Several blogs, books and essays have already been published deeply analyzing the psychological and neurological outcomes. Some of the findings or arguments are simply shocking and the downsides should be what every user is aware of, but on the other hand mobile technology offers so many benefits to society that is (and is urged to) be on the go. Travelling for instance can benefit a lot from the growing availability of access to the Internet – from checking the status of upcoming trip segments, booking new segments or activities to getting information to the sight one is just standing in front of – all this is now possible while travelling.
You will find an app assisting you on almost any part of your trip. All major airlines provide free apps that nicely blend into you smart phone or tablet enabling you to either book new flights, or to check in from your couch just before you pack up to leave to the airport, just to mention a few features. Airport apps sometimes offer you a neat function to navigate from check-in counters to the gate, some even telling you how long the queue is for security checks or information on departures and arrivals for the city of the airport. If you are looking to book a holiday you can use apps of the big packaged travel operators or use those of travel communities to see ratings from travellers in a similar familiar situation to yours. On the go you can use augmented reality combined with social communities to receive more information to the place you are currently at or if you are familiar with that place you can share your knowledge with others. And if things go wrong there are also apps to help you in those situations – given you still have your phone and some remaining battery power. Some even offer an emergency contact to call and automatically report your current GPS position.
Apps offer great features
Other apps offer multi modal search options enabling you to find the best way to travel from one place to another – and even selecting the quickest, cheapest or greenest route. Selecting routes by those three categories is not new – the new thing is that you can do this from where you are and starting at the place you are at. Instead of having to plan all trips you do during one day in advance you can now simply pull out your smartphone, open the app and search which transport means are available to get you to the desired destination. Many apps have great features but only offer a poor usability or vice versa – some are great in both aspects.
As you now have read a lot about the growing importance and coverage of mobile Internet and possibilities of how to use it when travelling. The question arising now might be “What has all this to do with this blog?”.
While the spread of mobile Internet increases at a fast speed, the number of apps offered increases at an even higher pace. Over 50.000 travel-related apps are currently offered in only Apple’s app store. But with a growing number of available apps keeping track and finding the ideal app gets more and more difficult and time-consuming for the user.
Be a part of the PASS Survey
Currently I am writing my thesis in the fields of marketing and marketing research with the PASS Consulting Group. The major topic of the thesis is analyzing available applications for travellers and exploration of the user’s experience and expectations related to travel apps.
Depending on the answers you select the survey will contain between two to 30 questions and seven additional socio-demographic questions. Completing the survey will approximately take 5 to 20 minutes. The survey is anonymous and absolutely no personal data is collected or processed.
Aim of the survey, which I am asking you to complete, is to learn which expectations travelling smartphone users have and which problems may currently exist when using apps. To be specific the research is carried out to gain a solid base for creating new concepts for apps offering an increased added value and benefit to the traveller as well as to unveil latest trends.
The results are very important to me, as they serve as the base of further advice in my thesis. Without your help it will not be possible for me to make qualified proposition to the expectations of the target group.
I would be very delighted and thankful if you took the time to complete and forward my survey to colleagues, friends, family and acquaintances!
If you would like to complete the survey, you can do this by clicking onto the link https://de.surveymonkey.com/s/BVNCH6Nblog.
Image by Peshkova
