Google acquires Clever Sense to improve local recommendations

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has acquired Clever Sense, the mobile applications developer behind the curated recommendations tool Alfred. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. The Clever Sense team will join Google's local services division.

Alfred, available as a free download via Google's Android Market as well as Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) rival App Store, supplies personalized recommendations for nearby restaurants, bars, nightclubs and coffeehouses, all in tune with the user's current location, time of day and related contextual factors. Alfred's suggestions evolve and improve over time according to user feedback.

The Clever Sense deal follows three months after Google acquired ratings service and local reviews provider Zagat in a move to enhance its location-enabled consumer services across the mobile and desktop platforms. This summer, Google also acquired local deals startup The Dealmap, furthering its acceleration into the location services segment.

Twenty-eight percent of American adults use their mobile phones to access directions or recommendations based on their current location, according to a survey issued in September by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Pew adds that 55 percent of smartphone users have now accessed a location-based information service.

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Special Report: Clever Sense - 8 rising stars in mobile app development

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