To coincide with the mammoth Tnooz Predictions 2010 article, Tnooz asked people around the industry to gaze into their own crystal balls to forecast some of the key developments for the next 12 months.
The second of this five-part series features Barry Smith (co-founder of Skyscanner) and Chris Carmichael (manager for BA.com and mobile at British Airways).
Barry Smith:
- 2009 has for some, been a "let's survive", this means that a lot of companies are at least 12 months behind their innovation schedule. On the flip side, I think this has ensured that most companies didn't go "too early" on mobile. A balance is needed to strive to offer the best service available (at what made you great in the first place) - and innovating to ensure you remain in the race. However dull it may sound, next year, will be about Simplifying the Search Process and Usability. Usability with respect to porting to mobile. The problem, of course, is that by it's very definition, users are searching for something where they don't necessarily know "exactly" what they want. And, even if they do know exactly what they want - It's not just the end product, but the way their search got them there.
Chris Carmichael:
- People will stop predicting 'the year of mobile' - For the last few years, everyone has been predicting that we are about to have the year of mobile. With the number of smartphones travellers are using today, many travel companies should be looking back on 2009 as the year of the mobile. The 'Year of' has happened, mobile is now central to many peoples travel experience, and now is the time to exploit.
- We need to think about a 3rd sense for online travel - With the Apple iTablet, rumours of Dell launching a Chrome tablet, and the touch interface on Windows 7, the way people will interact with the web is going to change. As customers buy and get used to these new interfaces, we will need to consider touch in our designs.