Social cruise and verified cruise review site Cruiseline.com has purchased the ShipMate cruise app, which is the world's largest mobile cruise community with more than 170k users on both the iOS and Android platforms.
The mobile application will now be known as the "Ship Mate Cruise App by Cruiseline.com," and will become the core of the mobile experience for the website's members.
The new parent company will invest in upgrading the app to include Cruiseline.com verified reviews, photos and editorial content from both the website and the online travel magazine, Bon Voyage.
The main website will also take advantage of some of the resources made available from the mobile app, such as user tips, ratings and photos.
The new suite of features will begin to be implemented in the first quarter of 2014.
Faraz Qureshi, GM of Cruiseline.com, said in the acquisition announcement:
“Ship Mate and Cruiseline.com have the same mission: to be the brand consumers trust to plan their cruise and interact with other travelers before, during and after their voyage. Ship Mate has done a fantastic job of building a cruise community on mobile platforms, while we have been focused on the web. Our goal in combining resources is to become the best cruise resource, regardless of which device customers use – their smartphone, desktop or tablet.”
For ShipMate's part, the app was founded by brothers Jan Mike Jirout in 2010, and was the first cruising app on iTunes. Since that time, the app has logged more than 600k downloads, 20k reviews and ratings and 10k photos.
The original app provided reviews, ratings, suggestion and voyage tips for all cruise shops and ports, and also included chat rooms to connect with other cruisers.
Both co-founders will now be full-time at Cruiseline.com full-time, working exclusively on expanding the mobile app's functionality.
Mike Jirout:
"We're very excited about the acquisition and future of Ship Mate. Over the past three years, we've built a product that we're proud of and a passionate community that is unmatched in the cruise industry. This partnership will allow us to best serve our users by leveraging the additional resources that we now have access to, including the experienced team at Cruiseline.com."