Zipiko Archive

Zipiko is the first product by Helsinki-based Zipipop. Zipiko offers a mobile event planning service which uses sms to make planning and attending events easier. The Zipiko Web site functions like a mobile app which is interesting. Last week they added support for groups to make inviting multiple people easier.

The mobile app is pretty slick in that it makes use of completion technology so that you don’t have to key everything into the mobile (which on some mobile devices is pretty complicated). You select a friend from your buddy list, pick a time and a pre-set location (or enter your own). A SMS/text message is then sent to your invitees and you are notified when they accept.

Zipiko works in the following languages: English, Finnish, French, Italian, German and Spanish. They recently added the ability to include your Gmail contacts along with an iPhone sync.

The main Zipiko page shows the latest events from you and your friends. This is similar to what Dopplr offers but in a mobile and event-based offering. It’s interesting that Twitter hasn’t looked at offering this type of functionality as it’s a natural extension of the "what are you doing" concept.

I’d like to see calendar integration so that when an invite is accepted, it can automatically be sent to my online or offline calendar application. Here’s a video overview of how Zipiko works (check out how they work the weather conditions into their demo):