Openbar App Wants to Go Drinking with You in Hong Kong

I have a bit of a weakness for ‘hyperlocal’ websites and apps that map important information about cities that others can benefit from. In the few years that I lived in Dalian, China, me and some friends put worked on a website that provided mapped restaurant and bar listings as well as other important points of interest. These days, of course, such services very often come in the form of apps. Take for example, Openbar, an iPhone application that provides users with information about bars and clubs all over the city of Hong Kong.

The app comes from Mercury Media Limited, a Hong Kong-based team of four people who work in mobile and web production. Julien Hauss of Mercury tells me that even though the team has limited resources, they had ambitions hopes for Openbar to more than just a directory application:

There was nothing on the mobile market about location-based listings, and that’s where the idea came from there. Taking advantage of GPS features [1], we added the Happy Hour Locator with real-time countdown function. Social features, like Live Photo, can help bar goers see what’s happening at the venues. Being myself an expat not speaking Chinese, I often have trouble explaining to taxi drivers where I am going, so including both English and Chinese addresses of bars came from there.

Clearly an app like this has value for bar-hoppers, but how does a free app like this make money? One way is by charging local bars and restaurants a listing fee, although Julien tells me that initially an establishment can be listed for free but for a limited time and with limited profile information (only name, address, and hours). Openbar has gold and silver listing plans that start at HK$500 per month.

As for marketing, the app aspires to capitalize on social media like Facebook [2] and Twitter when users check-in to a location, as a link to that bar’s Openbar profile will be presented. And while this may result in some online word of mouth, Julien explains that spreading the word in English media about the app was not difficult, but they have experienced more difficulty marketing in Chinese media thus far.

Openbar is still just in its ‘beta’ version, but seems to be doing ok, claiming the largest number of listings in Hong Kong with over 700. I’m told that they are already being approached by local bars, liquor and wine distributors, and magazines about partnership possibilities. The team is currently testing the Openbar website as well, which will eventually include all the apps features on the web.

If you’re in Hong Kong and you’d like to take the app for a spin, you can download it over on iTunes.