Kayak: iPhone users buy travel online, Android not so much

Kayak, a travel search service company, whose mobile applications have achieved more than 10 million downloads, among of which, iPhone and Android apps are taking the first the runner-up place. As Kayak’s co-founder and chief technology officer Paul English said, People who have iPhones actually buy travel online and people who have Androids don’t really. iPhone users show more loyalty and click through than its Android users.

(Source: Kayak website)

Among the findings in a user survey regarding the different characteristics between iPhone/iOS users and Android users launched by Hunch, Kayak find the listed items below are more likely to have influenced the consumption behaviors demonstrated before.

Ø  iPhone/iOS users—more femals in their ranks, older, more income, higer level of education, more likely to have their American Express Credit Card in their wallets or purses.

Ø  iPhone/iOS users—“15% more likely to have taken a vacation in the last six months”and 55% more likely to have used their frequent flyer miles to have taken several free rewards flights during 2011

Android users —“36% more likely to not remember their last vacation”

 (Source: Hunch)

In the context of IT in tourism industry, it is not a fresh concept for tourism suppliers such as airlines, hotels and travel agencies, to develop mobile applications. The purposes of implementing some very in technologies are not only just facilitating the information-searching process for customers. The eventual results these companies want to see are successfully attracting customers to buy travel products online by their cell-phones and enlarge their profit margin. Otherwise, personally thinking, if the IT solutions cannot bring at least an acceptable revenue number for a company, it would be more or less meaningless to use the new technologies cause sometimes the introducing and developing fee is not cheap. For Kayak, which searches many travel sites for customers, earns money from the commissions of bookings and adds. If it can attract a large amount of mobile users to book online, the profit margin would be promising.

It is a good thing for Kayak to identify which group of its mobile applications users is more likely to buy travel online and which not too much. The findings show Kayak the aspects they may address more consideration on in the future. It is also recommended to make some reasonable adjustments to the mobile application according to differentiated attributes and consuming habits. Here below are some recommendations.

Ø  “35% Andorid users more likely to pass the time waiting a long line by texting”, while 50% iPhone/iOS users by checking emails. (Source: Hunch)

Kayak can send discount information or other alerts regularly to Android users by messages and iPhone/iOS users by emails.

Ø  It is also possible to simplify the travel information illustrating pattern, for example focusing on listing the more economical deals at first.

Posted by Yonger YU & Zhe WANG

Source:

1.Kayak: iPhone users buy travel online, Android not so much. 27 January 2012 by Dennis Schaal.

http://www.tnooz.com/2012/01/27/mobile/kayak-iphone-users-buy-travel-online-android-not-so-much/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Tnooz+%28Tnooz%29

2.Android vs iPhone: Battle of the Mobile Operating Systems.

http://blog.hunch.com/?p=51781

3.Kayak website. http://www.kayak.com/mobile