps, delivering initial versions for Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, and Palm phones throughout the rest of 2008 and 2009. A new opportunity to increase its user base came in mid-2010, when Yellowbook began to realize the potential of Windows Phone 7—slated for release at the end of that year.

“Our strategy is to support all major phone platforms, and everything we have heard about Windows Phone 7—including the depth of Microsoft resources behind it—has led us to believe that it can win significant market share,” says Buchanan. By September 2010, Yellowbook was ready to begin development. However, that left less than two months to have an app ready for the phone’s November release in the United States—a marketing opportunity that Yellowbook did not want to miss. “To meet our deadline, we knew that we had to hit the ground running,” says Valerie Palmer, Project Manager for Mobile Applications at Yellowbook. “We didn’t have several weeks for developers to come up to speed. We also knew that we couldn’t cut any corners, in that a less-than-ideal app would be just as damaging as missing our deadline altogether.”

SolutionStarting in September 2010, Yellowbook took advantage of existing tools and skills for developing on the Microsoft .NET Framework to deliver a compelling app for the latest phone from Microsoft in only three weeks—in time to participate in the United States release of Windows Phone 7. “I was surprised at how much we were able to get done in such a short time,” says Palmer. “Not only did we beat our deadline by delivering an app in only three weeks, but the app we delivered was richer and more compelling than we had originally planned.”

Such rapid time-to-market is even more impressive considering that Yellowbook designed its app twice—once before getting a prototype phone and again after

26

“Not only did we beat our deadline by delivering an app in only three weeks, but the app we delivered was richer and more compelling than we had originally planned.”

Valerie Palmer, Project Manager, Mobile Applications, Yellowbook

being exposed to the look and feel of Windows Phone 7 for the first time. “We initially followed the same design approach as we did for iPhone and Android, with many separate screens for all the different search options and information we provide,” says Greg Young, Lead Front-End Developer at Yellowbook. “However, the look and feel of Windows Phone 7 was nothing like we expected. Our entire design approach changed when we saw how we could use the unique Windows Phone 7 user interface features such as panoramas to make navigation more intuitive and information more accessible.”

A Compelling and Unique Solution

Yellowbook delivered version 1.0 of its app in October 2010, in time for inclusion in the Windows Phone Marketplace for the November release, and then followed up with a version 1.1 in January 2011. The app takes advantage of many Windows Phone 7 features to make it easy for users to discover and connect with local businesses. Here’s what users can do: Find and install the app. The app appears in the phone’s Marketplace Hub—a one-stop shop for discovering new apps, music, and games. Before installing, users can view a description that includes ratings, reviews, and screenshots to decide if the app is right for them. After they install the app, it

36

Figure 1. Yellowbook uses panoramas in Windows Phone 7 to enable users to flick left or right to view different panes of a single, larger screen.

appears in the phone’s apps list and can be pinned to the Windows Phone 7 Start screen for more immediate access. Enable location services. After starting the app for the first time, the user is asked whether the app should be allowed to access the phone’s location services features. If the user grants permission, the app defaults to the user’s current location for all new searches, as determined by the phone’s built-in Wi-Fi and GPS features.

Do a search. The home screen is a Windows Phone 7 panorama with three panes: Search, Categories, and Favorites. On the Search pane, users can enter a term—such as the name of a restaurant or a phrase such as “Italian food”—and either input a location or tap the Use My Location button. A left flick displays the Categories pane, where users can select a category (such as Restaurants or Auto Repair) and a location. The Favorites pane shows the business profiles that users have previously saved. View and filter search results. Doing a search yields a list of results, which users can scroll by flicking up or down. A button at the bottom of the screen filters search results by distance, with options ranging from 1 to 25 miles.

View a search result. Users tap a listing in the search results to see the profile for that business, including its address, phone number, and other potentially useful information—such as which credit cards a restaurant accepts and the hours it is open. If reviews are available for that business, users can view them by flicking left within the panorama.

Take action on a search result. A business’s profile may also display a button for viewing the business’s website and, in the case of some restaurants, a “Make Reservations” button that takes the user to the mobile version of OpenTable.com. Buttons at the bottom of the screen provide a quick means to view a map, add the profile to the app’s Favorites pane or to the Contacts list in the phone’s People Hub, or share the profile via Facebook, email, text message, or Twitter.

View maps and directions. Tapping the map button on a profile displays a map of the business’s location, as provided by Bing Maps, which users can pan with a finger or zoom by pinching or stretching with two fingers. Buttons at the bottom of the map provide ready access to directions (which also take advantage of location services) and enable the user to switch between a street map view and a satellite view.

Streamlined Development Process The project team at Yellowbook consisted of three full-time developers and one part-time designer. The designer did all work in Adobe Photoshop and then handed his designs off to developers, who built the app by using the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate development system. Minimal development effort was required on the back end. Instead, Yellowbook took advantage of the same web services that support its other mobile apps, which run under Internet Information Services 6.0 on Windows Server 2003.

With the version 1.1 release, the app for Windows Phone 7 is rapidly approaching feature-parity with the company’s other

46

“The ultimate goal of our app is to help people find what they need as quickly and easily as possible, and the way in which panoramas help streamline user interactions is a real innovation.”

Greg Young, Lead Front-End Developer, Yellowbook

mobile apps. “Our goal is to establish feature-parity with our apps for other phones and, with the speed of develop-ment on Windows Phone 7, we’re catching up very quickly,” says Palmer.

BenefitsWith its powerful app for Windows Phone 7, Yellowbook is making it easy for consumers on the go to discover and connect with local businesses—in turn increasing the value that Yellowbook provides to those businesses. The company also was able to develop its app quickly and cost-effectively, relying exclusively on existing developer tools and skills.

“Windows Phone 7 provides a new take on phone-based user interfaces, and we’ve been able to capitalize on that to deliver an app that’s unlike anything we’ve done in the past,” says Buchanan. “We believe that, combined with the resources that Microsoft has committed to Windows Phone 7, the company’s unique approach to what a phone should be will make it a strong success. We’re very pleased with our new app, and believe that our efforts to add support for Windows Phone 7 early—before the market is saturated—will help us maximize the benefits we’ll receive.”

Unique and Compelling User ExperienceBy taking advantage of unique Windows Phone 7 design features such as panoramas, Yellowbook was able to deliver a mobile app that surpasses the user experience provided by its apps for other phones. “I’m a huge fan of the panoramas in Windows Phone 7,” says Young. “The ultimate goal of our app is to help people find what they need as quickly and easily as possible, and the way in which panoramas

help streamline user interactions is a real innovation. In the past, we’ve had to redesign entire screens just to add one or two new features. With Windows Phone 7, we can just add another pane to the panorama, like we did when we added new panes for Favorites and Categories to the home screen in version 1.1 of our app.”

Even though the app has a unique Yellowbook look and feel, Windows Phone 7 users will still find it immediately familiar. Young attributes this to the UI guidance provided by Microsoft, which gave him a clear idea of how to design the app. “The UI design guidelines helped a lot,” he says. “Our iPhone and Android apps were developer-designed, whereas our Windows Phone 7 app benefited from a more disciplined design phase. The end result is an app that’s more visually appealing and that better reinforces the Yellowbook brand—while still looking and feeling like the phone’s other features and applications.”

Rapid Time-to-MarketYellowbook built the initial version of its app in only three weeks, delivering more features than it had originally thought possible. “The development environment for Windows Phone 7 was already familiar, so no time was lost coming up to speed,” says Palmer. “We had an initial build after one week, and then new builds every day as additional features were completed. Being able to work in such a familiar and highly productive environment is what enabled us to deliver such a full-featured initial version of our app so quickly.”

Yellowbook took advantage of the phone’s rich functionality to further accelerate time-to-market, building on capabilities built

56

“The development environment for Windows Phone 7 was already familiar, so no time was lost coming up to speed. We had an initial build after one week, and then new builds every day as additional features were completed.”

Valerie Palmer, Project Manager, Mobile Applications, Yellowbook

into the phone to deliver a compelling user experience. “Integrating with Windows Phone 7 features such as Bing Maps, location services, and the Contacts list was easy,” says Buchanan. “Not only were many of the features that we wanted to include out of the box, but we were able to tie them together and make them work the way we wanted with minimal effort.”

Increased Business ReachWith its feature-rich app for Windows Phone 7, Yellowbook is continuing with its strategy to support all major mobile phone platforms—a prerequisite to maximizing its user base and driving more consumers to the local businesses that it serves. “An ever-increasing amount of searches are being done through mobile phones, and the average Yellowbook mobile app user is more active than our average website user—further proof that on-the-go access to information is what people want,” says Buchanan. “Given all the buzz around Windows Phone 7 and how easy it was to develop an app for it, we’re confident that our decision to provide day-one support for what we see as a major new phone platform was a smart business decision.”

Windows PhoneWindows Phone 7 is a different kind of phone, designed to bring together what you care about most—easier and faster. It delivers captivating phone experiences across work and play, enables productivity without compromise through Microsoft

Outlook and Microsoft Office Mobile, and provides a platform for compelling applications that can work across the phone, web, and PC.

For more information on Windows Phone 7, go to: www.windowsphone.com

66

For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Yellowbook products and services, visit the website at: www.yellowbook.com

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published April 2011

Software and Services Windows Phone 7 Microsoft Visual Studio− Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

Ultimate