avel Research Case Study
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The School of Mobile Vol. 2 - The Detail Chapter 1 - The T
Rearden Commer
ravel Buying Cycle
ce:
S
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&
Making Applica�ons Addic�ve
Key Highlights:
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• Rearden Commerce’s Mobile Personal Assistant was released in April 2008 with the decision to develop an
applica�on for the Blackberry, which make up the majority of the US Smartphone market.
• It is crucial to consider the differences between online and mobile applica�on usage. People use them differently
and this should be considered at the design stage.
• Rearden Commerces advises that when designing a mobile applica�on to always ask yourself: will this be useful
when travelling? Or is it too much? People may ask for a certain whizzy feature, but will they actually use it?
• Do one thing and do it well, very well. Make it super intui�ve, addic�ve and ensure that usability is put first.
Rearden Commerce’s Personal Assistant – going mobile
The Rearden Personal Assistant is a web-based applica�on that
consolidates various services that may be purchased by a corporate
traveller, such as flights & hotels, car rentals, shipping, conferencing and
dining reserva�ons. For companies, it improves visibility, control and
transparency. A range of service and content providers are searched
so best values and discounted rates are found for travellers, which are
passed along to a company using the Rearden Personal Assistant. The
Rearden Commerce Mobile Personal Assistant applica�on was designed
to extend this func�onality and to complete the travel experience.
Mobile dining and leveraging
Going into development of the mobile applica�on, the first ques�on
corporate sociability:
asked was: “What is necessary and what is possible?”. Considering the
majority of smartphone owners in the states carry a Blackberry, it was
The Mobile Personal Assistant
decided that its ini�al mobile vision would be to build the best travel
also incorporates a feature which
allows travellers to find restaurants
Blackberry applica�on possible.
in the city/area they are in, check
availability and make a reserva�on.
Design was led by the decision to do one thing very well, which is
According to Rearden Commerce,
especially valid when considering mobile fragmenta�on. Addi�onally,
customers are 5 �mes more likely
at this point it is important to realise the difference between mobile
to book at a restaurant via mobile
applica�ons and desktop applica�ons. A traveller’s needs are different than via their desktop. Of course,
when they are at home planning a trip versus when they are on the
this relates to the right here, right
road. From here the ques�on was: “What do people do and need when
now advantage of mobile to find
they are travelling?”
a solu�on in the travellers current
context.
The Mobile Personal Assistant was released in April 2008 with the
Going forward there is talk of
following func�onality:
incorpora�ng a form of lookup
and mee�ng func�onality to
• Push alerts for flight info such as delays, cancelled flights and gate
track colleagues and plan dinner
changes
mee�ngs via the Mobile Personal
• Click-to-call car service reserva�ons or i�nerary changes Assistant.
• En�re travel i�nerary display including: air, hotel, car rental, airport
parking, and car service details
“People demand an easy
• Weather informa�on for your des�na�on to aid with packing/
applica�on. We have a mantra
planning and inform you of possible delays
of: ‘Make it as easy to use as
possible.’”
Since the ini�al launch, the ability to search for and book a restaurant
-Alicia di Vi�orio, Rearden
Commerce
reserva�on has been added (which can be found based on your loca�on),
and most recently a flight search service.
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