Doodle (website)

Last updated

Doodle
Doodle website logo.svg
Screenshot
Doodle webpage screenshot.png
Available in26 languages
Headquarters Zürich
Key peopleRenato Profico (CEO)
URL doodle.com
RegistrationNot required
Current statusActive
Written in JavaScript (through JSF) [1]

Doodle is an online calendar tool for time management and coordinating meetings. It allows users to schedule and make arrangements collaboratively, among other features. Doodle is available on desktop and mobile platforms. [2]

Contents

Headquarters

Founded in 2007, the company is headquartered in Zürich and has offices in Berlin, Belgrade, Atlanta and New York City. [3]

History

Doodle was founded in Zürich, Switzerland by ETH Zurich students Michael Näf and Paul Sevinç in 2007. [4] [5] Näf came up with the idea of creating a scheduling tool after experiencing difficulty coordinating time for dinner with his friends. [6]

Swiss media giant TX Group purchased a stake in the company in 2011, [7] which was increased to 100 percent in 2014. [8]

Doodle acquired Meekan in 2016. Meekan was a chatbot developed in Israel that used artificial intelligence and natural language processing to schedule meetings. Doodle has since begun to integrate this technology into their products. [9]

Meekan subsequently shut down in 2019. [10]

Rebranded

The company rebranded in 2022 and launched a redesigned website. [11]

Features

Doodle is freemium software with paid and unpaid tiers of services and features. [12] Its core features include the ability to coordinate meetings and schedules through a poll system, [13] which does not require user registration for basic functionality. [14] Users are asked to determine the best time and date to meet via poll. [15] The organizer then chooses the time that suits everyone and the meeting is booked in the user's calendar. [4]

Meeting coordinators (administrators) receive e-mail alerts for votes and comments. Registration is required to have this function. [16] Users can create booking pages to allow customers to schedule appointments. [17]

Paid plans provide access to additional features such as unlimited booking pages and 1:1s, single sign-on, customizable branding, activity reports and onboarding. Paid subscribers also do not experience any advertisements. [17] [18]

Doodle integrates with external scheduling and workflow management platforms such as Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, and Apple iCal. These can be used with Doodle to track dates. [19] Google Maps may also be used to share the location of the event. [16] In November 2018, Doodle 1:1 was launched, allowing users to schedule one-on-one meetings. [20]

During the rise of remote work during COVID-19, Doodle added integration with virtual meeting platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. It also integrates with workflow applications such as Zapier. [17]

Mobile application

Doodle released its Android and iOS apps in 2014. [21] Users can create, coordinate and respond to polls via mobile apps and are not required to register for some features. [2]

Usage

Doodle is used by individuals, businesses, corporations and schools, [22] in over 200 countries. A 2013 study by Harvard University noted, that "Doodle's uptake was highly supported by word-of-mouth communication". [23] In 2014, they passed the 20 million monthly user benchmarks. [24] In 2016, Doodle was used by more than 180 million unique users around the world. [25] It had over 30 million monthly users as of 2022. [3]

Reception

Doodle was included on TechRadar's list of the "Best scheduling apps of 2023". [26] Its desktop and Android versions were both given positive reviews in PCMag, and the software received an Editors' Choice award from the magazine. [18] [2]

The tool has received several awards, including the Open Source Awards, [27] and the Best of Swiss Web Awards. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microsoft Outlook</span> Email and calendaring software

Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily being popular as an email client for businesses, Outlook also includes functions such as calendaring, task managing, contact managing, note-taking, journal logging, web browsing, and RSS news aggregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avast</span> Czech security software company

Avast Software s.r.o. is a Czech multinational cybersecurity software company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, that researches and develops computer security software, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Avast has more than 435 million monthly active users and the second largest market share among anti-malware application vendors worldwide as of April 2020. The company has approximately 1,700 employees across its 25 offices worldwide. In July 2021, NortonLifeLock, an American cybersecurity company, announced that it was in talks to merge with Avast Software. In August 2021, Avast's board of directors agreed to an offer of US$8 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Calendar</span> Time-management and scheduling calendar service

Google Calendar is a time-management and scheduling calendar service developed by Google. It was created by Mike Samuel as part of his 20% project at Google. It became available in beta release April 13, 2006, and in general release in July 2009, on the web and as mobile apps for the Android and iOS platforms.

Google Workspace is a collection of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed and marketed by Google. It consists of Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Meet and Chat for communication; Currents for employee engagement; Drive for storage; and the Google Docs Editors suite for content creation. An Admin Panel is provided for managing users and services. Depending on edition Google Workspace may also include the digital interactive whiteboard Jamboard and an option to purchase add-ons such as the telephony service Voice. The education edition adds a learning platform Google Classroom and today has the name Workspace for Education.

Wrike, Inc. is an American project management application service provider based in San Jose, California. Wrike also has offices India, Dallas, Tallinn, Nicosia, Dublin, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Prague.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prezi</span> Online presentation design platform

Prezi is an American video and visual communications software company founded in 2009 in Hungary, with offices in San Francisco, Budapest and Riga as of 2020. According to Prezi, in 2021, the software company has more than 100 million users worldwide who have created approximately 400 million presentations. In 2019, they launched Prezi Video, a tool that allows for virtual presentations within the video screen of a live or recorded video. The word Prezi is the short form of "presentation" in Hungarian. As of January 2022, the company had around 300 employees in 13 countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quizlet</span> American online studying platform

Quizlet is a multi-national American company that provides tools for studying and learning. Quizlet was founded in October 2005 by Andrew Sutherland, who at the time was a 15-year old student, and released to the public in January 2007. Quizlet's primary products include digital flash cards, matching games, practice electronic assessments, and live quizzes. In 2017, 1 in 2 high school students used Quizlet. As of December 2021, Quizlet has over 500 million user-generated flashcard sets and more than 60 million active users.

Asana, Inc., is an American software company based in San Francisco whose flagship Asana service is a web and mobile "work management" platform designed to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. Asana, Inc. was founded in 2008 by Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein. The product launched commercially in April 2012. In September 2020, the company was valued at $5.5 billion following its direct listing.

Viber, or Rakuten Viber, is a cross-platform voice over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging (IM) software application owned by Japanese multinational company Rakuten, provided as freeware for the Google Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS and Linux platforms. Users are registered and identified through a cellular telephone number, although the service is accessible on desktop platforms without needing mobile connectivity. In addition to instant messaging it allows users to exchange media such as images and video records, and also provides a paid international landline and mobile calling service called Viber Out. As of 2018, there are over a billion registered users on the network.

Slack is a cloud-based team communication platform developed by Slack Technologies, which has been owned by Salesforce since 2020. Slack uses a freemium model. Slack's primary userbase is businesses, and has functionalities primarily for businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cortana (virtual assistant)</span> Discontinued personal assistant by Microsoft

Cortana was a virtual assistant developed by Microsoft that used the Bing search engine to perform tasks such as setting reminders and answering questions for users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunrise Calendar</span>

Sunrise is a discontinued electronic calendar application for mobile and desktop. The service was launched in 2013 by designers Pierre Valade and Jeremy Le Van. In October 2015, Microsoft announced that they had merged the Sunrise Calendar team into the larger Microsoft Outlook team where they will work closely with the Microsoft Outlook Mobile service.

Acompli is a discontinued mobile app that allowed for user interaction with email messages as well as management of multiple email accounts in one programme. In addition, the tool also organized one's calendar and shared files. This application provided for integration with cloud storage platforms such as Dropbox, OneDrive, and iCloud; it also carried support for Microsoft Exchange and Gmail. Acompli launched on 24 April 2014. The startup company, which had $7.3 million in funding, was led by CEO Javier Soltero, J.J. Zhuang (CTO) and Kevin Henrikson.

Notion is a productivity and note-taking web application developed by Notion Labs, Inc. It is an online and offline organizational tool on operating systems, offering users free-to-use or paid subscriptions. It is based in San Francisco, California, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitwarden</span> Open-source password manager


Bitwarden is a freemium open-source password management service that stores sensitive information, such as website credentials, in an encrypted vault. The platform offers a variety of client applications, including a web interface, desktop applications, browser extensions, mobile apps, and a command-line interface. Bitwarden offers a free US or European cloud-hosted service as well as the ability to self-host.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Messages</span> Messaging application developed by Google

Google Messages is a text messaging software application developed by Google for its Android and Wear OS mobile operating systems, while it's also available via the Web.

Area 120 is Google's in-house incubator in which employees work on 20% Project product ideas. It has helped develop Gmail, AdSense, Google News, and Google Cardboard.

PrivadoVPN is a VPN service provider with applications for Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, AndroidTV and Amazon Fire TV along with custom configuration support for routers and Linux. PrivadoVPN is based in Switzerland and operates under Swiss privacy laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obsidian (software)</span> Knowledge base and note-taking software

Obsidian is a personal knowledge base and note-taking software application that operates on Markdown files. It allows users to make internal links for notes and then to visualize the connections as a graph. It is designed to help users organize and structure their thoughts and knowledge in a flexible, non-linear way. The software is free for personal use, with commercial licenses available for pay.

References

  1. "Ever wondered how Doodle works?". Doodle Blog. 29 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Doodle (for Android) Review". PCMAG. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  3. 1 2 "The History of Doodle". doodle.com. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 "We've met the people behind the Doodle scheduling tool". Newly Swissed – Switzerland Expat Online Magazine. 16 February 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  5. sda, Thomas Nussbaum (24 October 2017). "IT: Wie ein Nachtessen zu Doodle führte". St. Galler Tagblatt (in German). Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  6. Computerworld.ch. "Interview mit Doodle-CEO Michael Näf". Computerworld.ch (in Swiss High German). Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  7. O'Hear, Steve (11 June 2011). "Doodle sees "partial exit" as Swiss publisher Tamedia buys 49% stake". TechCrunch. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  8. "Newsroom – Tamedia" . Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  9. "Doodle acquires chatbot Meekan to integrate its A.I. scheduling assistant". VentureBeat. 30 June 2016. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  10. "Meekan Shut Down September 30, 2019". Twitter. Archived from the original on 23 February 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
  11. "Doodle introduces its rebranded new self". markets.businessinsider.com. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  12. Lumb, David (24 April 2015). "Scheduling App Doodle Tries To Redesign Itself For An American Audience". Fast Company .
  13. Kim, Joshua. "Why Hasn't Microsoft or Google Bought Doodle?". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  14. "Doodle Poll: How to Create Polls, Schedule Meetings, and More". www.columbia.edu. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  15. Laura Stack (2010). "SuperCompetent Key 2:availability". SuperCompetent: The Six Keys to Perform at Your Productive Best. John Wiley and Sons. p. 79. ISBN   978-0-470-59915-0 . Retrieved 31 March 2011.
  16. 1 2 Eric Goodwin (7 April 2011). "Web site of the week: Doodle". McClatchy-Tribune News Service . Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  17. 1 2 3 Ionescu, Stefan (9 August 2022). "Doodle". TechRadar. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  18. 1 2 "Doodle Review". PCMAG. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  19. "The Complete Guide To Doodle" . Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  20. "Doodle 1:1 scheduling feature tackles 'wasted minutes' arranging meetings". 23 November 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  21. Sawers, Paul (7 January 2014). "Doodle to be Acquired by Tamedia". The Next Web. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  22. Rikard, Andrew (17 June 2016). "Higher-Ed Hacks of the Week: Zoom, Lumen Learning Candela, Doodle - EdSurge News". EdSurge. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  23. Reinecke, Katharina; Nguyen, Minh Khoa; Bernstein, Abraham; Näf, Michael; Gajos, Krzysztof Z. (2013). "Doodle around the world". Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work. ACM Press. pp. 45–54. doi:10.1145/2441776.2441784. ISBN   978-1-4503-1331-5. S2CID   3333625.
  24. "Doodle crosses the 20M user mark". Doodle Blog. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  25. "Review: Doodle scheduling app gets straight to the point". The National. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  26. Turner, Brian (7 September 2022). "Best scheduling apps of 2023". TechRadar. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  27. "CH Open Source Awards 2010". DINAcon Awards (in German). Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  28. "Doodle gewinnt Ehrenpreis der Best of Swiss Web Awards". Swiss IT Magazine (in German). Retrieved 15 June 2023.