Should Travelzoo develop one iPhone app or eight?
The Top 20 travel deals publisher and Local Deals voucher-seller has opted for one iPhone app and plans in the next couple of weeks to add Local Deals in Canada, the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Hong Kong and Australia to a new version, 1.1, of its recently released iPhone app.
For now, at least, there will be no Travelzoo Spain or Travelzoo Germany apps, for example.
"The decision was not to launch eight different apps for eight different countries," says Dave Ambrose, a co-founder of Scoop St. who recently left that company when it was acquired and began heading mobile efforts at Travelzoo.
Ambrose says Travelzoo will attempt to create a unified experience for users in its iPhone app with localized languages, including English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese.
With version 1.1 of the app, it's the first time Travelzoo's Local Deals outside the U.S. will get a presence in a mobile app.
So, with the looming rollout, a user in London who might be traveling to Stuttgart would be able to search under the Germany tab for Stuttgart Local Deals within the app, purchase a voucher and displaying it on their iPhone when they redeem the deal, Ambrose says.
Similarly, a Travelzoo customer who lives in Paris would also be able to sit in a pub in London and view the nearby Travelzoo Local Deals.
Version 1.1 currently is in a closed beta and being tested by employees in countries where Travelzoo has a presence. Travelzoo is gathering feedback from them about ways in which to evolve the app.
Ambrose says there may be differences from country to country in how users interact with the app and perhaps there will be subtle changes in the instructions or verbiage they will see for purchasing Local Deals.
While the core product will be the same, "I wouldn't be surprised to see it vary country by country," Ambrose says.
Interestingly, Travelzoo Asia, which is independently owned, publishes Local Deals in Australia and Hong Kong, and the goal is to include them in version 1.1 of the Travelzoo iPhone app.