Learn Important English or Spanish Terms When Interacting With Employees With iDigo

Screenshots of iDigo

This is NOT a paid review. Everything I write in this post is my own opinion.

I just received an email from Larry Upton, creator of iDigo, which is an iPhone App designed to facilitate better communication between English and Spanish speakers and their staff, employees, or employers. Here's the email:

Dear Ben,

Good morning! I'm not very blog-savvy, so pardon any unintended breach of protocol. My name is Larry Upton. I founded a small technology company, edioma, here in Austin, TX a number of years ago. We develop and publish language assistance tools for mobile phone users, in particular English speakers who wish to communicate better in Spanish and vice-versa. Our first iPhone based product, iDigo, shipped last week and is designed to facilitate better communication between English-speaking homeowners and Spanish-speaking staff (e.g., housecleaners, lawn care professionals, handymen, etc.). Would this be of interest to you?

Thanks in advance and kind regards,
Larry Upton Founder & CEO edioma, Inc.

I asked Larry for an overview of his product, and he shot me a great summary:

edioma™, a provider of mobile device learning products, today announced that it began shipping iDigo Home, an iPhone-based language assistance application designed to help English-speaking homeowners communicate with Spanish-speaking staff (e.g., housekeepers, lawncare workers, handymen). iDigo is now available for download from the iTunes App Store for $1.99, with free upgrades posted on a monthly basis.

iDigo Home is the first in a line of iPhone applications that edioma plans to introduce in Q3 and Q4 of 2009. Future versions of iDigo will focus on facilitating communication between management and staff in specific industry verticals, such as Hospitality (restaurant/hotel), Jobsite (construction), and Travel (business travelers).

This application looks helpful and easy to use. However, one thing made me uneasy: How would a person who doesn't speak Spanish or English know the pronunciation of the words they were reading? So, of course, I sent Larry yet another email, and came back with this:

Morning!

Yes, iDigo provides an audible pronunciation for the English phrase into Spanish, so that not only can one learn to speak the phrase, but in a tight spot, could simply hold the phone up for the other party to hear.

Best,

LU

Larry has been very patient with all my questions about his product, but I wanted to know if this application is something that would be useful to lawn business owners.

My Verdict

I would recommend this product if you use an iPhone or iPod Touch and own a lawn business in which you have to interact with employees who speak little or no English. The cost is only $1.99, so why not? It could help you do a better job on lawn care tasks. Also, this product could benefit communication between you and your employees. iDigo has the potential to definitely help your lawn business.

Labels: product reviews