Last year, Apple moved into position for what could become the battle of the behemoths in the travel space with Google. Apple’s iTravel patents were approved in July, and the company released Passbook in September. At least 10 airlines have enabled passengers to access their boarding passes in Passbook via a barcode, and more participation is expected.
As is famously typical, Apple is not revealing any details about its plans for the wide-ranging products and capabilities iTravel could introduce, nor is it divulging any clues about its “Big Plan” for travel overall.
“Apple has been completely quiet as far as any of their intentions in this space,” said travel technology expert 
Norm Rose, president of Travel Technology Consulting Inc. and senior technology analyst with PhoCusWright Inc. “They’re not talking to anyone I work with, any analyst or supplier. That includes some of my clients who visited them about other issues.”
One such client was a major global airline that has implemented iPads for use by its onboard personnel. When airline leaders met with Apple about the iPad application and asked about iTravel, the company declined to discuss it.
“That doesn’t mean the iTravel patent and the capabilities that they've been awarded with that patent aren’t going to materialize in an Apple product,” Rose said. “But for now it’s all speculation.”
Rose shared his observations on the Apple versus Google competition in the travel space with Travel Weekly PLUS Editor in Chief Diane Merlino. Rose emphasized that he has no insider knowledge and his comments are based on his analysis of the marketplace and his long-standing in-depth expertise. This is the first excerpt from that dialogue, edited for clarity.
Merlino: Is there a battle brewing between Apple and Google for dominance in the travel space?
Rose: Things are being implemented more from a search and media model rather than from a distribution or content war. But it does present another layer the industry is going to have to deal with, and that’s probably the biggest fear that the industry has. The easiest way to highlight that is with [Google’s] Hotel Finder. You’ve got to pay to play to be positioned correctly in Hotel Finder.
Merlino: Do Apple and Google have different philosophies and needs regarding their involvement in the travel space?
Rose: There are some intersecting philosophies and some adapted philosophies. There’s a much greater emphasis on search from Google and a much greater emphasis on user experience from Apple. That’s where they each came from. But you have to look at Apple introducing its own mapping function, which becomes a center for search activities on mobile, as realizing that search is an important component for them as well.
One big difference is that Google doesn’t have control over user interface. That’s something that would be absolutely abhorrent for Apple. Apple has been saying “We want to control the user interface. That’s our thing. We want to make sure that life's easier with that,” while Google has been saying “Let’s go out and license it.” Now they’re pulling back on that a little and saying “Hey listen, we’re going to have some very unique Google-specific products as part of the mix.”
There is a common media model, with advertising being inserted into booking flows and the mobile platform.
Merlino: How could the different strategies over controlling the user interface affect travel providers?
Rose: What’s interesting about the iTravel patent is that it covers almost the entire journey, including the way you interact in the airport using NFC — Near Field Communication technology — for self check-in and so forth.
Future Travel Experience is an organization of mostly airports and airlines. They have conferences around the next generation airport and so forth, and there’s a lot of emphasis on self-service. Some airlines are trying to implement innovations to change the whole check-in paradigm to make it more like buying a seat at a Broadway show, and then you use it or lose it. There are a lot of changes happening.
What’s strange is that Apple is inserting itself with this patent right into the middle of that. It’s unclear if they would try and do that portion of the patent for themselves. I don’t know how that would work with the industry, or whether it’s still an item of interest for Apple. It would make a lot of sense if they partnered with one of the automation suppliers for airports and airlines.
The other part of the [iTravel] patent is more like what Google is doing with local search. I’m sure that’s going to be
a core part of things for Apple.
Then there is [Apple’s] Passbook and Google Wallet, two initiatives that are more similar across the companies. Many airlines have already made their boarding passes part of Passbook. That becomes an interesting potential for opt-in sharing of information across industry competitors. I haven’t seen any evidence of that happening yet; it’s at a very early stage. But that’s one of the most challenging aspects of the move to try to be a more personalized service at every touch point, which is the goal of every airline nowadays.
Merlino: How would the airlines’ push to personalization facilitate information sharing?
Rose: This is a real what-if scenario. I’m just speculating on a way to think about it.
If someone took your wallet, what would they know about you? They'd probably know what type of car you drive; you probably have an insurance card in there. You probably have some charge cards in there. You might have a United Airlines Mileage Plus card. You might have an American Airlines card. You might have all sorts of things. Now no one is going to access that wallet without my permission. But if permission was given — and we’re in a different age of permission and transparency — and if that could be automated by allowing an opt-in to look at the wallet, that would be an interesting spin.
Merlino: What do you mean when you say we’ve entered a different age of permission and transparency?
Rose: The generational shift and social media itself has changed the willingness of individuals to share things. Among the millennials who’ve grown up in the Internet age there’s a lot more willingness to share information. It’s all a matter of perceived benefit. If you perceive that by sharing some bit of information you’re going to receive some increased benefit, you’re more willing to share. And the younger you are, the more likely you are to share. That’s a bit of a black-and-white statement, but it’s what the research is generally showing.
Merlino: Is the travel space of equal importance to Apple and Google?
Rose: Google believes that anything involving search, including travel, is in their DNA and should be part of a Google solution. It’s a lot less clear with Apple. But you’ve seen a lot of reports from various sources that people are not happy with online travel; they don’t feel it’s as user-friendly as it could be. Apple’s DNA is about making the user experience with computers easier. Travel is a piece of that.
Merlino: Given that Google’s DNA is search and Apple’s DNA is in making the user experience better, are these the primary arenas where the two will butt heads in the travel space?
Rose: I think they’re on a path to compete on all levels. It’s clear that the two are very, very fierce competitors at this point.
But there is something essential here that’s important not to forget. We talk about Google and Apple as if everything comes from Google and Apple. No, it comes from third-party developers who develop on iOS or on Google’s Android platform. There is an aspect of enabling the broader market and the broader creativity of third parties to help improve the travel process. That’s an important part of the DNA of both companies.
So one of the potential threats — or you could say opportunities — for the travel industry is who devises something unique to make the user experience easier on Apple or something that helps search and content delivery on Android. That’s another aspect that people are losing sight of. There are ecosystems involved that go beyond the companies themselves.
NEXT WEEK: More from Norm Rose on the contours of the competition between Apple and Google in the travel space.
ALSO SEE:The Google-ization of Travel, an exclusive interview with Steven Levy, author of In the Plex. How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our World.
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