So, we've made the call to develop an iPad app over an iPhone app first up. This is for a few reasons.
I guess because we were curious. We've done iPhone apps already with our range of iPhone language guides and we are guessing the interface challenges are going to be quite different from those when you design for the web or the iPhone. Then of course, there are currently relatively few great iPad apps and even fewer great travel iPad apps so it should be easier to create something that people talk about. Additionally, regardless of platform, we want to test some of our ideas on offline storage and synchronisation, which we'll be able to re-use across our business at a later date.
Google of course is a fantastic research tool for travellers and is probably the single largest travel planning tool there is. I use it all the time to plan my trips, but of course it's greatest drawback is that this takes time. Lots of time. The travel knowledge network that is at the core of the app provides a mechanism whereby you can ask your question, walk away and let the answer come to you. What isn't apparent and is difficult to communicate to people is that the service isn't a passive forum: when questions get asked the application looks for people in the network with the best knowledge most able to answer the question, sorts these by relevance and only routes the question to the best of them. If the question then doesn't get answered it continues down the list until it is.
This way the answer come to you without you having to go looking for it. You might not get an answer immediately but you are likely to get a good answer and it actually gets delivered to you either by email or via push notifications on a mobile device. Earlier this year I asked about renting an apartment in Paris; it took me a month to get an answer from someone in Perth, but they introduced me to AirBnB which I went on to successfully use on a number of occasions.
When you are short on time, this is pretty compelling.
Our idea is to allow travellers to carry their travel knowledge and travel plans with them when they travel.
