Jan Anton, the CEO of San Diego-based uTemporis, is a little guarded about the genesis of Time to Enjoy, a free, location-based mobile app intended to answer the perennial question, “Is there anything for us to do?”
The app, available for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, pulls in data (from San Diego’s Eventful and Tribune Media Services) about concerts, sporting events, movies, conferences, art exhibits, kid’s activities, and millions of other events. What makes it different, Anton says, is that the app transforms a user’s mobile phone calendar into a search engine for events—so the search for something to do begins with the time and date when you’re available. The app links to about 5 million movie showtimes throughout the United States, and more than 1 million other events each month in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe.
Time to Enjoy also uses location-based technology (on all devices except the iPod touch), so users can search for events near their current location or choose any city. The search radius can range from 200 feet to 50 miles; a filter helps users winnow down their personal preferences, and users can share the results with their friends.
“We’re the first to do this type of search,” Anton says. Asked about the genesis of the technology, Anton says the concept came from “one fellow who works for a big Fortune 500 company, and who was instrumental in the app’s design.” (He wouldn’t get any more specific, but my guess is that the guy works at Qualcomm.) Anton and co-founders Brendan Boyd, Paul Gazur, and Ivan Crespo ran with the idea.
The founders incorporated uTemporis in late 2010. (The name is a Latin translation of “time to enjoy.”) They demonstrated an early version of the app in 2011 at TechCrunch NYC and at DEMO in Santa Clara in September, Anton says. “In November we acquired the domain www.timetoenjoy.com.” The Time to Enjoy app officially became available in Apple’s iTunes App Store on March 29, and the official launch followed on April 9. The uTemporis crew is now working to release an Android version by the end of the year.
Loyal Xconomy readers may recall that Anton and Boyd were previously the founders of