Why A New Android App Is Expected To Double Gigwalk’s Mobile Workforce

Gigwalk, until now an iPhone-only service, has launched an Android version of its app, which posts crowdsourced jobs for the mobile workforce marketplace. Now the 400,000 Android users who had signed up in anticipation can now go out and get some work.

The app comes as the company continues on its tear, growing 300 percent in the last year with 320,000 iPhone users already in its workforce. Gigwalk expects the new Android app to double this number by the end of September.

Gigwalk connects businesses with people looking for work. For instance, clothing companies use Gigwalk to find people who will go to stores and refold shirts and make sure the product is displayed well on store shelves. Insurance companies hire Gigwalk workers to take pictures of houses to help with inspections. Car-sharing services also use the platform for people to take pictures of cars that it is considering adding to its inventory.

The need for an Android app became apparent as Gigwalk’s retail merchandising business started to grow. More than 60 percent of the people looking for work in the retail merchandising sector own an Android phone. According to the latest Comscore data, Android now commands 52 percent of the consumer market in the United States and North America while iPhones have an approximate 40 percent share. Worldwide, IDC estimates Android market share to be upwards of 80 percent.

CTO and Founder Matt Compton said Android’s affordable price makes it more accessible for Gigwalkers who are often younger or just can’t afford the price of an iPhone. That’s especially true in the Southeast where Android devices have a deeper market presence.

Gigwalk is a data-driven service, which makes the difference in comparison to staffing agencies that have largely been built on matching workers with employers based on a business process that is still largely manual in nature.

Gigwalk, in contrast, measures just about everything, ranging from punctuality to the quality of the work. That assures the employer gets the right people for the job and workers get better work as they prove their responsibility.

Retail merchandising, taking photos — they are the right markets for a mobile workforce. The problem: the common route is for services companies to launch an iPhone app and then an Android app, leaving many of these people without the tools they need to get the work they want and that companies need filled.

It also points to why Android apps in some cases should be launched first when trying to reach a socioeconomic bracket that can’t necessarily afford an iPhone. Until recently, it made far more sense to launch first with an iPhone app. Now with Android devices so far and wide, that’s not necessarily the case anymore.