The Increase In Travel With Mobile Devices – Apps and America

Mobile devices are increasingly making planning and booking our holidays and vacations easier every day with more and more people using these devices and apps everyday.

Travel giant Expedia from America have shown recently how much people plan their trips and tours while already on the go or in the middle of their holidays.

According to Expedia America over 65% of people book a hotel or resort room within 24 hours of checking availability from a mobile device such as a Smartphone or tablet.

Incredibly with the increase of mobile usage across the globe they have found more than 15 per cent of travelers who book a flight twenty four hours or less in advance do so using a mobile device of some sort.

These stats are showing how Americans are embracing mobile devices and increasing business for early adopters of the technology. Both stats show how smart phones and mobile devices have given power to the consumer to capture even better prices on last minute deals for flights and holidays.

An interesting finding from the data was that hotels or rooms with lower ratings between 2 and 3 stars are most commonly booked and paid for via debit or credit cards with mobile devices and apps from the travel industry. At App Consultants we are seeing more Australian travel companies start to move into this area to capitalise on the increased demand in booking last minute deals for flights, tours, and hotel room providers with over capacity.

So for our American cousins this flurry of activity shows travelers use their mobile devices and apps to book and make reservations on Friday and Saturday’s. This shows us the industry is moving at break neck speeds and having a viable app indicates the growth in sales and bookings that may not have occurred before the popularity and penetration of mobile.

It won’t be long before we are comparing data for Australia from companies such as Expedia and Wotif to see how much a great mobile experience for the consumer translates into a prosperous ROI for the travel companies. If you have a travel app you would like us to mention or an app that you can’t live without on your journey then share it with us at App Consultants.

Benefits of Mobile Payments To Small Businesses

Mobile has allowed companies of all sizes to be successful with technology.  It is now far easier for a small business to adopt a mobile payment platform without the large infrastructure that was previously required to accept credit and debit cards.

Not only are mobile payment solutions easy to implement, they can also help you increase sales to your business.

For example you could:

Incentive programs - Mobile payment technology also allows a business to integrate innovative loyalty and incentive programs into their mobile payment applications.  This can remove the need for loyalty cards or key ring tags with all information stored in the loyalty app each time the customer makes a purchase through their mobile device.  This can allow businesses to use technology to link payments to rewards while adding value to the customer and increasing revenue.

Ability to accept credit card payments - Many small businesses, particularly those in remote locations, were often prohibited from accepting credit cards either by technological barriers or cost.  Any small business who starts accepting credit cards will immediately increase their customer base and sales.

Track customer trends and inventory - By using a mobile payment solution you will not only be able to maintain more accurate inventory levels but will also have the ability to learn more about the purchasing habits of your customers.  Businesses can use purchasing data to identify trends in sales and spikes in business to ensure they can meet customer demand.

Increased speed at the check out - It is a fact, customers like to be in and out of a store as quickly as they can and if customers can find it quicker to pay with a mobile device then this will deliver them a time saving and make your business more popular.

These are just a few examples of ways that mobile payments could be integrated into a small business but get creative because each business presents its own unique opportunities.

Mobile Tech News September 5th 2012

Mobile technology news for 5th September 2012:

Can Nokia Come Out On Top In Apple v Samsung?

It is possible that the troubled handset maker may get a boost from the recent verdict in the Apple Vs. Samsung legal tussles which have the potential to add value to Nokia's huge library of mobile patents.  With over 10,000 mobile-related patents registered over the decades in which it led the mobile industry, these could form the foundation for a resurgence (or buy-out) of Nokia.

Who Was Really Behind The Facebook I.P.O Disaster

The New York Times is reporting that Facebook's chief financial officer, David Ebersman was behind the critical decision making that has seen the company lose more than $50 billion in market value in just 90 days.  While the Facebook I.P.O has certainly received its fair share of coverage in the media, until now, the majority of blame has fallen at the feet of Mark Zuckerberg and the Nasdaq computer glitches on Facebook's first day of trading.

Why Coupons Are Driving The Mobile Payment Craze

Juniper Research estimates that the mobile market could be worth about $670 billion by 2015 and with 58% of consumers now shopping with coupons, this appears to be a match made in heaven.  The coupons and special offers are driving the success of many retail apps as they deliver a more convenient way to redeem rewards, thus increasing app usage and user retention.

Are Apps Becoming Essential For Retailers

The Business Insider War Room reports on a Harris Interactive survey suggesting at least 54% of mobile app users indicated that it could cost them a wasted trip to a retail store just because they don't have a mobile app developed that included prices, product availability and other useful information.  This is an interesting shift and clearly shows that consumers are looking for apps with local business information.

Don't Ignore The Web In The Rush To Mobile

While a mobile-first strategy may be an option for many start-up companies, the reality is that there are just some things you can't do as well with a mobile app and an integrated mobile and web strategy is often the best result.  By having clear priorities and reasoning behind your mobile strategy will allow you to make the best choice for your organisation.

Mobile Tech News August 17th 2012

Mobile technology news for 17th August 2012:

Mobile Payments Heat Up As Walmart & Target Go Alone

Yesterday we reported on a story that Starbucks had come to an agreement with Square to rollout the mobile payment processor in all outlets and today, Walmart, Target and Best Buy have announced plans to introduce a mobile payment option of their own called Merchant Customer Exchange.  Market analysis firm Juniper Research expects that mobile payments will increase four-fold to reach $1.3 trillion by 2017. However this will only account for around 4% of total global retail sales, according to research, suggesting truly massive upside potential for cashless payments.

Google Play Goes Green And Enables Smart App Updates

Google is now offering the ability for app users to download delta updates from Google play which prevents the need to download the complete app in total to get the new version.  This feature was first announced at the Google I/O conference in June and it is predicted that delta updates would be about the third of the size of a full download thus reducing battery usage.

Analytics Company, App Annie Raises $6 million

Leading app analytics company, App Annie has closed $6 million in Series B financing.  With 80% of the Top 100 Grossing iOS publishers worldwide relying on App Annie's products for data on downloads, revenue, in-app purchases and rankings across the world, App Annie is poised to continue this strong push into the market.

Is Nokia Hitting Rock Bottom?

The latest market share figures from Gartner at least showed they weren't losing ground.  With the race being run at the front, it appears that the majority of brand loyalty shifts are coming from Apple and Samsung with Nokia at least holding firm.  The growth of their new strategy to sell phones for $40 or less could perhaps begin to offset some of these earlier losses in advanced smartphone sales.

Mobile Tech News August 16th 2012

Welcome to our very first edition of Mobile Tech News, our regular roundup of mobile technology news and events.

Mobile Payments Beaten Out For Gold At London Olympics

As the Official Payment provider of the Olympics, Visa pushed Mobile Payment Technology as a safe and convenient payment option for consumers and while they made every effort to make this the most mobile payment friendly games, the reality is that by being tied to the Near Field Communications (NFC) meant that the most popular device being used was probably a Samsung Galaxy, not an Apple iPhone!

GPS Device and Companion App Launched By Amber Alert

Amber Alert GPS appear to be pioneering the convergence of mobile apps and third party hardware devices with a new version of their successful Amber Alert GPS device and companion smartphone app.  The new device now provides a two-way calling function that allows parents to speak to their children directly or for an instant call from the child anytime.

Skydrive Revamp From Microsoft

With a complete revamp across the whole product line Microsoft have now given Skydrive a Windows 8 style design, added a number of new features and announced the Android app is coming soon.

Starbucks To Adopt Square For Mobile Payments

While Starbucks was an early adopter of mobile payments with its own smartphone app that produced barcodes which could be read at most locations, mobile payments is a completely different game.  Square has made it easy and cheap to setup a merchant account and start accepting payments with a free card reader they send you to plug into your device.  The simplicity with which Square can be integrated and now the transactional support (and the $25million investment from Howard Schultz) should see it continue to take market share from the banks.

Why Mobile Advertising Is Important And Brands Should Notice

Mobile delivers one of the most personal forms of advertising and is almost always within reach of the consumer.  Mobile also offers advertisers significant reach and a variety of targeting options combined with rich media advertising (its more than just banner ads now) and in many cases mobile advertising offers a far greater (and more measurable) return on investment (ROI) than any other medium.

New Reports On The iPad Mini

According to new reports the "iPad mini" is more likely to resemble a large iPod than a smaller iPad.  The iPad mini will be lighter and thinner than the full-sized iPad and likely to have a price point under around $200 USD.