Urbanspoon finally ends its service as Zomato rises in the market

Zomato is finally shutting down Urbanspoon after five months of transition that cost almost $60 million. Users have to say goodbye to the Seattle-based restaurant directory and its shake-to-search feature.

Urbanspoon was founded nine years ago by a couple who sold it to IAC Company and next to Zomato. It is an abrupt ending for this restaurant service provider and many subscribers feel a little nostalgic about it. The iconic "shake-to-search" feature is run by an iPhone app that shows nearest restaurant by shaking the device. Sadly, it will not be a part of Zomato's app.

As part of the transition, Zomato will have to settle long lists of important matters to able to start operating with a new system. On Zomato's Facebook Page, a short but meaningful post says, "So long, Urbanspoon!"

Earlier in January, Zomato decided to acquire Urbanspoon because of its 31 million app downloads and wide list of directory restaurants that they can use in competing big companies in the industry like Yelp. To provide better services to its users, they decided to phase out the Urbanspoon brand and expand the Zomato's data base, according to Geekwire.

One month after the acquisition, Zomato's CEO Deepinder Goyal gave importance to Urbanspoon's user based in countries like U.S, Canada and Australia. The two companies will emerged and that will give Zomato another two-third overall traffic from three countries registered in Urbanspoon.

A new logo for Zomato Company resembles the same image of spoon like what the customers have seen before in the Seattle company logo. Goyal wants to make the transition less painful for Urbanspoon users and at least to leave some legacy to them.

All users who will visit the website Urbanspoon.com will be redirected immediately to Zomato.com. As of now, Urbanspoon app still functions but a note appears at the top portion of the page telling users that their account will be transferred to Zomato.

Some of the changes that Zomato needs to consider is whether to stick on Urbanspoon's "likes" and "dislikes" option or continue with their own 5-pont scale rating. As a bonus, they are giving 25 point to those people who give reviews and 2 points for those who share photos.