It doesn’t have to win awards or make Apple designers blush, it could be as simple as a live departure/arrival feed or as complex as a destination based planner but all of it would not serve as a distraction from the website but to enrich the experience?

The question the consumer asks is, ‘Do I really have to pay for this?’..?

1. Part of the problem is that most of the supposedly content-rich travel apps aren’t very good. Once you’ve bought one “guide” that’s no more than a WikiTravel scrape with basic location-sensitivity laid over it, you won’t make that mistake again. Have a thorough play with some of the apps launched by traditional big players, too, and you’ll find some horrible efforts (despite the fact that they, more than anyone, have access to superb content).

2. Perhaps, too, that the app format is just better suited to simpler stuff (”basic information services”, as you call them)? Yelp, Qype, etc. all ride consistently high in the charts because they do one job (relatively) well. Ditto public transport apps.

3. Perhaps it shouldn’t be so surprising that in a new field like this, it *isn’t* the big players we should look to to innovate well. Among the paid apps, the top “guide-style” (above all the “recognized” brands) isn’t Lonely Planet, but “Instant New York”: see http://www.instantcities.com. It may not be a brand we know well… yet. [Disclosure: I have 2 apps forthcoming with them, so I won't wax about them too much here...]

Of course, the arrival of Orange (and the growth of Android) will grow the app market. But better products would be even more beneficial.