BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - June 16, 2010) - uTest, the world's largest software testing marketplace, today announced the results of its Check-In Services Bug Battle competition. More than 300 uTesters, from nearly 40 countries around the world, reported a total of 870 technical, functional and GUI bugs in the web and mobile apps of Foursquare, Gowalla and Brightkite.
uTest's community of software professionals ranked the check-in services based on location accuracy, social media integration, status recognition features, opportunities to earn deals, ease-of-use and more. Foursquare emerged as the leader with the fewest bugs, the top rankings and best overall feedback, followed by Gowalla and Brightkite, respectively (for complete details, see the full uTest Bug Battle report).
TOP-LINE FINDINGS:
Overall, Foursquare had the least reported bugs (177), followed by Gowalla (316) and then Brightkite (377). Foursquare also earned the highest scores in most categories and received the most positive overall feedback. Meanwhile, Gowalla took the top honors in the important category of location accuracy. Brightkite trailed the other check-in services in most categories, but earned a second place finish for its ease-of-use, which was ranked as the most important category.
Ease-Of-Use Is Most Important
The Check-In Challenge revealed that ease-of-use (e.g. simple navigation, intuitive UI, clean interface) is the most important category, with almost half of all respondents (46%) selecting it as the most important criteria for selecting a check-in service. Foursquare performed best in this area with a top-two box score (those rating it as "excellent" or "good") of 59.4%, followed by Brightkite (a close second with 57.3%) and then Gowalla (44.7%).
Location, Connecting With Friends & Social Integration
Location accuracy was the second most important selection criteria with 24% of respondents selecting it. Connectivity with friends (15%), social media integration (8%), opportunities to receive special deals/coupons (5%), and ability to earn status/prestige through badges or stamps (2%) received the remaining votes.
Deals & Coupons
Disappointed with the lack of opportunities to receive special deals for check-ins, testers gave this category an average top-two box score (rating it "excellent" or "good") of 28% across all three apps. This is the lowest score in the nearly two-year history of Bug Battle competitions (spanning seven different competitions).
Privacy & Security
The impact of check-in services on personal privacy and security took on a prominent role in this study. 80% of respondents responded "Yes" when asked if they were concerned about how location-based check-in services could impact their personal privacy and safety. Nearly half of respondents (49%) chose "privacy and security concerns" as the top reason they do not use check-in services more often.
Check-In Service Comparison (top-two box score of testers who rated site as "excellent" or "good"):
| Foursquare | Gowalla | Brightkite | |
| Ease-Of-Use | 59.4% | 44.7% | 57.3% |
| Location Accuracy | 54.2% | 55.3% | 47.4% |
| Connectivity with Friends | 54.3% | 43.5% | 42.5% |
| Social Media Integration | 55.2% | 39.3% | 48% |
| Opps to Receive Deals | 29.3% | 28.3% | 26.5% |
| Ability to Earn Status | 48.3% | 44% | 26.5% |
"According to a recent Twitter post from Foursquare, their users' number of check-ins grew 50% in the last month with nearly 900,000 check-ins on June 4th alone," said uTest VP of Marketing & Community, Matt Johnston. "Location-based check-in apps are truly one of the fastest growing segments in the entire mobile space. This Bug Battle clearly demonstrated that app usability and location accuracy will be critical to the company that wins in the market for check-in services. The uTest community once again proved its ability to quickly mobilize and provide professional testing coverage and usability feedback from around the world."
Detailed results of this study are available at http://www.utest.com/bugbattle/q210/results.
About uTest, Inc.
uTest is the world's largest marketplace for software testing services. The company provides real-world testing services through its community of 25,000+ professional testers from 165 countries around the world. More than 1,000 companies -- from startups to global software enterprises -- have joined the uTest marketplace to get their web, desktop and mobile applications tested. More information can be found at www.utest.com or the company's Software Testing Blog at blog.utest.com.
Contact Information:
Media Contact:
Jennifer Moebius
uTest, Inc.
508-480-9999 x114
jenniferm@utest.com
www.twitter.com/utest
![uTest 'Check-In Challenge' Report: Most Important Attribute [Chart]](http://media.marketwire.com/attachments/201006/MOD-8218_utest2.gif)