Attention BlackBerry users: Your day just got more productive, thanks to the launch of OpenTable for Blackberry®.
Download the OpenTable app on the BlackBerry App World, and put all the power, convenience, and perks of OpenTable in your pocket.
Josh Garnier is an OpenTable Product Manager.
Today, we are happy to introduce the newest member of our OpenTable Mobile family — OpenTable for webOS. If you’re a proud owner of a Palm® Pre™, you can now take advantage of OpenTable on the sleek webOS interface, which enables you to search for available restaurants nearby and reserve tables instantly. In addition, we are adding the following features on mobile for the first time:
We really hope OpenTable diners enjoy this app. Please tell your friends about it using the “Share/Save” tool below, and read more about it here.
Josh Garnier is an OpenTable Product Manager.
In a few weeks, OpenTable will be launching our upgraded 2.0 application for the iPhone. We’ve got a sneak peek at what this upgrade will mean for diners below. But, I thought it would be a great time share with our foodie and techie fans how we got here from there.
By “there,” I mean 2001, when the mobile Internet consisted of a handful of WAP-enabled sites with pokey, stripped-down interfaces. Few, if any, were useful, let alone transactional. At that time, OpenTable was still in the early stages of building its network of restaurants in major U.S. cities, and yet, the allure of the mobile web was already there. My predecessors put a toe in the water with the logic that to beat the old way of making restaurant reservations — the telephone — you had to fight fire with fire.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and we all know that the mobile web in 2001 wasn’t ready for prime time – the UI was ugly, the input method cumbersome, and the speed of mobile networks was laughable. Eventually, six long years later, most of these issues had been worked out, but there was still one item missing to make it a killer platform and Apple capitalized on it: location.
By offering location access for free, Apple allowed developers to offer users context. What if I could quickly find restaurants around me and find out if I could snag a table? How about last-minute reservations on the weekends when I am out with friends and away from my laptop? OpenTable seized the opportunity, and in November 2008, we released OpenTable for iPhone 1.0. This time, the mobile stars aligned, and, to date, we’ve seated half a million diners through our iPhone app.
But OpenTable isn’t stopping there. We’re enhancing the online reservation experience on the iPhone with a new version. With OpenTable for iPhone 2.0, you’ll be able to:
We hope you’ll enjoy this new app. Be on the lookout for it on your App Store application updates. And, for all of you non-iPhone smartphone users out there … Don’t worry! Your time is coming very soon, so stay tuned.
Josh Garnier is an OpenTable Product Manager.
You belong to the city, but it doesn’t belong to you. Not yet, anyway. Even though Manhattan is just 23 square miles, it can take a while to get to know it (”a while” meaning years). But not anymore, at least not as far as restaurants go! You can become an expert on the New York dining scene in a hurry, thanks to OpenTable’s mobile apps. With more than 1,200 restaurant listings in the metropolitan area, OpenTable makes it easy to find a table at top restaurants — in advance or on the fly.
Great for newcomers and visitors to the Big Apple, The New York Times recommends OpenTable mobile as a tool to help you discover all the tastes of New York in all of its neighborhoods. Not a plan-too-far-ahead type? Not a problem. OpenTable’s mobile apps are great for impromptu diners as it shows you open tables wherever you happen to be and whenever you’re hungry.
Get the OpenTable mobile version that’s right for your phone, and try it out next time you’re in New York — or any other metropolitan area in the U.S.
We asked, and you answered! OpenTable is pleased to announce the results of our first annual Diner’s Choice awards. Based on the feedback of more than 2 million diners like you, the list includes the top 50 restaurants in the U.S. identified as “Best Overall.”
With winners in 22 states and Washington D.C., the Diners’ Choice awards reflect the rich diversity our diners’ appetites and the vitality of the American dining scene. And, unlike other lists, the results were generated directly from your ratings and reviews – not a panel of experts or an editorial staff.
New York and California aren’t the only states with multiple restaurants on the list. We were thrilled to see four winners from the state of Texas and three from Ohio. And, the list isn’t just geographically varied; with an array of cuisines, there’s something to satisfy every diner.
Find out if your favorite made the list, and stay tuned as we begin announcing our annual restaurant category winners, such as “Best Brunch,” next month.
OpenTable has launched Facebook Connect. Now, when you’re making a reservation on OpenTable, you can choose to share it using Facebook Connect. In just one click, your Facebook friends will know that you reserved a table using OpenTable.
You can also use Facebook Connect to share restaurant reviews with your fellow Facebook foodies. After you’ve dined at an OpenTable restaurant, fill out our dining feedback form and click the “Publish to Facebook” button. Raise your reputation as a restaurant reviewer, compare experiences with your friends, and comment on other reviews.
Start sharing your dining experiences today!
Trying to decide where to dine? Check out OpenTable’s new restaurant ratings and reviews section. Available for restaurants in all 50 states, our ratings and reviews are created by diners like you.
Designed to help you make the most of every dining experience, only OpenTable users who have recently dined at a restaurant may rate and review it, which means you’re getting credible, current information you can count on. Discover what your fellow diners are saying and remember to contribute your own ratings and reviews every time you dine out.
Read more about this fun feature in The New York Times.
Caroline Potter is the Chief Dining Officer for OpenTable, Inc. She’s a dining trend-spotter and an OpenTable VIP, who dines out more than she eats in and has accrued more than 10,000 Dining Rewards points. Caroline started working in restaurants as a teen and she's since tackled every front-of-the-house job, from bartender and hostess to runner and server. She trained as a chef at Manhattan’s prestigious French Culinary Institute, cooking at L’Ecole. In addition to her role at OpenTable, she has written about food from farm to table for New York City’s famed Greenmarket and Edible Brooklyn and Edible East End magazines.