GateGuru, the consumer mobile app for airport navigation, debuted a version on Microsoft’s mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 (WP7).
The move, on June 19, saw GateGuru join a recent flood of travel apps into the Windows Phone Marketplace.
The free GateGuru app helps users find restaurants, shops, and services in the terminals of 191 airports, 94 of which are in the US. It made its way onto Android devices in 2011 and iOS in 2010.
The Windows 7 Marketplace now offers 100,000 apps, doubling the count over six months.
The marketplace has about 80% fewer apps than rival Google Play for Android. That relative lack of competition makes now a prime time to launch a W7P app.
The bar to qualify for the most-downloaded list, and therefore become a promoted app, is lower relative to other app marketplaces.
Apple’s App Store has become a tough marketplace to crack. Free apps for iOS need to have 1,800 downloads a day on average to make the list of the 25 most downloaded travel apps in the US market, according to analytics firm Distimo. For paid apps, the comparable number is 400 a day on average.
The threshold for attention is much lower on WP7.
GateGuru continues to grow. On the monetization front, Zachary Einzig, who does business development for GateGuru, told Tnooz that the company has been locking up partnerships for the app’s coupon platform, such as a recent promotion of £5 off access to a private lounge at Heathrow airport.
GateGuru also plans to expand to cover 50 more non-US airports by year end. In June, it added coverage of Sydney.
It recently added push notifications and flight tracking to the iOS platform. Users can enter a flight and the app begins tracking any gate changes and take-off or arrival delays.
NB: Stock photo: airplane icon via Shutterstock.
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