n
s
EyeforTravel Research Case Study
o
l
u
t
i
o
The School of Mobile Vol. 2 - The Detail Chapter 1 - The Travel Buying Cycle
Lonely Planet: Mobilising Compelling

S
content and a Trusted Brand
g
y

&
From Java Enabled Handsets to ‘Media Phones’
c
h
n
o
l
o
T
e
• Lonely Planet started out in the Mobile space with a strong in-
vestment in a number of JAVA products for Java enabled hand-
sets. These products were distributed globally through a num-
ber of partners such as Sony-Ericsson, Handmark and a range
of others including carriers and device manufacturers. A strong
rela�onship was developed with Nokia who distribute our con-
tent through the Nokia maps pla�orm where you can download
and buy Lonely Planet city guides that sit on top of the Nokia
maps layer. City guides are currently only available as a java
download
• Lonely Planets Java phrasebooks have been available for a good
period of �me now through blackberry, windows mobile hand-
sets and of course the iphone. Currently Lonely Planet are will
be focusing on next-gen pla�orms. With limited resources, the
focus will be on pla�orms where not only can we offer the most
compelling product proposi�on but also get the best returns.
The benchmark for any product proposi�on is a handset that of-
fers a very rich user experience combined with a loca�on based
engine. Handsets where we can offer what are fairly chunky
amounts of content in an offline se�ng. One of the major con-
straints was the cost of accessing mobile data on the road. In
addi�on the java world up un�l now has had a lot of constraints.
With next gen handsets the ability is there to offer essen�ally a
whole guide-book’s worth of content with rich media.
• Then new genera�on of mobile phones are not feature phones,
not smartphones but something else, so we may as well call
them media phones. They really have characteris�cs that allow
the development of the guidebook/phrasebook product propo-
si�on offline. Where it is connected but in a really clever way
whereby travellers are able to use our product on the road but
not incur a large cost in doing so. That will be the core part
of our product development. Products that help you when you
are travelling but save you money when it comes to accessing
the mobile internet or even the fixed line internet to be able to
get the kind of info Lonely Planet can offer in a downloadable
package.
“What we are not is a technology company. We are a
media company with aspira�ons to be a successful
cross-media player”
-Chris Boden, Lonely Planet
Return to List of Case Studies Go to Table of Contents
70 © EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved. © EyeforTravel Research. All rights reserved. 71
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189