Flight passengers may soon be able to check in from their smart phones
2010-03-11
If there is one travel gadget that has become a must-have for the frequent flier
it is the smartphone, an indispensable piece of technology that can keep
travelers connected like a laptop but is as mobile as a cell phone. A new
proposal from travel startup WorldMate could make smartphones even more useful
for the avid excursionist by embedding travel services into the phone itself.
The Palo Alto-based company claims to be in contact with major
manufacturers like Samsung, Nokia and Motorola as well as mobile
operating-system providers like Apple, Google and Microsoft to create cell
phones geared towards travelers.
Not merely content to create
applications for the phone, WorldMate is hoping to redesign existing hardware to
create a more intuitive device capable of everything from remote check-in at the
airport to last minute ticket purchases.
The company's chief financial
officer Nadav Gur claims that his company has the broadest international
customer base of any online travel agency, meaning a partnership with a cell
phone provider could result in the earliest and most thorough entrance into the
travel embedded cell phone market.