Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Thursday 7 February 2019

New app lets dog lovers swipe right for perfect pet match

By LIUDAS DAPKUS looking up with soft, yearn-
Associated Press ing eyes. Scrolling down
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — If reveals more information
the pooch melts your heart, about the pup, and those
swipe right. interested can then swipe
Animal lovers in Lithuania right.
have created a mobile ap- But there are limits to the
plication inspired by the Tinder comparison. It’s a
popular dating app Tinder one-sided situation and
to match up dogs in local the dogs don’t get to have
shelters with new owners. a swiping experience. If
Called GetPet, the app you swipe left, another
was launched last month dog profile appears.
and is getting hundreds Gecevicius said the idea
of new users daily and al- came to creators when
ready has made a few they saw a stray dog on
matches. It joins a growing the street through the win-
market of apps for people dow during a computer
looking to adopt a pet, in- workshop.
cluding PawsLikeMe and The app only features dogs
BarkBuddy. for now but the plan is to
“It is like Tinder, but with eventually include cats
dogs,” said Vaidas Gecevi- and other animals.
cius, one of app’s creators. Two friends, Emily and Ele-
“You can arrange a meet- na, recently scanned the
ing with the dog — a date.” In this photo taken on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019, Vaidas Gecevicius, who developed an app helping app and then visited the
GetPet features profiles of to match stray dogs with potential owners, poses for a picture with a dog and shows this dog’s SOS Gyvunai shelter in Vil-
furry four-legged creatures profile on the app in Vilnius, Lithuania. nius to meet Piff, a medium
Associated Press black-and-gray mongrel.
They took him for a walk
Apple’s top retail exec to leave amid iPhone in a snow-covered park
and said they would return
sales slowdown soon to take him home.
“I think it’s actually a very
great idea because in
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE placed by Deirdre O’Brien, models. It’s one reason To lure her away, Apple Lithuania we have a lot of
AP Technology Writer a longtime Apple execu- Apple posted disappoint- gave Ahrendts company stray dogs and a lot of peo-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — tive who also runs the com- ing iPhone sales during the stock valued at $70 million ple who want to adopt,”
24-year-old Elena said as
Apple’s top retailing ex- pany’s human-resources past holiday shopping sea- in 2014. In her last full year
ecutive is stepping down department. Ahrendts will son. at Apple, she received a dogs nearby ran around in
outdoor cages barking.
amid a slowdown in iPhone remain with Apple until Although Apple sells compensation package
sales that has raised doubts April. iPhones and other prod- valued at $26.5 million, ac- Ilona Reklaityte, the shel-
ter’s founder, said she is
about the company’s fu- During her 30 years at Ap- ucts such as the iPad and cording to filings with the
ture growth prospects. ple, O’Brien also helped Mac computer through a Securities and Exchange very happy about the in-
novative approach to an
The shake-up announced gauge product demand. wide variety of merchants, Commission.
Tuesday ends Angela That issue has become a its own elegantly designed Ahrendts’ arrival at the Cu- old problem.
“I really welcome this new
Ahrendts’ five-year stint problem now that custom- stores have become a piv- pertino, California, com-
overseeing Apple’s 506 re- ers are holding onto their otal outlet, especially dur- pany coincided with the app as it gives us more
chances to find our pets
tail stores and e-commerce current iPhones longer in- ing the first few weeks after rollout of the Apple Watch,
operations. She is being re- stead of buying the latest a new device hits the mar- which the company de- new owners and a new
home, and that means we
ket. signed to be a fashion
“It was clear that Apple statement in addition to a can then help other dogs
still on the streets,” Rekla-
needed new strategies wearable piece of technol-
and a potential change ogy. ityte said.
“We have 140 dogs right
on this front to catalyze de- While at Apple, Ahrendts
mand in and outside the engineered renovations of now. Sometimes we give
away one or two of them
all-important retail stores,” high-profiles stores in San
Wedbush Securities analyst Francisco, New York, Chi- every day, but now we re-
ceive (many) more calls
Daniel Ives. cago and other cities in an
Apple didn’t give a reason attempt to transform them and people are coming
for Ahrendts’ departure, into hip places to hang out more often.”q
saying only that she is leav- while shoppers checked
ing “for new personal and out the company’s latest
professional opportunities.” innovations. Her lofty de-
Ahrendts, 58, joined Ap- scription of the stores as
ple amid great fanfare in the equivalent of “town
In this Thursday, May 19, 2016, file photo, Angela Ahrendts, 2014 after CEO Tim Cook squares” became the sub-
Apple’s senior vice president of Retail and Online Stores, speaks persuaded her to leave a ject of derision among
with reporters during a preview of the new Apple Union Square glamorous job running the some analysts and media
store in San Francisco. fashion brand Burberry. commentatorsq
Associated Press