Based in Taiwan, a new mobile app called Reqvu aims to give you back the moments you wish you had. Co-founded by Tim Brown, also of Shanzai.com, Reqvu has officially launched in the Apple App Store.
Conceptually, it’s hard to grasp what ‘giving you back moments you miss but no it’s not a teleportation machine or something that splits your body in two allowing you to be in two places at once. Let’s say you are away overseas on a business trip and you are missing out on Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of waiting to see what happened after on Facebook, you use the app to tell people what you want to see in the form of pictures or videos. The request you send will be posted on their Facebook wall. For example, you request “I want to see you cut the turkey!” then whoever is there can instantly send you an image or video of them cutting the turkey. Other people can then share these experiences on Facebook and Youtube.
The purpose of Revqu is to influence things from a demand driven angle, as opposed to wait for something to happen or stumble upon something after it happened. For example, I know my friends are at a party but I might request them to take a stupid photo for me and see it right away. However this can only work on the premise that they have the Revqu app open at the same time as you and are constantly monitoring it. Through a feature called ‘Me2’, other people who want to see the same thing as you can click it and request to see it as well. In this way, the person undertaking the action can determine what they do and who sees what.
‘Action Mode’ is a check-in like feature of Reqvu that allows people to know where you are in the app and let’s people know you are available to take pictures and video requests. For example, my friend is walking around the Eiffel Tower in Paris for half an hour, they turn ‘Action Mode’ on so I can request them to video it for me.
The start-up is still in the very early stages and is iterating constantly based on what users feel. What do you think?
You can download the app here to try it.
P.S Reqvu is FREE:
Hey Jason, thanks for looking over Reqvu. Actually its not just about seeing something right away. Its more about seeing EXACTLY what you want to see. My friends take lots of great pics in the pub or at events etc… but often they wouldn’t shoot something interesting I wish I could see if I was there. Like them making a toast to me! 😉 Its like nudging them to take the photos you want or do something strange, when you can’t be there yourself! If anyone has any questions I’ll check back here and help out.