Assessing the mobile situation – then, now and in the future

TravelMole e-Wire guest Comment from EyeforTravel

Over the last week, a spate of new developments related to mobile web services, be it for flight schedules and fares or destination and airport information or local activities and weather forecasts have been announced.

Several of these developments have coincided with the launch of the new iPhone 3G.

These include travel community TripAdvisor introducing a new version of its Local Picks restaurant finder to complement the launch of Apple’s new App Store. The Local Picks application, utilising the iPhone’s location-based capabilities, will allow people to find the best restaurants, as rated by locals, based on their current location. TripAdvisor is also incorporating filters into the application that will allow searches to be conducted by rating, radius and price.

Among others, Handy Group has introduced a new icon driven interface to coincide with the launch of the new iPhone 3G. The mobile technology company’s solution will allow users to navigate using touch sensitive icons and will be available for use on all the latest handsets using touch screen technology.

From an online travel agency’s perspective, Travelocity has launched a new native application that offers iPhone and iPod touch users an innovative set of travel features while they are on the road. The new application, TravelTools, includes a new location-based feature called “Hotels Near Me” which provides a dynamic list of nearby hotels, with links to maps, hotel descriptions, and booking options. iPhone and iPod touch users away from home can also manage their itineraries booked on Travelocity, as well as get information on flight status and TSA security checkpoint wait times.

In UK, Travel Buddy, a mobile communication company, has secured a mobile deal with five tourist boards covering England’s Northwest. Led by Visit Chester and Cheshire and supported by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) the partnership includes coverage in Merseyside, Cumbria, Cheshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester. Visitors can now register for the Travel Buddy service on vistitlancashire.com, visitblackpool.com, visitcheshire.com, visitchester.com, visitmanchester.com, visitliverpool.com and golakes.co.uk.

The deal will see Travel Buddy provide visitors with keywords that can be text to a shortcode (short mobile number) to receive local activities, events, restaurants, clubs and weather forecasts on their mobile.

In Australia, Mobile Travel Technologies Ltd. (MTT) has implemented a range of mobile web services for Australia and Asia Pacific low-cost airline Jetstar (Qantas Group). At launch, the site will make available flight schedules, fares, plus destination and airport information for all mobile phone users whilst they are away from their PC or on the move. The site and services can be viewed using jetstar.com on a mobile device or on a PC. Jetstar Mobile is accessible from over 3,000 mobile devices from iPhone and PDAs down to standard feature phones.

Considering the pace of developments, it is quite clear that be it travel suppliers or mobile travel technology companies, the industry is aggressively targeting mobile Internet customers for information/ utility or reservation services.

The technology already identifies the phone type and select the best possible user interface for each individual handset. 

*EyeforTravel is scheduled to conduct Mobile Technology in Travel@WTM 2008 Conference in London on November 11. For more information, click here: www.eyefortravel.com/wtm/mobile