OK, Apple hasn't much to worry about here because iPhone apps retain their sex appeal, but Cornerstone Information Systems has created a series of discreet applications, "much like iPhone apps," the company says, to consolidate and depict customized parts of the travel procurement process. Let's see, should I download iPhone apps Zipcar or CNN Mobile? Or perhaps instead I should access Cornerstone's Travet Library -- the apps are called Travets -- and drag onto my desktop an app which slices and dices Cornerstone's data management platform, iBank, and provides a colorful, real-time portrait of my company's travel policy compliance. The Zipcar app or even Zombie Pizza for the iPhone may get the most popular user reviews, but Cornerstone, which automates the reservations process for travel management companies and corporate travel departments, is holding out hope that travel managers and travel agents will find Travets portraying a breakdown of spend across travel segments or air policy performance equally as appealing.... Read More

Two former Microsoft/Expedia guys, Rich Barton and Greg Slyngstad, are cooking up a startup and using Twitter to recruit candidates for chief technology officer. Barton, the CEO of Zillow and founder of Expedia while at Microsoft, will be nonexecutive chairman, and Slyngstad, who worked on the Expedia launch, co-founded VacationSpot.com and later ran Expedia's hotel and vacation package business, will be CEO of the new venture, according to John Cook's Venture Blog. When the Expedia founder gets a startup in the works, even if his most recent enterprise is an online real estate marketplace, it gets travel folks wondering about a return to the world of ARC numbers, merchant models and affiliate programs.... Read More

Well, the threat by Google that it may cease operations in China has certainly set tongues wagging in the east. Google announced that it would cease censoring results of its Google.cn search engine, after what it says was a series of hacking attacks aimed at human rights activists. These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered, combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web, have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China," wrote David Drummond, chief legal officer at Google.... Read More

So 2010 has begun and the hiring landscape is starting to take shape. Things are looking up for a number of people on the market today as well as for MBA interns at MIT. MIT MBAs make the trek to Seattle, Washington, every year to discuss employment opportunities with a number of top companies that include Microsoft, Amazon and Expedia, to name a few, as well as down the road in California with Google. Everyone agrees that the job market is looking much better in 2010 but there will still be some hiccups along the way.... Read More

A group of ex-employees from the collapsed BlueSky Travel Systems has launched a class action lawsuit against Thomas Cook Group regarding the failure of the company and treatment of staff. Tnooz understands that the action was handed to the Employment Tribunal in Manchester, UK, on 23 December 2009, three months after the reservation system software supplier to Thomas Cook went into administration. The collapse of BlueSky left around 60 members of staff out of a job - a further 20 staffers went to work immediately for Thomas Cook and another eight have since joined Amadeus-owned TravelTainment.... Read More

News that Google is considering pulling out of the fastest growing consumer market on the planet would leave the Chinese domestic internet with one powerful search engine for travel products. The search giant says it will be forced to change its current strategy in China if a series of so-called cyber attacks continue on the GMail accounts of domestic human rights activists and those outside of the country sympathetic to their cause. Alongside the wider economic and diplomatic implications of such high level shenanigans (US secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already waded into the row) is the impact on the burgeoning travel scene in China.... Read More

Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines both raised their fees for first and second checked bags to $25 and $35, respectively, while offering discounts of a sort to travelers who check in online. Other airlines may soon be matching or raising fees. With all of the inconvenience that travelers went through post-Christmas after the Northwest Airlines terrorism incident, the bag fee hikes add insult to injury, so to speak. And, that's especially true since there have been restrictions on, and more inspections of, carry-on luggage.... Read More

It's almost two weeks into Carnival Cruise Lines' 2010 policy barring travel agency partners from bidding on the line's several dozen trademarks, but travel agencies such as Travelocity, Cruise.com and cruisesonly.com, among others, still have sponsored links, triggered by keyword searches of Carnival trademarks, in major search engines. Either some of these agencies aren't playing nice-nice with Carnival or something else is going on. For its part, a spokeswoman for Carnival Cruise Lines says: "The new rules are in effect and we are in a transition period right now and are actively working with our agency partners to implement the policy change."... Read More

Thomas Cook has said a recently signed partnership with Expedia is not the motivation behind a decision scrap its policy of allowing offline retail agents to compete with offers online. The discovery last week that Expedia is powering Cook's online dynamic packaging capability led some to ask if this is one of the reasons behind the curtailment of the web match programme. Under the old scheme, UK agents were able to secure a lower level of commission in return for matching the discounted online price for customers.... Read More

By every available measurement, the global penetration of smartphones is unstoppable. With a direct correlation between frequent travelers and smartphone adoption, it is essential the industry pay attention to the growth of this new platform and be sensitive to emerging smartphone capabilities coming to the market. It is important to keep in mind that we are at the early stages of this mobile revolution.... Read More

News emerging from Madrid, Spain, that current chief executive and president of Amadeus, David Jones, is to move aside in early-2011. Jones will be replaced in January next year current chief financial officer - and the new deputy CEO - Luis Maroto.... Read More

Thomson says that last week's website error which saw incorrect insurance information sold against build-your-own holidays was a mistake only its main website. Officials now say terms and conditions for BYO trips on sister site HolidayHypermarket are actually correct and holidays are not covered under the company's ATOL financial protection bond. Initially it was said that an error had taken place on both sites, with an investigation taking place as to why the wrong T&Cs had appeared.... Read More

Budget Center, a Las Vegas-based company seeking to leverage its portfolio of budget-oriented domains, launched hotel metasearch site BudgetHotels.com through a white-label affiliate agreement with Hotels Combined. Budget Center is developing the following URLs: budgethotels.com, budgetairlines.com, budgetentertainment.com, budgetresorts.com, budgetravel.com, budgetskiing.com, budgetadventures.com, budgetcenter.com, budgetcharters.com, budget-cruise.com, budgetfishing.com and budgetinteractive.com. Budget Center's strategy is to launch these websites and build them through search engine optimization, search engine marketing and e-mail campaigns; develop an advertising/media business; and to strike affiiliate deals with travel websites.... Read More

Herbert Hoover, during the 1928 U.S. presidential campaign, promised "a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage." Oceania Cruises isn't running for elective office. The cruise line merely is readying the Marina -- which it describes as "the first-ever vessel purpose-built for the upper-premium segment of the leisure market” -- for a 2011 debut, and Oceania promises a laptop in each stateroom. All 629 of them. A spokesman says a laptop in every cabin with wireless access is a cruise-industry first.... Read More

Kayak's upcoming Private Sale offering will be separate from its metasearch feature and will be available to Kayak account holders only, the company says. Kayak's web page seeking seeking registrants refers to Private Sale inventory as "exclusive hotel deals for Kayak users," but Brian Harniman, executive vice president of marketing and distribution, says, "We'll start with hotels, but I anticipate offering air and vacation deals shortly. Discussions with suppliers are happening right now." Kayak's Private Sale venture has some parallels to the operations of Jetsetter, founded by former Kayaker Drew Patterson, although the business model is different. Jetsetter is a hotel booking site for upscale properties and shuns the media business.... Read More