• TechCrunch, Monday, May 4, 2009 11:15 AM

Market meltdown notwithstanding, restaurant reservation company OpenTable is still poised to go public, having filed its intention to do so back in January. The company filed its first quarter earnings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday, and they were decent, says TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy: $366,000 profit on revenues of just under $16 million. Last year's first quarter came with an $87,000 loss on revenues of $13.2 million.

OpenTable is really a software-as-a-service company. It doesn't have an ad model. Its customers are actually restaurants using its reservation software and paying monthly subscription fees. As a SaaS company, OpenTable isn't going to be Internet homerun, Lacy says, because SaaS companies, while somewhat predictable, lack big blowout quarters. Also, "a business like OpenTable's takes a lot of investment in sales and marketing to close a modest deal," Lacy says, "and that will be harder as the company strives for more international reach."

But an iPhone App may lead the way: One possible advantage for the company comes from its new location-aware iPhone app that lets diners search for real-time reservations. This way, if it's Friday night in New York City, you can search for immediate openings in the neighborhood you happen to be in.

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