.mobi Solutions in Action (dotMobi) | MMA Global

.mobi Solutions in Action (dotMobi)

December 15, 2006



Companies:
Thalys International and dotMobi

Campaign:
.mobi Solutions in Action

Challenge:
Thalys International was searching for a way to meet the information needs and expectations of its 6 million passengers. Headquartered in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Brussels, Thalys is the only high-speed European train network that daily connects France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. Thalys International needed a way to provide important information regarding schedules and fares, service disruptions and transportation information to its customers who depend on the network to get them where they need to be. Realizing that customers wanted this information while they’re on the go, Thalys decided that going mobile would be the best way to meet customer demands. Thalys needed a partner to provide customers with the best mobile experience.

Solution:
A .mobi domain was the ideal solution for Thalys to present important, real-time content to customers in a format that was easy to read and navigate on a mobile device. Realizing that the .mobi domain would be a reliable format for the information and take the guessing associated with mobile sites out of the equation, Thalys employed the help of Bytes and Com’s Pascal Debroux to develop thalys.mobi. Thalys.mobi provides up-to-the-minute transportation information to customers in four languages, utilizing a simple, easy to read format outlined by the dotMobi Developer’s Guide.

Results:
Thalys launched thalys.mobi on 9 September 2006, and by 26 September, the site was getting dozens of visits per day. It is now a recognized resource for Thalys’ hundreds of daily travelers. According to Yves Vieux-Pernon, project manager at Thalys, “
This is another vehicle for us to communicate with and provide high-quality service to our business and leisure travel customers.” Thalys is currently working on a module for real-time traffic information. Each train is equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology so that delays can be reported immediately to travelers. The service is expected to be available on thalys.mobi by the beginning of 2007. Later, the company will explore making ticketing available via thalys.mobi.

About Thalys International
In 2006, Thalys celebrated its tenth anniversary. Today, more than 50 million passengers have traveled between Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne on Thalys trains. It's even possible to travel without a paper ticket with Thalys' "Ticketless" service.

In 2008, Thalys will open hour-and-a-half service on its Brussels-Amsterdam and Brussels-Cologne routes as well as three-hour service on its Paris-Amsterdam and Paris-Cologne routes.

Thalys is a joint subsidiary of SNCB, SNCF, DB AG and NS.

About dotMobi
dotMobi (the informal name of mTLD Top Level Domain, Ltd.), a joint venture company based in Dublin, Ireland with offices in Washington, DC, is leading the development of Internet usage from mobile phones by switching on the .mobi domain name. Unique among domain name providers, dotMobi ensures that services and sites developed around .mobi are optimized for use by mobile devices. On-the-go consumers can have confidence that the Internet site or service will work from their mobile device when using the .mobi address.

dotMobi is backed by leading mobile operators, network and device manufacturers, and Internet content providers, including Ericsson, GSM Association, Hutchison 3, Microsoft, Nokia, Orascom Telecom, Samsung Electronics, Syniverse, T-Mobile, Telefonica Moviles, TIM and Vodafone. dotMobi is also a sponsor of W3C's Mobile Web Initiative.

For more information on dotMobi, visit http://dotmobi.mobi and the dotMobi blog at http://blog.mobi. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />