Lastminute and Orange sign m-commerce deal

Tuesday, 23 Jan, 2002 0

Lastminute.com has formed a strategic partnership with mobile phone firm Orange UK.

The deal follows the tie-up announced last week with auction television channel bid-up tv. Head of new platforms Babak Fouladi (pictured) told TravelMole: “Getting people to book online is our number one business, but we understand that you have to look at it from a total customer standpoint. People do other things apart from sitting behind a computer. While you are sitting on your couch you may decide to do something and want to book it on the tv. If you are at the ball park you might want to book a restaurant or a flight and mobile technology will allow you to do it.”

According to Orange in September last year 364,000 of its customers used WAP enabled handsets, and this is understood to be increasing by around 15,000 per month. Mr Fouladi conceded that while this represents only a small proportion of Orange’s 12.2million UK customers he said the market was set to increase dramatically as technology improves. While the results of the deal would not be immediate, Mr Fouladi said some Orange customers with WAP phones should see benefits “this year definitely.”

Mr Fouladi has previously told TravelMole that he believes in future Lastminute will be able to offer customers select products depending on their geographic location as pinpointed by their phone. Lastminute aims adapt its new Geospatial search facility so it can also be used with WAP devices. Geospatial allows users to enter a location or postcode, and a map of the area appears with entertainment, restaurants, hotels and points of interest picked out.

It is expected that the deal, if successful, will be rolled out to other European markets including France. Lastminute acquired the Degriftour Group, one of France’s leading e-travel groups in October 2000 and Orange has 16.6 million users in France. Mr Fouladi said: “The deal is with Orange UK but they are a strategic partner and if it is good for both we could move to new areas and applications.”