An interesting move from Lonely Planet last week with the unveiling of a startup company to develop social mobile travel guides.
Details about San-Francisco-based Fourforty are sketchy although work on its first application, Wenzani, (where are you going in Zulu) is well underway with plans to launch in around a month.
BBC Worldwide, which acquired the remaining 25% in Lonely Planet for £42 million in February this year, will not have any equity in Fourforty.
In a recent interview, Lonely Planet CEO Matt Goldberg, said innovation required a particular mindset.
Fourforty's aim is to develop next generation social mobile travel guides and in the interview Goldberg gave a clear idea of its focus:
"With the explosion of mobile and the scale of social, with a GPS in every smartphone, what does a guide look like? We're going to launch the travel guide for the social generation."
Lonely Planet already has experience in the mobile and social space with hundreds of mobile app editions of its guides available across different platforms.
Wenzani will include content from Lonely Planet as well as competitors.
Any developments from Fourforty will be on top of existing apps and not replace them.
NB: Hat-tip paidContent:UK