Doodle Blog

Only a couple of hours to go this year. So it’s time to look back at some of Doodle’s highlights 2009:

• Passed the 3 million users mark in April and continued to experience very healthy growth rates ever since then
• Named one of Switzerland’s best web sites, one of Switzerland’s most innovative companies, and a global innovator
• Conducted and published a much cited international study on scheduling behavior in corporations
• Launched the Doodle iPhone app
• Introduced paid services for organizations (Branded Doodle) and private individuals (Premium Doodle)
• And, most importantly, implemented a long list of improvements and extensions to make scheduling even easier, quicker, and more comfortable: close date/time polls, invite and inform participants from within Doodle directly (including an address book), XING integration, locations and maps, file attachments, calendar integrations (Outlook, Google Calendar, Lotus Notes, …), more translations, API, etc.

We would like to thank all our users and customers for their support and wish you all the best for 2010!

Red Herring writes:

Selected from a pool of 1,200 worldwide applicants, these global innovators are the ones to watch as they disrupt their respective industries.

Together with Doodle, a total of 12 Swiss startups are nominated for the award. The winners will be announced in mid-January.

• All the nominees on the Red Herring web site

Our most recent annoucements were focussed on our paid products: the advanced efficiency features for Premium Doodle and Branded Doodle and the iPhone App. However, Doodle’s free functionality made great progress as well. Here are are the most important new features of 2009:

• Close polls and pick final date and time
• RESTful API
• ICS Feed to connect electronic calendars
• Doodle Outlook Plugin
• Invite & Contact for Doodle invitations
• XING application
• Locations with Google Maps
• File upload with drop.io
• Doodle Gadget for Firefox, Gmail and Google Calendar
• Doodle Widget for Lotus Notes
• Mobile Doodle: out of Beta and MyDoodle support
• Languages 27, 28 and 29: Czech, Hebrew, and Indonesian

Who better to advance online scheduling than its pioneer, Doodle? In a recent market study we surveyed online schedulers to learn what capability would next be of greatest value to them; the sample of respondents clearly prioritized getting reliable, prompt responses from all meeting participants. In direct response, we’re releasing new efficiency features—Quick Reply and binding RVSPs.

Check out Premium Doodle and Branded Doodle!

Or read more in our press release.

We’re pleased to report that our iPhone app is now available. Through our collaboration with Neoos, we are providing core Doodle features in a native iPhone way that make scheduling even easier and more fun on the run.  In Switzerland we are already experiencing an overwhelming reception–thank you to all the early adopters who so quickly grabbed the app and have provided us with such positive feedback! It is available in the iTunes App Store for $ 2.99 or € 2.39.

Learn more and grab the app!

Laura Stack put together some valulable tips for getting control over the time eaten up by meetings. Its worth reading!

Office Productivity: Stop the Meeting Madness

The Crunchies recognize and celebrate the most compelling startups, internet and technology innovations of the year. And you get to choose who wins! So please help us win.

It’s easy, just use the badge below or click this link to access the pre-filled nomination form for Doodle as Best International Start-up. You can vote daily until Friday, Dec 4. Thank you!

Today we reached beta status with the Doodle Widget for Lotus Notes, the latest advance in helping you to expedite and gain even greater control over the scheduling process. Doodle now works with IBM Lotus Notes in addition to MS Outlook, iCal, Google and other electronic calendars. This latest seamless integration further equips organizations, small businesses and enterprises to close the gap between disparate calendars and simplify meeting coordination—enabling professionals to regain valuable time lost each week to get participants on “the same page.”

Read the full press release on Doodle’s calendar integration capabilities, use cases and screenshots.

Apply for the Doodle Widget for Lotus Notes beta version!

For the environment, in health care or in academia: project managers rely on the flexibility of Doodle when coordinating and scheduling times with a large number of people. Read their original voices!

“In ONE DAY we had nearly all of the time slots filled with volunteers — a scheduling job that would have been a nightmare the old way.” More…

Jeanne Huber, Wild Salmon Protection Project on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

“Doodle makes it simple for all of us to assemble a group of people, especially when participants use different calendar systems.” More…

Amy, a project specialist for a health care quality center in Cincinnati, Ohio

Coordinating multiple meetings for 15 committees, each made up of approximately 18 faculty members: “I couldn’t have done it any other way. Next time Doodle will again be critical to our efforts.” More…

Curriculum Manager Erin Seay at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

Doodle published a Gadget for iGoogle almost exactly one year ago. It is used heavily and feedbacks are very positive, e.g. this one: “A simple but great plugin to see my Doodles. From the creator of Doodle himself. Cool idea and extremly useful!”

The same gadget can be used in many other places:

• In the sidebar of your Firefox browser: Visit this address, create a bookmark, edit the new bookmark’s properties and activate the “open in sidebar” checkbox, then open the bookmark.
• In your Gmail sidebar: Activate Gmail labs, enable “add any gadget by URL”, go to “Settings / Gadgets” and add the Doodle gadget (URL).
• In your Google Calendar: Activate labs for Google calendar, enable the “add any gadget by URL” gadget and use that gadget to add the Doodle gadget (URL).

Where else can it be used? Tell us in the comments!

And BTW: we also have a Facebook and a XING app. And there are other ways to integrate Doodle with Google’s and others’ calendars. Learn more.