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Mobil Travel Guide Goes Mobile

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 November 2005, 12:00 CST

Mobil Travel Guide today announced a new concept in mobile electronics that re-writes the book on travel information. The revolutionary travel tool is based on Mobil Travel Guide's half-century tradition of rich information and objective Star Ratings, combined with built-in mapping, global positioning system (GPS), constant search processes, and an extraordinary degree of personalization.

The result: a guide that knows the traveler's tastes and location, and that alerts the traveler to interesting places nearby. "Mobil Travel Guide's new offering reflects the changing wants and needs of today's travelers," said Shane O'Flaherty, vice president of Quality Assurance, Mobil Travel Guide. "More people are mobile, planning their travel via laptop or handheld. Travelers can now keep Mobil Travel Guide's highest quality information at their fingertips."

Mobil Travel Guide is immediately releasing 10 of its popular guides in the new format, known as Spot Guides(TM), a mobile technology developed by Chicago-based Earthcomber LLC. The guides operate as extensions to the basic Earthcomber platform. Each guide offers in-depth destination content that can either be browsed, like a hyperlinked book, or continuously searched based on the traveler's current location and interests. Interactive links are available to connect guidebook content with corresponding map locations.

Personalization features allow travelers to precisely specify what they want to find. Each guide searches constantly for all of the things the traveler is interested in, based on the user's preferences and current location.

The initial set of Mobil Spot Guides includes guides to 10 major American cities, with additional guides available in the near future. The guides employ the Mobil Star Rating system to provide impartial, objective ratings of hotels and restaurants. The guides also provide extensive reviews of attractions and shopping.

The Mobil guides are priced between $10.95 and $14.95. The guides, maps, and software can be downloaded at www.earthcomber.com.

The technology currently works on Palm(TM)-powered smartphones and PDAs. Versions for Windows Mobile(R) handhelds, Blackberry(TM) devices, and more common cell phones are expected for release shortly.

About Mobil Travel Guide

Mobil Travel Guide publishes more than 30 guidebooks and atlases covering the U.S. and Canada, including our Regional Travel Planners, NASCAR Travel Planner, the Where to Eat series, On the Road with your Pet, the America's Byway Series, America's Best Hotel & Resort Spas, and America's Best Hotels and Restaurants. Mobil Travel Guide's online Road Trip Planner at www.mobiltravelguide.com offers online customized vacation planning and hotel reservations. When it comes to travel, Mobil Travel Guide provides consumers with recommendations they can trust.

About Earthcomber LLC

Headquartered in River Forest, Illinois, Earthcomber LLC is dedicated to involving people with the world around them through the advancement of universal mobile media and personal technologies that reveal opportunities, create meaningful commerce, and promote communities of interest.

Palm and Treo are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc. Windows Mobile is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Blackberry is a trademark of Research In Motion Limited. Spot Guide, Combing, and Earthcomber are trademarks of Earthcomber LLC.

Source: Business Wire

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