Urbanspoon Disappearing Into New Parent Zomato

Following its $50 million – $60 million acquisition by competitor Zomato, the Urbanspoon app is officially being shuttered.

The good news for lovers of Urbanspoon?

Many of the apps’ features – restaurant information, for example – will be integrated into Zomato.

The bad news?

Among transferring features, Urbanspoon’s shake feature – which showed users a selection of venues based on their current location – didn’t make the cut. There will be no more shaking it like a Polaroid picture when the young, hip and mobile-enabled want to eat.

Zomato has a full list of upcoming changes and tweaks currently posted on its blog. Those changes include a rating system that has been switched to a five point “positive” and “negative” scale – as opposed to the “like” and “dislike” ratings available on the old app. Zomato will also be adding a login feature that Urbanspoon users will not have seen before (in order, Zomato says, to enhance users’ abilities to see friends’ choices – not so their data can be sold).

Gurgaon-based Zomato is making its U.S. debut with the acquisition of Urbanspoon. Zomato believes tying to the two apps together will net out 80 million visits to the app per month, up from 35 million. For users, this means that they can now search over 1 million listings from 10,000 cities in 22 countries.

However, Zomato has to play against some very well known players on U.S. soil like Foursquare and Yelp, both of which perform similar services.

The company hopes to stand out with its reviews, which include menu information and other content updated regularly by its employees. Its app and website monetize through native advertising as well as reservation bookings.

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