Matchbook COO talks mobile
Matchbook COO Cian Nugent talks to eMI about the exchange operatorâs latest plans for mobile
eGR Mobile Intelligence (eMI): Tell us about your new iPhone app and how you feel it differs from products released by your competitors?
Cian Nugent (CN): Leveraging the upgraded technology stack that we developed for the website, we launched the first version of our new iPhone app in late November. Our goal for this version was to make the transition from desktop to mobile as seamless as possible.
Firstly, we made the full range of deposit and withdrawal options, including Skrill and Neteller, available on the app, so customers could fund their account from anywhere. Similarly, our Shortlist feature, which allows users easy access to their favourite markets, is stored centrally and can be accessed and managed across all devices. We also added a Search feature, allowing the end user to find betting events easily.
eMI: Do you have plans to launch any new apps or updates in the near future?
CN: Weâll have a new release of the iPhone app out before the end of January. This will include some basic improvements, and a new inline betting functionality, allowing customers to bet from within the market page.
The most exciting part of our iPhone app was that our new technology stack allowed us to develop it from scratch in four weeks. We expect similar turnaround times for Android and that development will start shortly, with tablet applications to follow after that.
Moving towards the second half of the year, in line with our overall strategy, weâll be launching mobile casino and games products.
eMI: Youâve said that you see a strong link between mobile and social. Where do you see the interconnection?
CN: Social media is all about engaging and reacting to information in real time within both open and closed networks. The proliferation of access through mobile devices has allowed the engagement on social to happen from anywhere, at any time. This trend has also been reflected in the betting industry.
A betting exchange is a real time market where prices can fluctuate in reaction to live information that can shape the outcome of a given sporting event. We see a natural correlation between the relevant information that people engage with and generate on social media and knock on reactions on betting markets.
We are currently looking at useful ways to separate the noise on social media from the critical information to make it easier for our users to access social content that can help inform their betting decisions.