PhoCusWright@ITB: Best Practices in Mobile Applications

by Josiah Mackenzie on March 12, 2009

Highlights from panel discussion:

Frequent travelers are usually the earlier adapters in mobile technology.
Don’t just take your existing web content and adapt it to mobile. Create mobile-specific content.
Notifications of travel changes is what makes the mobile platform unique.
Many hotel booking systems are too complex to use on a mobile. Will the future bring saved payment/profile information that eases this process?
In the US, 30% of iPhone users say it replaces their laptop usage
In Japan, more people access internet on their mobile than with a traditional computer
For many people in India and China, the mobile internet is their only access to the internet
Web-based content could eliminate the need to for traditional smartphone apps. However, there are cases when it’s good to have an application that does not rely on internet access.
The user doesn’t care of your service is an app or online, they only care about ease and speed of use
Advantage of apps: you can use device-specific features (like iPhone location services)
Travel suppliers are taking the lead in mobile innovation, not travel intermediaries
International data roaming is a big barrier and issue to work around

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Article by Josiah Mackenzie // March 12, 2009 Josiah spends pretty much all day, every day looking for ways you can use new media and the social web to improve your business. To bring him on your team, you should look at our Insider's Circle program here.