Wireless travel applications have largely been solutions in search of a problem.
Although mobile commerce and wireless Web applications are finding a market in Europe and Japan, the prospective American customers have not yet fully embraced the new mobile technologies. Much of the new wireless commerce is based on WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) that critics are dismissing as being stillborn after a very long gestation.
Nearly every new wireless product or service has a component for travel, especially for the highly mobile business traveler. The travel market simply makes good sense for these mobile technologies. Sooner or later, one of the many companies in the mobile field is going to find the right mix of marketing, handheld devices and content.
The latest entry in the race is Synchrologic with its ReadySyncGo!, a Web-based service that delivers to a wide variety of mobile devices personal calendars, appointments, travel itineraries, contacts, and address book. Today, Synchrologic announced the availability of ReadySyncGo! to individuals free-of-charge.
The free service is Synchrologic’s marketing vehicle to sell ReadySyncGo! to corporations to run behind their corporate firewall or in an ASP model securely hosted by Synchrologic. The company’s current corporate customers include Cisco, Hertz, Citicorp, 3M, JD Edwards and Nintendo.
ReadySyncGo! is designed to let business professionals synchronize their Personal Information Manager (PIM) on their mobile devices, including Palm-powered handhelds, pagers, cell phones, PCs and laptops. Users of the service also will automatically receive personalized Web content based on calendar entries, such as travel itineraries, and including flight schedules and hotel addresses, as well as maps, driving directions and weather forecasts. Additionally, Synchrologic said Palm VII users soon will be able to wirelessly synchronize their ReadySyncGo! application anytime, anywhere without HotSyncing.
“As mobile professionals come to rely on multiple mobile devices for both personal and business data, making sure the same information is available across each of these devices presents a growing challenge,” said Bill Jones, vice president of product management for Synchrologic.. “ReadySyncGo! automates this process and also provides relevant, personalized content such as driving directions to a hotel or meeting, car rental locations and the weather, based on existing calendar entries,”
How does it work? After registering online, a thin client will be downloaded to the traveler’s PC, laptop or Palm-powered handheld. Upon initial synchronization, each device’s data is added to a personal master database on Synchrologic’s secure servers. Synchrologic says this master database is accessible from any computer with Web access, via secure, password-protected communications.
Then, each time one of a client’s devices syncs with ReadySyncGo!, updates move both directions between that device and your personal master database. ReadySyncGo! keeps an updated copy of the master data on all your PCs and handheld devices.
Each user’s calendar, address book, and travel itineraries are consolidated into one master copy that can be viewed and updated directly from a Web browser or Internet-enabled mobile phone, and synchronized to Microsoft Outlook and handheld devices.
Syncrologic promises users that the full itinerary for a trip, including hotel, air, and car reservations with confirmation numbers will available, along with driving directions, maps to appointments and weather forecasts for destination cities. Web content is provided by:
* MapQuest. Provides driving directions and maps.

* Worldspan. Provides trip itineraries and travel reservations data.

* Innovata. Provides additional travel information such as hotel information, rental car facility locations and airport airline gate information.

* Accuweather. Provides weather forecast information.
ReadySyncGo! supports Sync ML, an open industry specification for universal data synchronization. As new mobile devices adhering to the specification are introduced, ReadySyncGo! will synchronize with those devices, the company said.
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