Mobile Marketing Medium

Innovative mobile applications are making it easier for retailers to make customers out of tourists and mobile business professionals. Yesterday OpenGrid Inc., a wireless reservation and CRM company, based in San Jose, Calif., and Vicinity Corp., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., released a mobile enterprise solution called Transactive Mobile Location Services (TMLS). Designed specifically for the hospitality industry, TMLS enables hotel guests to access information about their reservations as well as maps and driving directions to specification locations such as nearby business centers, restaurants, and retailers. "Some minimal store finder capabilities will be a necessity for every brick-and-mortar company a couple of years from now," says Ken Cassar, senior analyst of retail at Jupiter Media Metrix, based in New York. Transactive Mobile Location Services enable customers of Vicinity's Location Server Wireless Locator and customers of OpenGrid's wireless distribution product, FastBook, to deliver location information into the palms of a mobile users through existing wireless data networks. "The partnership with OpenGrid will allow us to deliver a new level of customer relationship management for major players in the hospitality industry by enhancing the customer experience and delivering critical location information when needed," said Chuck Berger, chief executive and president of Vicinity in a prepared statement. "For example, business travelers are often in a rush to get from the airport to a hotel, or from their hotel to the nearest office supply store. The Transactive Mobile Location Service enables these travelers to use their wireless device to find their destination quickly and easily."