Expedia Launches New iPhone App For Travelers

Expedia has launched a new free iPhone application, TripAssist, that links to its mobile website to allow users to mange their travel itineraries.

TripAssist allows users to research flights, destinations, hotels, cars and activities. Once they make a reservation, they can manage and update their itineraries, find an alternative flight, research their seats and access real-time flight information.  The app also offers real-time SMS and email updates for free.

"Travel, by definition, is a mobile endeavor - you get up and go. Now, Expedia can travel with you," said Tim MacDonald, senior vice president and general manager, Expedia.com.

"TripAssist is the latest example of how Expedia.com is the easiest place to book your travel."

TripAssist allows users to view and update travel plans no matter where they were booked. Users can automatically sync an itinerary from their Expedia account or create a new itinerary. When travelers land at their destination, the app will automatically provide access to their hotel information.

Expedia says it has optimized its site for most mobile phone browsers, including BlackBerry, Android and Windows phones. The company says 55,000 trips were booked on smartphone browsers on its site in 2009, and it expects that number to increase.
 

 

Consumers Getting More Comfortable with Mobile Shopping

As you know, smartphone usage is on the rise, and that means more opportunities for businesses to sell to customers via their mobile devices. We often hear about how important mobile is to the marketing strategy and especially future strategies, but how much are consumers really into shopping from their phones?

Retrevo shared some findings with us, and concludes that consumers are increasingly warming up to the concept of shopping from their phones. Andrew Eisner, Retrevo's Director of Content says, "With the Mobile Internet becoming more available on everything from smartphones to tablet computers, we see an encouraging number of consumers researching and actually purchasing products with their mobile devices."

Not surprisingly, the mobile shopping is most popular with the young in pretty much every capacity, and the older the demographic, the less inclined they are to use mobile devices to shop.

The young also appear to be most likely to engage with mobile advertising, and even notice mobile ads at all. Furthermore, when asked about their experience when they used a mobile phone to shop, most said they searched for deals, found them, and got the best price, while nearly half also found that it made shopping easier and more fun. A much smaller percentage didn't think it was worth it and wouldn't try again.

Highlights from Retrevo's Findings:

- 59% of people said they found the shopping information they were looking for, when using a mobile phone.
- Only 8% of people said they did not intend to shop from their mobile phone
- Only 9% of people, over 35 years old, have responded to an ad on their mobile phone, compared to 20% of people under 35.
- 55% of people, ages 18 - 24, have used a mobile phone to aid in the shopping process.
- 52% of people, ages 25 - 34, have used a mobile phone to aid in the shopping process.
- 36% of people, ages 35, 44, have used a mobile phone to aid in the shopping process.
- 17% of people, ages 45 and up, have used a mobile phone to aid in the shopping process.
- 17% of people, ages 18 - 24, have made a purchase using their mobile phone.
- 15% of people, ages 25 - 34, have made a purchase using their mobile phone.
- 10% of people, ages 35 - 44, have made a purchase using their mobile phone.
- 3% of people, ages 45 and above, have made a purchase using their mobile phone.

The research indicates that the future of online shopping via mobile devices is bright. Eventually, these younger users are going to become the older ones, and the future youngsters will probably find it hard to imagine a world where shopping from mobile devices wasn't the norm.

A fitting quote from Google CEO Eric Schmidt: "Today's generation doesn't call it a mobile phone; they call it a phone."

Do you shop from your mobile device? Do you purchase items from it? Comment here.

MSFT, Google Prepare For Mobile Future In China

More evidence that Google and Microsoft remain very interested in China has surfaced.  Both companies have struck deals with MediaTek, a semiconductor company that specializes in wireless communications, and said deals should help them make headway in China's mobile market.

Dan Nystedt reported earlier today, "MediaTek has already developed a chipset and other hardware for Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 operating system and has sent the package. . . .to handset makers in China so they can start designing new Windows Mobile smartphones, a MediaTek representative said."  Also, "MediaTek will release a similar hardware and software package with Google's Android mobile phone OS in the second half of this year . . ."

Microsoft's move may not qualify as much of a surprise.  Over the past month, Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates have both made statements to the effect that they weren't troubled by recent hacking claims involving China.  Microsoft's agreement with MediaTek was actually announced by a press release, too.

It's Google's involvement with MediaTek that is a little unexpected.  Google more or less threatened to pull out of China, after all, and while it's normally much more communicative than Microsoft, the company hasn't yet put together any press releases or blog posts about this.

China's mobile market no doubt represents an opportunity for all three of these organizations to make a lot of money, in any event.

Have You Read This?

> Google May Invest In Chinese Media Firm

> China Won't Stand In The Way Of Google's Android Business

> Bill Gates Sides With Ballmer, MSFT On China

Google Launches 2 New Mobile Features for Maps

Last week, Google introduced personalized suggestions for Google Maps. This lets signed in users who have web history enabled find places faster as Google suggests places based on past searches. Now they have launched the feature for Google Maps for Mobile on Android.

"If you often use both a computer and a mobile phone in your daily routine, it can seem like a hassle when they don't stay in sync," the Google Maps team says. "You might spend time on your computer looking for a great used bookstore, only to forget the name of the place when you are ready to get directions from your phone. Sure, you could print directions in advance, but we believe smartphones are 'smart' because they save you time."

In addition to the personalized suggestions, Google has introduced starring in Google Maps for Mobile on Android. This provides users with a way to save places to access later.

"So whether you're standing at Amoeba Music with your phone or making plans to go there on your computer, you can star it so it appears on the map next time you're on either device," the team says. "When viewing place details, just press the star icon next to the place name; these starred places are automatically synchronized between desktop and mobile, and can be accessed from both the 'More' menu on your phone and from the My Maps tab on your computer."

Google actually just introduced a starring feature for Google News as well. As I mentioned with reference to that, this gives users another reason to have a Google account, which could just be one of Google's motives for offering this feature.

Both starring and personalized suggestions in Google Maps require you to be signed in with you Google account. The suggestions require you to have web history enabled.

Have You Read This?

> Google's Place Pages Just Got More Useful

> Could Billboard Ads In Google Maps Street View Become A Possibility?

> Google Maps Learns To Acknowledge Landmarks

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