NB:Â This is a guest article by Bill Lee, founder of Twist.
It’s a timely issue. Americans alone take 1.1 billion trips a day, yet in one out of four of these trips on average, someone runs late. The result is an estimated $90 billion annual loss for corporate America.
So a real question travel apps ought to be tackling isn’t where you’re going – it’s when you’ll arrive.
Yet time-based apps are a missed opportunity for the market.
Since 2008, the market for location-based apps has exploded since 2008 when Apple introduced “assisted GPS” on the iPhone 3G, and third-party developers began creating applications for iOS (the AppStore).
To date, travelers worldwide have 6,400 location-based apps to choose from in the App Store alone, according to Skyhook Wireless.
Location-based apps like Yelp, Google Maps and Loopt can help travelers find the best restaurant in any neighborhood, obtain directions, and show where their friends hang out.
However, we need apps that allow hotel managers to know their customers’ arrival times, or help airlines know which passengers are stuck in security lines.
A fresh solution in mobile travel apps
Today some developers are creating apps with hyper-accurate and real-time arrival estimates that adjust for changing travel conditions and automatically update those left waiting.
- Uber, which takes the waiting out of calling a cab, is among a new breed of time-saving apps getting national attention.
- Food delivery apps like GrubHub enable consumers to have their favorite restaurant’s cuisine delivered directly to their door.
- My company, Twist, developed one of the first apps that help people automatically notify those they’re meeting about their arrival time, which eliminates the need for continual texting or calling.
For the travel industry at large, change is coming—and it’s right on time!
NB: This is a guest article by Bill Lee, founder of Twist.
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I hope tnooz got a PR fee for this article. No offense meant, Bill, your app looks neat.
@evan – now, now, Evan, you of all people know there are no paid-for posts on Tnooz. Some people like our articles, other don’t. We’re happy to take one on the chin when they don’t.
Granted, there are times when uncontrollable external factors mess up your arrival (major accident on highway or similar), but if 1 in 4 trips run late maybe that says something about poor planing and poor management of the preceding meeting (which, quite likely, overran)? Surely the best fix is a little “root cause” analysis leading to better time management?
Even so, a tolerably accurate prediction of ETA is useful (and courteous)!
Thanks for your comment. Good point, but if you can’t change people’s behaviour, it can at least help to know if they’re going to be late by being able to get real-time updates — rather than wait for their last-second “I’m caught in traffic” text.
Another time-based app readers would have liked to hear more about is Glympse.com, which lets users view a shared location.
Any others?
While I agree with the premise of the article – I have this sense there are a lot of people living in cloud cuckoo land. Where I am – LBS works MAYBE 50% of the time. It’s slow and often inaccurate. “you are 17000 meters from this point so no points on 4Square” when I am right beside the location. But the point of my comment here is to say that Apple and Google are not providing a service level to the customer that they should. This lack of quality is hurting the consumer. I wonder how much productivity is lost to the consumer just messing with poor quality apps that Google and Apple have “certified”.
I will argue that poor app quality is the real problem. Lazy coders who STILL use the machine’s clock rather than an absolute measurement of time. Capturing customer data without advice and consent is illegal in many countries yet most apps are doing it. And crap search which is being gamed just like SEO.
In all I think that it would be better if Apple and Google (ESPECIALLY) focused on improving the quality of the Apps and policing them more. Its very simple. Just have a 2 level certification process of approval and quality – this would move the whole mobile market on. Certification would also be a requirement to show that Malware is not present. Corporate Travel could then get behind this and say that certified free from Malware makes a BYOD policy possible.
Unfortunately neither company wants to spend the money (oh shock think that either of them would actually spend money on quality!) to do something of value to the customer like PAYING for a better certification process. Instead we get their weasel words of “not my job man!” and they walk away taking profits with them.
Corporations are having to invest millions to provide extra security and service layers for BYOD because Apple and Google are not doing their job. So next time you see those obscene profits from those companies just compare that to your scrimped IT budget that is being hammered for extra security now that we all have smart phones.
Well it high time they (Apple and Google) took responsibility for their actions (and profits) and did something about the appalling state of App Quality.
Rant over – but this is something that is an elephant in the room that no one seems to be worrying about.
Cheers
Interesting perspective, Bill. Waze, the popular cross-platform satellite navigation app, recently released a new version (3.5) of its service which integrates similar functionality. I really think their solution is one of the best and most complete in its market space.
I find the concept of location-based check-in for hospitality establishments particularly intriguing. In the near future I think hotels will begin incorporating a seamless check-in system for guests through the relevant technologies.
I could not agree more with this article! This is a sort of plug for what we do but our Travel Time API takes this to account. For example when searching for local data the standard mile radius is useless. Its accruate if you can fly in a straight line – but none of us can – so why is out data presented that way? Travel Time API allows site to display searches by time – Show me all bars within 20 minutes public transport from where I am now.
Local isn’t about a “location” or a “place” but about what the user can do in the world around them.
(sorry if this is to “pluggy” for our service but it struck a chord with me!)
This article is spot on as time can help validate location even further. Knowing when someone was somewhere can clarify the review, feedback, or insight someone may be sharing from a place.
… and that’s probably why Google has Google Now.