This week...Google confirm they will not enter the travel market, operation Ice Cream Sandwich is postponed and Steve Jobs death shocks the world

Last week the technology world was dominated by the sad news of the death of Apple founder Steve Jobs, a true pioneer and key figure in technology.His death was commentated on both the Google homepage and the Apple site and the Internet was covered with tributes to his life. Many of you would of been in Palma last week at The ABTA Travel Convention where many travel issues and topics were discussed, including an interesting talk from Google. As usual we’ve picked out the best stories in the news this week.

Find out also about our latest Big 10 competition which opened last week.


CWT Digital News:

Big 10-10th October- We opened up our next Big 10 last week to win a mobile web app for your site. With mobile browsing increasingly on the up a mobile web app can help you reach more of your customers. Entries close on the 31st October and you can enter here.

Travel News:

Gumtree joins the flash deals market and adds hotels-7th October- The local listings site Gumtree has now added flash sales in the form of ‘Daily Deals to it’s site. The new deals section can be found on the left of the page which offers deals depending on what area Gumtree you are in. Hotel offers are also included in the Daily Deals which could prove beneficial in travel due to the large scale of Gumtree, which attracts around 14 million visits a month. Daily Deals is set up in a similar fashion to other deals site in the sense that users sign up for daily emails for offers which expire after a few days. Gumtree claims that they will be using Facebook and social media to ask it’s customers what type of deals they would like to see.

Google will not enter the travel market- 5th October- After the release of Google Hotel Finder and Google Flight Search many in travel have questioned if Google would be looking to become it’s own travel agent. At ABTA last week Google spoke out against these rumours claiming that ‘We have no intention of moving into the booking space. Online travel agents are partners of ours, and we have no history in that area’. During the conference Nigel Huddleston head of travel at Google discussed how online travel is developing online, predicting a third of all travel sales coming from online in 2012. Huddleston also highlighted the increasing importance of mobile search, stating it was ‘the future of travel’ with 20% on online search coming from mobile devices.


Technology News

Steve Jobs dies-5th October- One of the biggest news in technology last week was the death of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs who dies from cancer at 56. Since the sad news fans of Apple and Steve left flowers and apples outside Apple stores around the world. There has also been an influx of orders for the new Apple iPhone 4S which has had more than 200,000 pre orders, believed to be in reaction to the death. Tnooz looked at the way in which Steve Jobs has changed the travel environment in this article here, discussing how the use of iPhones and IPads have effected travel search.

Google to launch ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’-10th October- After Google’s purchase of Motorola Mobility a few months ago many have waited for Google’s announcement of a new Android. The handset which is believed to be called the Nexus Prime launch has been codenamed ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ was delayed out of respect for Steve Jobs and will be released very shortly. Google’s attempt at entering the mobile market will be a lightweight device with technology to rival that of the Apple iPhone 4S. Google will be incorporating it’s apps within the device, such as Google Wallet where in some parts of the US where phones can replace credit cards and be swiped on touch pads. Apple is currently dominate the mobile market and it is left to be decided if Google can take some that market share.

YouTube now offer film service-7th October-YouTube has launched its film rental service in the UK offering thousands of films which can be streamed from around £2.49-£3.49 per film. This new service puts YouTube in direct competition with Amazon’s LoveFilm. Once a film has been purchased the user has a 30 window to watch the film within 48hrs. YouTube has managed to sign deals with major Hollywood film companies such as Sony Pictures, Warner Bros and Universal, which could potentially threaten LoveFilm.


That's all from us this week, we hope you found our update helpful! Of course if you want to keep up with us throughout the whole week then you can do by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook