Derby entrepreneur launches new reviews app

Naseem Iqbal

A businessman hopes that his new mobile app will revolutionise the way that customers give reviews and comments on services they have used.

Naseem Iqbal has designed the Mobytap app so that people can give their honest views about a service in a shop, restaurant, hotel, or other business on a short video which can go viral.

Naseem Iqbal, from Alvaston, Derby, has a background in rubbish removal and recycling, and for six years has been running his own business, Junkporters, in Nottingham. Through this experience he learned about online marketing, social media and digital technology.

For some time Iqbal has had pictures of happy customers on his own liveried trucks which he then uses as testimonials on social media.

“Then I asked a contractor on a job if I could feature him giving feedback on my smartphone,” he said. “That was my ‘lightbulb moment’.”

He did his research, then created the app whereby customers can record a video up to 30 seconds long on their mobile phones, instead of typing, giving their comments or endorsements. Importantly, these are first checked to make sure that there are no rude or abusive words or actions.

The app can be applied to any trader who has an online presence. The reviews are uploaded live onto social media networks by the businesses themselves so that potential customers can see them and make informed decisions. The first five videos are free after which businesses pay an annual subscription to Mobytap for storing them.

Iqbal said that other people know the reviews are authentic because those giving their comments by this method cannot hide behind anonymity. “No reviews are ever deleted, including bad ones,so that people know they are genuine.”

The app cost £60,000 to develop, but is free to download. The company does not have to manufacture anything, and simply depends on cloud-based 4G technology.

Iqbal, whose Mobytap business is based at The Ingenuity Centre at the University of Nottingham’s Innovation Park, said: “We keep our overheads very low.”

“Now the development is complete we hope to turn over a profit at the end of this financial year. I’m confident this will be a success.

“Companies always want good reviews or to improve what they provide if they have poor comments. This app and way of publishing comments online will help them up their game.”

In September the Mobytap app was downloaded more than 1,500 times.

Naseem said the opportunities and potential for the Mobytap are “endless”, and that as the concept and company grows it will need to take on staff.

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