Apple changed the music industry with iTunes. Might smartphone manufacturers like Samsung, Nokia, Motorola and RIM or mobile operating-system providers like Apple, Google or Microsoft disrupt the travel industry by weaving themselves into the fabric of travel distribution?

Mobile trip-management company WorldMate is “deeply involved” with multiple parties “in the mobile landscape” which are seeking to embed travel services from mobile check-in to last-minute travel purchases into their core operating systems, says Chief Commercial Officer Nadav Gur.

Gur says the players include smartphone manufacturers which are looking to travel — and talking with online travel agencies and other distribution parties — as a substantial revenue stream to offset margin pressure on smartphone manufacturing and services.

Gur, who was the founding CEO of Worldmate, says he expects one smartphone manufacturer to launch a deeply integrated travel product this year.

WorldMate, which offers trip-management services and competes against TripIt, TripCase, Kayak Trips and others, claims to have the largest user base in the crowd, although the company is relatively short on brand recognition in North America.

The smartphone players seeking to get involved in travel are not talking about building apps and linking to third parties for trip-planning, but seek to embed travel services and booking off-the shelf into their devices.

With the cash that some of these giant device manufacturers have available, it isn’t inconceivable that they could be looking at acquiring an OTA, with their smaller market caps  – even an Expedia or Priceline — as they seek to shake up the market and move their plans forward.

WorldMate’s role with the smartphone manufacturers or mobile operating-system providers is to provide them with technology expertise and the business acumen necessary to break into the travel industry.

Privately held WorldMate has investments from Motorola Ventures and the Blackberry Partners Fund, but Gur says don’t necessarily use those relationships to read the tea leaves about which mobile partners WorldMate is involved with.

So why would a major smartphone manufacturer, like Apple or Motorola or Nokia, need WorldMate as an entrée into the travel industry?

Gur says having a first-mover advantage might be critical, and perhaps WorldMate might trim six to nine months off the delivery process for its partners.

The last-minute travel arena might be a key focus of some of these mobile players because of the nature of their devices. They can push hotel or car-rental offers to travelers at airports, for instance, especially if there are flight delays or cancellations.

With many people saying that mobile devices may eventually replace the PC as the primary means for browsing the Web and booking travel, perhaps smartphone manufacturers and mobile-operating system providers will play a huge role in changing travel distribution as we know it.

Gur, citing confidentiality agreements, declined to identify WorldMate’s partners in the new mobile-travel push.

Mobile itinerary-management company WorldMate shook up its executive ranks and is making a push for cobranded deals and advertising agreements with airlines, hotels and GDSs, as well as white-label pacts with smartphone manufacturers.

As announced previously, the Palo Alto, Calif., firm will be rolling out a Blackbery app, Virgin Blue by WorldMate, in the first quarter which will enable Virgin Blue passengers to book flights and check-in from their Blackberrys.

A second phase of the implementation will involve deeper integration, including push alerts and opportunities for ancillary revenue such as hotel and limo bookings, says Nadav Gur, WorldMate’s founding CEO, who becomes chief commercial officer in the executive maneuverings.

In addition to the Virgin Blue deal, which involves a revenue-share model, Gur says WorldMate is talking to GDSs about joint solutions, has conversations going with major global airlines, and is “a few days away” from announcing an advertising launch where a major a hotel chain and some airlines will advertise on WorldMate’s Symbian app, an operating system used on Ericcson and Nokia phones.

Rest assured that in WorldMate’s GDS discussions, it probably isn’t having much conversation with Sabre, which has its own itinerary-management app in TripCase.

Among the management changes at WorldMate, Jean Tripier, most previously chief operating officer at mobile-solutions provider Good Technology, becomes WorldMate’s new CEO, and Amir Kirshenboim returns to WorldMate as CEO of WorldMate Israel.

WorldMate says Tripier will head negotiations with “top-level brands” on co-branded distribution deals, which WorldMate argues is becoming a trend as travel companies seek to accelerate rollouts of their mobile offerings.

Tripier says a lot of airlines around the world have been building their own mobile apps for the iPhone, but they are short-changing themselves as many business travelers use Blackberrys and smartphones with the Symbian operating system, for instance.

In addition, an airline’s customers usually have relationships with more than one airline, and WorldMate can provide airline customers access to multiple airlines in these cobranded deals.

Says Gur: “Every airline has a line item to do mobile. Then they figure out that it’s complex” and look for solutions and focus on “how do we make this a profit center instead of a cost center.”

WorldMate says 5 million travelers use its personal assistant and hopes the executive changes will boost global expansion.

WorldMate, which keys in on business travelers with its itinerary management service, claims it has trumped competitor TripIt’s LinkedIn capabilities with the launch of a WorldMate Blackberry app that enables users to find nearby LinkedIn connections or those in other cities.

WorldMate’s new LinkedIn features, available today, are accessible over the Web or through the mobile app, the company says.

The Palo Alto, Calif., company, which claims 5 million users of its personal travel assistant, says its integration with LinkedIn’s API enables users to:

• View nearby LinkedIn connections within their WorldMate itineraries;

• Peruse a mobile pop-up which displays their LinkedIn connections who are in the locale when they arrive; and

• Scan and contact connections in the destination.

The WorldMate website-LinkedIn integration looks like the following:

Among the burgeoning number of itinerary-management services, TripIt pioneered LinkedIn integation as TripIt users can display upcoming getaways and business trips, their current location and travel stats on their LinkedIn profiles. It looks like this:

However, in contrast to WorldMate’s new mobile app for LinkedIn, TripIt’s LinkedIn functionality currently is accesible only through LinkedIn over the Web.