The Miele Guide 2009/2010 is Available at Apple App Store Now!

(Hong Kong – March 15, 2010) Dine and travel with great taste with The Miele Guide’s new iPhone application. Asia’s first independent dining guide, The Miele Guide has quickly become one of the most trusted resources for foodies interested in eating in Asia. It is now also the handiest, with the new iPhone application launched on 24 February 2010. It is available for download via the Apple App Store at the reasonable price of just US$4.99.

“One of the things that we kept hearing, from chefs and restaurateurs to business travellers and students, was that there should be a mobile version of The Miele Guide,” says co-founder and Ate Media Director Aun Koh. “Even though the printed version is already in a pretty portable format, fans and friends kept saying that they wanted something they could use on their phones, and that was searchable and highly intuitive. Well, that’s exactly what we’ve done, with the help of some really great developers.”

The new must-have for foodies and travellers in or coming to Asia, The Miele Guide iPhone application provides iPhone users full access to the latest edition of The Miele Guide (in this case the 2009/2010 edition), whenever they want and wherever they are. Users will be able to search through detailed profiles of Asia’s best 450 restaurants, which include reviews and restaurant details such as its website, phone number, opening hours, and the accepted methods of payment.

Functionality and simplicity were priorities in developing this stylish new application. A range of flexible search options makes finding restaurants a breeze. Users can search by the restaurant’s name, its ranking in the guide, location (city and country) or by cuisine. Calling a restaurant is just one tap away, and so too is opening up a restaurant’s website or finding it on the application’s preloaded maps.

Users will love this application’s ability to plug into the iPhone’s geolocation capabilities. With the application, foodies on the go will be able to detect their current location and get recommendations for nearby restaurants.

Tapping on the ‘Map Views’ feature will then offer up easy to use directions on how to get to these restaurants. Further, through the application’s preloaded maps, users can, without having to eat up data charges, search for restaurants in any Asian city using the iPhone’s Map View, choosing where to eat based on location.

The application also has a favourites’ function, which allows users to quickly highlight and recall restaurants they love or want to visit.

The Miele Guide iPhone application was developed by Singapore-based programmers The Dumpling Dimension. The Dumpling Dimension excels in creating innovative apps and games for the iPhone. Jonathan Zhan, one of The Dumpling Dimension’s founders, said, “The Miele Guide iPhone application is the perfect resource for foodies within Asia. We’ve tried to make it as user-friendly as possible while also maintaining the integrity of both The Miele Guide’s and Miele’s brands. We’re also already working with Ate Media on plans to upgrade the App with more features over the coming year.”

“The Miele Guide iPhone app is just one of many new steps we are taking to bring our content and our restaurant profiles to wider audiences,” shares Associate Publisher Priscilla Tan. “We are in talks to potentially develop a TV show. We’re already developing a Blackberry application, which will launch in the coming months. And we’re even looking at culinary festivals and conferences built around The Miele Guide. At the end of the day, The Miele Guide can be so much more than just a restaurant ratings system. It can and will be the very best platform through which to showcase excellence in Asia’s gastronomic scene.”

The Miele Guide iPhone Application retails at US$4.99 on the Apple App Store via iTunes. It currently provides the contents of the 2009/2010 edition. Food aficionados with a BlackBerry can also look forward to downloading The Miele Guide Blackberry application on their smart phones in June 2010.