Mastercard’s Priceless Picks app may be free, but it’s far from priceless

The Priceless Picks app from MasterCard plays off the credit card company’s popular “priceless” ad campaign. The free app is interesting but it has a long way to go yet before anyone will call this app priceless.

MasterCard Priceless Picks is intended to guide you to the best local spots in a given area.

The amusing app offers an overhead view of a map filled with colorful bubbles that point you to the priceless entertainment, restaurants and deals as decided by other users.  It’s a fun visual experience to roam the map and watch the bubbles pop up, showing you new places to explore. 

Priceless Picks is almost a visual Yellow Pages, but is only helpful if the priceless spots have been marked by another user. The content is generated by users, not MasterCard, so an urban area provides more bubbles than a rural spot. Even so, there are lots of sparse patches in city maps.   And it’s so subjective that you might question some of the Priceless Picks suggestions: Is a good deal on AA batteries really priceless?

I added one of my priceless places, a little spot that has kept me well fed.  It was quick and easy to put it on Priceless Picks, and I was satisfied that I could share it with the world. Maybe more folks will try the food.

Maybe in time Priceless Picks will grow into the insightful, special app that it intends to be.  Right now, it needs more users.

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