The industry has been slow to embrace Android; in a recent review of the top 10 airlines (by passengers) and the top 10 hotel brands (by number of rooms), Mobile Travel Technologies (MTT) determined that only 3 of the airlines and 3 of the hotel brands had implemented downloadable Android Apps.

In contrast 6 of the airlines and 8 of the hotel brands had iPhone Apps available.

Even fewer had Android web apps, which give mobile web visitors a customized Android "App-like" experience through the mobile browser, even if they choose not to download an App.

Why are travel suppliers not embracing Android?

There's gold in those hills

On 29 June, 2007 the iPhone launched and the world of mobile changed. The iPhone was beautiful, slick, and undeniably hip. The high retail price meant that early iPhone users were primarily affluent professionals, and the iPhone app market represented a fantastic new channel to reach out and engage a valuable market segment. The gold rush was on.

Airlines started to publish iPhone Apps in mid 2008 and major hotel chains followed suit in the spring of 2009. There are currently more than 330,000 Apps available for download, approximately 18,000 of those are travel Apps. Just last week total downloads crossed the 10 billion mark.

Full story: 

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