Eye on the Industry: Making the Case for Mobile Marketing. The following is a post from Kristen Poillon, TIG Global Manager of Sales Operations.
The Growth of MobileMobile mania is upon us, and as each year passes, consumers are becoming more and more reliant on mobile technology, only not just for the purpose of making calls anymore. With the rise of today’s smartphones, and the overwhelming popularity of the iPhone and Blackberry, mobile applications are becoming increasingly advanced to cater to the tech-saavy consumer. A recently published New York Times travel article, “Apps for the iPhone: A Traveler’s Companion, Pocket Size” summed up the growing dependence on these digital companions, likening them to an extra appendage that we can no longer live without. “It’s a quarter to five in the morning, and I have a plane to catch in two hours. But why rush out the door if my flight is already delayed? And so is the case for millions of other mobile users. eMarketer projections of mobile social network users Mobile Website Design: Mobile Marketing:
Practical Traveler - Apps for the iPhone - A Travelers Companio. Mobile flying high in the online travel industry. Retail isn't the only industry with growing mobile web activity - the travel sector is experiencing a mobile surge as well.
The latest research from The Nielsen Co. shows more consumers are turning to travel mobile sites and apps to access information, book flights and hotel rooms, and rent cars anytime, anywhere. Travelocity leads the pack, with 1.263 million unique monthly visitors in October, according to Nielsen. That's up a sizable 32.3% from 955,000 in October 2008. Expedia was close behind, with 1.258 million visitors in October, up only 4.7% from the same period the previous year. Following are the top 10 travel mobile sites and apps gauged by unique monthly visitors, according to Nielsen: 1. Source: InternetRetailer.com. Mobile Trends 2020. How the iPhone Changed Kayak’s Business – GigaOM. A mobile app needs to be more accessible than a web site, that’s for sure.
But it doesn’t necessarily need to be simpler and dumber, as travel search service Kayak learned this year. Now, the company is changing its overall business strategy to address user needs that it only became aware of from seeing how they use the Kayak iPhone app. Kayak CMO Robert Birge and Chief Architect Bill O'Donnell When Kayak went to build its first iPhone app earlier this year, Chief Architect Bill O’Donnell told us during a visit this week to GigaOM HQ, it stripped down its travel search functionality to the bare essentials.
O’Donnell’s thinking was that the prototypical mobile user was one who just had a flight canceled and needed a replacement reservation to get home, stat. Now that those stars have aligned, the company’s next major strategy initiative is actually coming from the iPhone. So starting next year, Kayak plans to offer an iPhone-friendly booking experience.
Condé Nast Traveller Unveils City Guide iPhone Apps with Augment. Condé Nast Digital Britain recently unveiled a series of apps for the iPhone and iPod touch, dubbed Condé Nast Traveller City Guides. There are four separate apps for Barcelona, New York, Paris and Rome priced at $9.99 each. The apps [iTunes link] are divided into six sections containing more than 500 searchable listings, complete with venue information, photos and editors' reviews: The list of venues is well-curated; there are enough to appeal to a relatively broad array of tastes without being overwhelming.
Users can bookmark interesting listing by adding them to a to-do list and share them via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. What's most impressive about the apps is their Augmented Reality functionality (pictured above).