European train company Thalys launched its mobile internet site, thalys.mobi, on September 9. The four-language site provides train schedules and fare information to travelers in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France. Thalys plans to include up-to-the-minute traffic information on the site in coming months.
Within the context of developing added-value services among business clients essentially, Thalys launched its mobile website in .mobi. Report on the methods and difficulties of this project.
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.
After studying the market and identifying the needs and expectations of its customers, Thalys decided to give travelers the information they needed via mobile phones – an ideal way to reach these mobile customers. The four-language site provides train schedules and fare information for all of its travelers.