Clingle: A New Location-based Discovery App in Singapore and India. Will it Work?

Update: Clingle insists that it is not another Foursquare or SCVNGR. Vignesh emailed me repeatedly wanting me to tell our readers that “Clings” is its main feature where users can leave messages at their favorite locations using text, pic, audio or even video. Well, Foursquare and SCVNGR have the same commenting feature too, isn’t it? The only difference is that Clingle offers audio/video.

Oh man, not badges again.

We have covered a lot of new and rising mobile apps in Singapore in recent weeks, including LobangClub, Summon Auntie, and Popcorn. Now, there’s one more new app in town — Clingle, an app developed by the team at MyCityWay, a somewhat popular local directory app in India and U.S.

Clingle is beautifully designed and describes itself as a social network connecting people with the world around them. I tried it and to me, it’s yet another location-based social network app that helps users to explore the city based on their current location.

Users can check-in, leave a message/tip on the location, set challenges for others to unlock or in Clingle’s language, leave a ‘Cling.’ It follows a gamification structure where users can earn points and be on the leaderboard and also win badges. So this is surely not an app for Foursquare and general badge haters.

The concept sounds familiar to that of SCVNGR. The market focus is different though, as Clingle points its direction at the Singapore and India markets. Interestingly, I also learned that Clingle isn’t going to just rely on users to generate location data. Vignesh Rengasamy, VP of Product and Strategy at MyCityWay, told me that his team has installed data points prior to launching the app. He added:

We understand data sits in the core of any location based app, and users can’t rely only on the community to add places. We therefore have added places data across categories from dining spots to movie theaters, from offices to entertainment venues preloaded so the user could start exploring the city right away, and in the best possible way. Clingle has location data for over 300 Indian cities and Singapore, we will soon be adding places data for the UK, USA and the rest of the world shortly.

Now that’s interesting. The Clingle app already has content prior to its launch which means users can engage with location content immediately. I’m seeing a lot of nearby restaurants which are unheard off within 260 meters of radius from my house. And that’s pretty awesome for a new app. It does indeed help users to discover new places. I suspect Clingle is leveraging on MyCityWay’s data which is pretty smartly executed.

I also did a comparison between Clingle and Foursquare’s data points (which relies on users to generate places) and impressively, Clingle clearly has locations more comprehensive than Foursquare’s (see image above. Also note the amount of useless user generated data points). But of course, take it with a grain of salt as my test was not comprehensive. Nonetheless, Clingle has proven to me at least that it has a set of comprehensive location data for users to explore the city.

But will a set of more comprehensive location-based content engage users better? I’m not too sure if users actually care that much about data. Most Foursquare users, as I believe, are just check-in zombies who do it just for the sake of points and badges. I doubt many Singaporeans are using it as a discovery app.

This island is way too small for something like this and there are many local alternative sources which could give us better info on discovering new restaurants, like Hungrygowhere. Or perhaps that’s just my personal bias thoughts towards all location-based apps. Because for me, I personally just Google the place I want to go, and go. Going around tracking what’s at your current location just sounds a little silly to me. Thoughts?