Apple – Travel Technology Consulting Inc.

August 6, 2014

Intelligent Travel Assistant Update

Tweet Those readers who have been following my blog over the last 9 years, know that I have long been an advocate for the creation of a mobile Intelligent Travel Assistant (ITA). Despite the frustrations consumers have with current OS intelligent assistants such as Siri, Google Now and Microsoft Cortana, a second generation of truly intelligent assistants is on the near horizon. Some pundits […]

April 30, 2012

The Impact of Mobile OS on Travel Distribution

Tweet Update: July 10th 2012 – Apple awarded iTravel Patent! The approaching wave of mobile OS travel buttons (Apple iTravel, Google Travel, Bing!Travel Mobile) need to be viewed within a historical context of travel distribution. At the heart of these efforts is a new customer interface for travel. During the pre-Web days, traditional travel agents controlled distribution through their mastery of GDS […]

March 8, 2012

How OS Travel Buttons (iTravel, Google Travel) Will Change the Mobile Travel Landscape

Tweet It has been nearly 2 years since Apple filed the patent for iTravel, a comprehensive effort to capture the full cycle of travel booking, itinerary management and airport check-in. Last spring, Google completed its acquisition of ITA software and last September Google launched Flight Search while continuing to add features to its Hotel Finder. Also last year, RIM BlackBerry […]

September 8, 2010

Mobile Web versus Native Apps

Tweet Source: Global Intelligence Alliance One major debate that persists in the area of mobile development is the question of whether a travel company should create a native (downloadable) app or simply provide a mobile Web application. As part of my upcoming PhoCusWright Webinar Mobile Chaos: Do I Need an App for Every Platform? (next Wednesday September 15th at 12:00 […]

May 13, 2010

Apple Buys Siri

Tweet Loyal readers of my blog know that I have long advocated the need for a more intelligent interface for travel planing and booking. Early self-booking engines often promoted themselves as replacements for travel agents, while in reality most were (and many still are) simply sending off commands to the GDS or supplier reservation systems and displaying standard content. During […]

April 28, 2010

Apple iTravel

Tweet Apple has filed a patent for the complete travel process on the iPhone.The patent includes an application called iTravel for planning, searching, reviewing and booking flights, hotels, car rentals, trains and bus trips, as well as technology for identification at airports for baggage handling and boarding passes. The patent relies heavily on Near Field Communications (NFC) to enable the […]