Zomato unveils India's first local-search android application

Zomato.com (previously known as Foodiebay.com), one of India's largest online Food Guides and restaurant directories has launched its mobile application for Android phones. The application is the first local-search application for android phones made by an Indian player. It allows users to search for nearby restaurants based on the user's location. Available in the Android market for free, the application replicates all features of the website and lets the user look at the menus, contact details, reviews, photographs, location and discounts for restaurants on the phone itself. The application recorded over 200 downloads within the first couple of days after the launch. Zomato, which is already very popular as a website, has taken its first step to tap into the growing mobile market with this application.

The website is more than 2 years old and gets more than 2.5 lakh monthly users across 6 cities in India ' Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata. Zomato recently raised an investment of 4.7Cr from Info Edge, one of the largest internet companies in India, to fund its product development and marketing.

Deepinder Goyal, Co-Founder and CEO, Zomato said, "We are proud to be the first restaurant portal in the country to develop an Android application. The users will be able to enjoy all the functionalities of our website on the Zomato application. Given the increasing penetration of smart-phones and the launch of 3G services by multiple operators, mobile market was the logical next step for us after internet. We see Android as the fastest growing mobile smart-phone market in India. Globally, Android phones have grown very rapidly and we expect India to see the same trend."

Zomato.com (previously Foodiebay.com) was launched in July 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, IIT Delhi graduates, and is an online food guide and restaurant directory. Zomato lists menus, prices and contact details of restaurants and also offers discount coupons to customers. It has its presence in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune.