Why Cleartrip on a mobile is an example to all

Indian online travel agency Cleartrip recently launched a new mobile version – a product which is stunningly simple.

Going mobile is all the rage these days – indeed, we hear about smartphone battles all the time.

But much of this in the USA for example and Western Europe is focused on the high end user communities. It’s more of a luxury item than a necessity.

In the past I have spent quite some time with the Cleartrip people and am impressed with their ardent belief that a simple uncluttered interface is the right way to go.

Eschewing many advertising opportunities (and one assumes cutting off some potential revenue in the process) they have been constant in their pursuit of a straight forward user experience.

For India and other markets, where fixed web is far less relevant than mobile web, this has to be a fundamental philosophy.

I have tried a lot of mobile apps for travel – the workflow often does well in the initial screes and then falters at the critical stages later in the process.

For mobile users the iPhone Applet model has changed the world from the all-encompassing (and therefore complex) multi-purpose Swiss army knife model to a 99% free-app one that anyone can download and use immediately.

Clearly the heavy handed approach favoured by Nokia and others has given way to the simplicity and user controlled model that Apple espouses with its iPhone and iPad environments.

While some like myself don’t like the commercial model, we all love the way that Apple has changed the world and given the mobile marketplace a much needed spike.

Adoption is clearly showing the success.

I asked Cleartrip founder and head product man, Hrush Bhatt, why the team went for mobile and why now?

“We stayed away from doing anything on mobile phones because we didn’t believe the market was ready to start shopping or booking from phones. And we’ve never believed in launching a product just to check a box and say ‘Okay, we’re present on mobile’.”

Joining the chorus for 2010 is the year of mobile, he adds: “We expect this year to be the tipping point for powerful mobile devices with always-on access to the web.

“That makes this the perfect time for us to invest in the mobile web, and we’ve started with building a product that leapfrogs anything else available in our market.”

For those parts of the world where mobile is much more relevant than fixed location web, Cleartrip’s solution represents a more normalized approach to the enabling web apps.

Nothing fancy, just something straightforward that works. This is a lesson that many could learn.