Tech Vendors Continue To Press Wireless Hot Button
<B>Tech Vendors Continue To Press Wireless Hot Button</B>
By Jay Campbell
Wireless connectivity activity remains at the forefront of product announcements by technology and travel suppliers, highlighted recently by developments at GetThere Inc., Northwest Airlines and Sabre BTS.
Sabre on July 17 announced what it called "the most comprehensive wireless booking service available in North America." Sabre BTS customers now can create and change flight, car and hotel reservations using Wireless Application Protocol-enabled mobile phones by Nokia, Sprint PCS or AT&T Wireless, or WAP-enabled personal digital assistants.
Sabre also introduced wireless viewing capability to its Sabre VirtuallyThere Web site, which shows travelers their itineraries and other information.
"Now, the 60 million travelers who book reservations in Sabre each year have the flexibility to retrieve their travel information anytime, anywhere, via any device," said Scott Smith, senior vice president and general manager of Sabre BTS. "Travelers from more than 500 companies subscribing to Sabre BTS are now also able to wirelessly book their trips."
Sabre said it used flexible technologies, such as Wireless Markup Language (WML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) and WAP, to make the functionality possible.
Travelers also will receive proactive alerts about flight cancellations, delays and gate changes.
"The potential savings in transaction costs and increase in productivity and efficiency are substantial," said Sue Nelson, corporate travel manager for BTS customer Trilogy. "Sabre BTS wireless services allow travelers to quickly and easily obtain the answers they need without having to contact travel consultants--significantly reducing transaction costs, saving time and enabling travel consultants to lend their expertise toward solving more complex travel issues."
On the same day, GetThere announced a strategic alliance with Verizon Wireless, the largest wireless communications provider in the United States, in which Verizon's new Mobile Web service will feature a link to information from the GetThere Marketplace. Verizon's nationwide Mobile Web service integrates Web content into the company's wireless communications. Mobile Web subscribers are able to use the GetThere selection on their menu to view detailed flight information and schedules. Also, when subscribers book travel through a GetThere-based corporate travel procurement system or GetThere-based airline Web site, they gain access to flight status alerts, one-touch re-booking and real-time itinerary viewing capabilities.
Verizon, formed by combining the U.S. wireless businesses of Bell Atlantic Corp., Vodafone AirTouch Plc and GTE Corp., has 25 million wireless voice and data customers and 4 million paging customers.
Meanwhile, Sprint PCS and Northwest Airlines in early July announced real-time access to Northwest flight and frequent flyer program member information via Internet-ready Sprint PCS phones.
Northwest said it is the first airline to deliver content on the Sprint PCS Wireless Web. The carrier also is working on making online reservations available via Sprint phones.