Welcome to day three of Gizmodo's March Madness challenge to name the greatest app of all time! WhatsApp barely beat out Dark Sky in our app Second round In the tournament, he received 53% of the total votes. It tore through the dark sky. Today we have an epic grudge match between Google Maps and Yelp.
If you're just tuning in, you can read all about our selection criteria for this historic competition here. And always, if you think we missed your personal favorite app of all time, give us a shout in the comments. Now, let's get into today's contestants.
With over a billion monthly active users, our front runner is the undisputed king of mapping apps. Google Maps, which was launched in 2005, is one of the frontrunners in the competition but has shown no signs of slowing down in its advanced age. If there's ever a mobile app that can be said to have made the world a better place, it's hard to argue with this one. The days of printing MapQuest directions were officially over when this bad boy appeared on the scene. Even Apple couldn't catch up.
With nearly 100 million monthly users, Yelp is the underdog in this contest but what it lacks in size it makes up for in design. For at least 13 years, it has been an online review center Little daggers have been thrown at Google It prompted governments to engage in antitrust actions against the search giant.
The Rotten Tomatoes of restaurant reviews taught us all how to take advice from the world's most annoying Karen and gave people a way to harass companies over the smallest insult from halfway around the world. But at its best, Yelp can help small, emerging businesses rise to the top of the ranks by simply focusing on quality and letting the reviews flow.
What will the readers be? Will you vote for the maps of one of the world's most restrictive monopolists or will you leave your five-star Yelp review without a comment?
Greatest App Ever: March Madness Bracket Day 1
Greatest App Ever: March Madness Bracket Day 2
“Typical beer trailblazer. Hipster-friendly web buff. Certified alcohol fanatic. Internetaholic. Infuriatingly humble zombie lover.”