Within the crowded space of local search, Fastcall411, a Los Angeles based company, is trying to differentiate itself by focusing on connecting customers to businesses via phone as fast as possible. The concept is that if you are searching a category such as plumbers, FastCall411 will simultaneously call multiple plumbers in your area, and connect you with the one that answers the phone quickly.
On one hand, the concept almost feels gimmicky and I'm not sure actual consumers really will latch onto the service (I for one, am more interested in reading other peoples reviews of the merchant, which merchant answers the phone the fastest isn't really a relevant factor). Also despite their public beta release, you really can only demo their system, its not really all that usable yet (It's only available in Los Angeles and they don't have much in their system besides a few select merchants). Fastcall411, needs to get lots and lots of merchants in their system, sooner than later, if they want to have any impact.
On the otherhand, FastCall411 is working on a relatively hard problem of trying to identify local businesses that are no longer available. I have it on very good word that the big Local Search guys such as Google are having a hard time validating their huge local business databases, to certify whether or not a local listing is correct (basically is the business still there and if so, is the phone number they have on file accurate). While I think it is unlikely FastCall411 will succeed in the consumer space, if their technology really does deliver, they have a decent shot at doing well by shifting their focus to selling or licensing the software for something like GOOG411.
http://www.techcoastreview.com
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