China's most popular travel app, Qunar Travel, featured in the Samsung smartwatch debut.
BEIJING – At the 53rd Annual IFA Technology Trade Show in Berlin last week, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. took center stage introducing the GALAXY Gear, the new companion device to the Samsung GALAXY. Qunar Travel was featured as the only Chinese travel application to debut on the new smartwatch. The Android-based technology will allow users instant access to their flight and hotel booking statuses, flight statuses, weather conditions for destinations and group deals from Qunar, the largest Chinese travel platform in the world.
The smartwatch with customized Qunar components includes all the features that have long been popular with users, including special flight deals, flight status checking, last-minute hotel deals and other Qunar mobile specialties. Users only have to turn on their GALAXY Gear to get connected to all the Chinese travel information they like. Travelers will have options to have booking confirmations, flight reminders the day before, flight updates, weather notices, hotel messages, and travel deal recommendations shown up on their smartwatch, based on their preferences. Aside from Qunar push notices, users can also “tap” to directly check the latest progress on their bookings and continue reading synced information on their phones.
“Samsung GALAXY Gear frees users from the need to constantly check their smart devices while maintaining connections. It provides what we call ‘smart freedom,’ by allowing users to choose how, why, when and where they are connected,” said JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics.
The newest market report by ABI Research predicts that wearable technology will become a part of mainstream consumption in the near future, estimating that by 2018, there will be 485 million wearable IT gadgets produced worldwide. The new Samsung smartwatch is leading the charge in this market, letting users to live in the moment while staying connected to their Samsung GALAXY devices.
In collaborating with Qunar, the Samsung smartwatch will be able to tap into the largest Chinese mobile travel user-base and database. Currently, Qunar has the most popular travel mobile apps in China, with 43 million activated users by the end of June 2013. Qunar apps connect iOS and Android smartphone users to over 3,000 Chinese domestic flight routes, 60,000 hotels in China, 200,000 international hotels, 20,000 tourist sites, 50,000 travel packages, and supports free taxi-booking services in 26 cities. Qunar apps also supply location-based services that provide a one-stop solution to all travel, dining, lodging and entertainment needs on-the-go.
“We are excited to stay at the technological forefront, and help make travel even smarter and easier for Chinese users in this collaboration with Samsung,” remarked Larry Chen, General Manager of Qunar Mobile Business.
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