A Brentwood publisher has transformed a line of books into an application for Apple’s iPhone. Magellan Press puts out a restaurant guide called “Where the Locals Eat.”
Users of the iPhone app find 100 restaurants recommended by local food critics in the country’s 50 largest cities. The program suggests restaurants by proximity, price or rating.
There’s stiff competition for restaurant guides on the iPhone. Others include Urban Spoon and Yelp. One feature that makes Local Eats stand out, says developer Byron McClain, is that it’s not free.
“Most people, when they see a free app, there’s an assumption there. It’s free, great, but don’t expect quality from it some times. 99-cents, we felt, was a magic number.”
Also, the program relies on expert opinions instead of user reviews.
So far, more than 75-thousand iPhone users have downloaded the program, landing it on the top 10 list of purchased apps.
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