Guidebook publisher Lonely Planet is one of the first high profile travel brands out of the blocks with the release of an app for the new Apple iPad.
Released to coincide with the inevitable frenzy as the device goes on sale in retail outlets today, Lonely Planet has re-engineered its 1,000 Ultimate Experiences book to create an interactive guide to various countries and the most popular locations selected by its authors.
Each of the 1,000 experiences, built in a deck-of-cards format, includes professional photography, editorial content and video footage from the destination and authors, users and Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler.
Also in development is an iPad version of Lonely Planet’s Discover books – a series of guides for Great Britain, Italy, Spain, France and Ireland.
Buried at the bottom of the press release, however is the price – $19.99.
Lonely Planet, in this case, has made great play of the app being purely an inspiration vehicle for travellers, rather than something that would be taken on a trip.
But the question for Lonely Planet and others considering apps for the new iPad is how much time and resource should be invested given that, in some respects, products such as the Ultimate Experiences app are highly interactive but glorified, glossy coffee table magazines.
The Lonely Planet ipad app for 1000 Experiences is beautiful, an their iPhone guide app is great.
HOWEVER the pricing model they went with is out of whack. They are tryin to sell the digital versions of their product for just as much a the print versions. BIG mistake when people expect the digital version to be signifanctly cheaper.
1000 Experiences on Amazon has a $22 suggested price and a $15 actual retail price. The ipad app is $19.99. I’m not the only consumer that is going to notice the pricin issue.
Book publishers need to Be reasonable with their prices or face the same issues with piracy that the music and movie industry does.
Sorry for the typos in the comment above… Posted it from my iPhone. Comes with the territory.
It is a beautiful app but as mentioned the price point will likely impact sales volume as more travel apps are likely to appear pretty quickly that will capitalize on the functionality of the device.
I would think that the price for these apps will decrease over time as competition for the space increases. The Lonely Planet and other guide books (in print version) are really beautiful and this is the first opportunity to showcase them in a digital way that maintains the quality of production. If I had an iPad and I was given the choice of buying the print or the e-version for the same price, I would opt for the e-version. To me the paper is inconsequential and an unnecessary burden. I just hope that the guide book companies realize that the cost savings should be past on to the consumers.
Maybe it’s been produced with recycled electrons — hence the higher price tag.
@Stuart- I thought they would have passed on the savings from cutting those jobs? Guess I was wrong
Points to LP for being responsive. In the face of some pretty withering reviews in the US iTunes store (the only 5-star reviews were posted before the iPad was even launched — cough cough…), LP has halved the price of the App to a more reasonable $9.99. Be interesting to see if that flies better and the reviews warm up accordingly
Worth noting that this is a tremendous advantage of iTunes over regular retailers in that the price can be altered as you see fit, when you see fit. Nice — both for the consumer and the seller.
I created a video review of the Lonely Planet iPad app. The review aims to make up for the lack of a trial/lite version by showing as much of the app as possible so that you can decide for yourself whether it is worth the $9.99.
Hope it helps.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9fwHV6go-E&feature=youtube_gdata