ON THE WEB Jim Spellos and Corbin Ball have created TechSpec, a set of two site-inspection checklists designed to help meeting planners measure and gauge technology during a hotel site inspection. Download the full version (Word doc) at convn.org/tech-spec.
The checklist is also available as a free app — Android and iPhone versions can be accessed at techspec. quickmobile.mobi.
NOVEMBER 2012 PCMA CONVENE 67
› By the end of 2013, 54 percent of all phones glob- ally will be smartphones, research firm IHS has predicted, which is two years ahead of its previous predictions. Last year, smartphones comprised 35 percent of the global market. Falling prices and the emergence of low-end smartphones in Asia-Pacific — along with strong high-end sales in the United States and Europe — have fueled the growth of smartphones around the world, according to IHS. › By 2015, smartphone sales will reach 982 mil- lion, market intelligence firm IDC recently pre- dicted, and according to Morgan Stanley, mobile web users will surpass traditional desktop Inter- net users by 2014. The airline industry is taking notice: A recent Airline IT Trends survey found that nine out of 10 airlines are planning to sell tick- ets via mobile by 2015. › Be on the lookout in 2013 for multi-screen services that allow you to seamlessly move from phone to tablet to computer to TV and back again, providing cloud-based syncing of content, experi- ences, and shopping carts, said Chris Blakely, vice president of client services for comScore. › According to Google, 14 percent of all searches come from mobile versus 7 percent from tablets and 79 percent from desktops (see more on the Google study on p. 55). But watch out for rapid growth in tablets: While most tablet usage is cur- rently occurring in the home, it is fast becoming a go-to device for business travelers. “It’s never been easier for people on the go to navigate a strange city and discover places, find merchants or a great meal while traveling,” Blakely said. › Online travel agency Orbitz reported that during the month of May this year, six million people used a mobile device to shop for travel, more than dou- ble during the same time in 2011. During the first quarter of the year, more than 9 percent of Orbitz hotel bookings were made via mobile devices.