Travelport has reached a deal with mobile travel services provider Worldmate, completing the GDS world’s rapidly expanding moves into the mobile world.
Worldmate will provide travel management companies in the US and Canada on the Galileo and Worldspan system a platform for customers to so they can manage itineraries via a handset, receive flight alerts and browse maps.
Users will also be able to share itineraries with colleagues  and business contacts as well as access the LinkedIn system and their own travel consultant.
Travelport says the service will initially be available only on Blackberry devices but there are plans to extend to Worldmate’s existing products on the Apple iPhone and Nokia handsets.
An official says although a number of companies were screened to provide a service, Worldmate’s agreement is not exclusive and the decision to partner with it was “based on features and functionality to meet the needs of our TMCs”.
“We continue to look at multiple companies in the mobile space since the future landscape is still very fluid.”
Travelport’s deal with Worldmate finally puts it alongside rivals Amadeus and Sabre with a major mobile offering for customers, although it will be used initially as a private label system through TMCs.
Indeed, Worldmate stated its aim to work closer with the GDS sector when it shifted its senior management team around in February 2010.
However, Sabre’s Tripcase and the Amadeus app (launched in March 2010) are different in that both GDSs are making a direct play to the consumer market.
[...] Worldmate and Travelport unite, trio of tech giants now have a mobile play [...]