PhoCusWright Travel Innovator: ekit
From their website: ekit is a global provider of integrated communications and Internet services, designed to keep travelers in touch.
ekit provides a suite of travel communication services including mobile phones, SIM cards, global calling cards, Internet calling, voicemail, text messaging and email solutions. These services are accessible worldwide from more than 152 countries.
At first glance, the ekit.com website looks like an e-commerce site for buying cellphones and sim cards. When you take a closer look however, there is a new service they call their Travel Journal. It appears to be a travel blog that can be updated using your mobile device and automatically tracks your locations based on when and where you post mobile photos and messages. I don’t for sure if this is the product that ekit.com is planning on presenting at PhoCusWright, perhaps someone from ekit.com can confirm my suspicion.
The travel journal is a service provided free when you purchase an international phone or sim card from ekit. It is, therefore, a value add service and not necessarily a revenue driver for the company. The service allows the traveler to post messages to a pre-configured travel journal. Whenever the traveler makes an update or posts a mobile photo, the system captures geotag information and posts the current weather for the location. All your geotagged entries are posted on customized Google map that shows your locations and attaches your entries to location pins on the map. This is a great way to see where you have gone and what you did at these locations. Finally, there is an interesting status service that tracks your location, your local time, and whether your phone is on or off.
This is an interesting service and has the potential to be used by a wide audience. Given that the majority of the revenue of ekit is driven by the sale of phones and sim cards I have trouble seeing the scalability of the app. Perhaps there is some thought of opening up the platform and only making certain features like the status and recharge available for ekit phone and sim customers.
Questions:
1. Is the travel journal the innovation we can expect to see at PhoCusWright?
2. The travel journal is so far down on the page (most customers would probably miss it). Are there plans to bring more attention to this service?
3. Are there thoughts about opening up the platform to other mobile users? iPhone App?
Here is a link to a CNET article about the Travel Journal. (Note that Telestial and ekit are the same company)
Hi, My name is John Diamond and I am the CEO of ekit. Thanks for your questions. My responses are below:
Q1. Is the travel journal the innovation we can expect to see at PhoCusWright?
A. Yes, I will be demonstrating the ekit travel journal at 3.10 on Monday 17 November.
Q2. The travel journal is so far down on the page (most customers would probably miss it). Are there plans to bring more attention to this service?
A. Yes. The travel journal is provided to all customers that purchase a global SIM, US SIM, and ekit phonecard. In addition travellers that do not purchase any ekit services can also set up a free ekit travel journal. ekit SIM cards provide automated tracking using cell towers in 100 countries which is updated each time the SIM is used.
3. Are there thoughts about opening up the platform to other mobile users? iPhone App?
A. Absolutely. Travellers can use the ekit travel journal with their own phone, including text updates to their travel journal, and photo updates via mobile email.
With regard to iPhones, the ekit Travel Journal web pages work well in Safari. Entries can be completed and photos uploaded directly to the web page on the iPhone. We are in the process of developing applications for the iPhone and other mobile platforms.
ekit SIMs are also enabled for prepaid data services, GPRS in 71 countries, and 3G in 11 countries. Prepaid data enables travellers to control data usage costs during travel, to avoid nasty shocks when you get home.
Thanks for the responses, John. I’m looking forward to your demo on Monday. I’ve had my share of nasty 3G data charges while traveling so I can certainly appreciate your value proposition. See in you in Hollywood.
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