Reasons why 2010 is the year of mobile in travel

I've just read Timothy O'Neil-Dunne's essay on why 2010 is not the year of mobile in travel. He has made several well reasoned arguments, most of which we've already thought of and addressed with the Datilo for Travel software. Disclosure: I work for Datilo Limited.

Let's run down his arguments, with my personal response to each issue.

"1. Platforms – the splintering of the platforms is far greater than in the PC based world and even within application platform there are so many splinter forms that the consistency of the user experience is FAR less. There are also radical differences between platform types. For example, the iPhone and the Blackberry have really different UI/UE. Good news is that 80% is concentrated onto three platforms Android, iPhone and Blackberry."

Wow - well obviously I agree with him. This is why Datilo was developed with MoSync - a cross-platform tool for mobile applications. This is why Datilo supports Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, Android, J2ME and Moblin. We'll have Blackberry very soon, and possibly iPhone if we can get through Apple's processes.

"2. 234 million people in the USA used a mobile device in December 2009, according to Comscore. However, only 47 million smart phones were shipped, with the number of Smartphones in actual operation estimated at 65 million vs 308 million people in the USA."

Yeah, and add on the same again just in India alone. Datilo for Travel isn't just for Smartphones. This is part of what we do - championing the 'feature phone', and demonstrating the 90% of Smartphone apps work just as well on much cheaper hardware.

"3. The variations in performance mean that for the vast majority of time (and this will not change in the near future) the performance of the UI due to vagaries in the network performance mean that the impatient user will often have to wait minutes for a response – similar to comparing dial up with broadband. These are theoretical speeds – I am talking about real world experience when trying to access information."

Yeah, again I agree. This is why Datilo for Travel (and all Datilo apps) are made to run primarily offline. The app downloads the small packet of data (often less than 100k) which is required for that user. They can then access this when they need to and only connect when required. More on this later.

"4. Connection breaks – you have to recover the connection and start over…. You know what I mean."

I do know what you mean Timothy, and as I've written above it is something we've directly addressed.

"5. Consistent mobile broadband speeds mean that the amount of time when a smart phone is able to actually obtain acceptable signal/performance to operate will come down significantly – we estimate that this number exceeds 40% of the time – this is based on my own experience."

Hmm, I find it better than this - maybe this is just a North American experience. I think that we've got better connections in Europe. I've just come back from the Pyrenees, and even up a mountain in France I got an HSPDA connection. Still, if you're app runs offline...

"6. Physical window aperture on the device – i.e. the ability to view the application on the screen."

So this is a UI question, and possibly in to make up the numbers. Mobile phones have small screens, and always will do by definition. If you just want the number of your hotel though, a small screen works well.

"7. Vision impairment – yes, this is a big deal. According to the Vision Council of America, approximately 75% of adults use some sort of vision correction. About 64% of them wear eyeglasses, and about 11% wear contact lenses, either exclusively, or with glasses. Over half of all women and about 42% of men wear glasses. Similarly, more women than men, 18% and 14% respectively, wear contacts. Of those who use both contacts and eyeglasses, 62% wear contact lenses more often."

OK - Got me there. I've not thought about this enough. Expect changes in the next version. I wear glasses myself, but for those users with very bad vision, we can improve our app.

"8. Dexterity impairment, juggling impairment."

I'm not too clear what you mean here. If you mean that touchscreen smartphones aren't as easy to use and some people make out, then I completely agree with you. However, we leave the choice of device to the customers.

"9. And last, by no means least, THE HIGH COST OF ROAMING. At the recent Tnooz #tcamp3 event in Berlin, I described the iPhone as the devil incarnate. For the next few years – until our favorite EU commissioner Nelly Kroes gets her way AND such moves to reduce charges are adopted by other countries – this will be the biggest impediment to adoption of travel apps."

Yep - its extortionate isn't it? What you need is an app where you can download your data on your home network, and take it abroad with you. If you need to update it, you can do so on your terms, and download a compressed packet with all your data in it, not surf until you get what you're looking for, and paying for all the data you don't want.

Finally, we get to

"So fighting through the clutter is not easy.
What now becomes a characteristic is that there is no clear portal for mobile apps. The major portals of the web, going back to the early days, were the search engines and early value-added apps – eBay, Expedia et al."

This is why we produce apps for businesses. Our customers can distribute their app to their customers. No looking around or finding misleading software.

Timothy, we'd love to have a more detailed conversation with you about this 8-).