Mobile Travel Tips with Optus Mobile and Lonely Planet

Optus Mobile has launched a content partnership with Lonely Planet Publications enabling Optus Mobile customers to download Lonely Planet CityPicks travel guides to their java-enabled mobile phones via the Optus Zoo mobile content portal.

Lonely Planet CityPicks are destination guides for more than 40 cities across Australia, Asia, Europe, USA and Africa. Featuring at least 50 recommendations per city, CityPicks takes the hard work out of tracking down the best restaurants, bars, nightlife, shops and hotels by keeping them immediately available on a travellers handset.

Optus Zoo is a unique service available exclusively to Optus Mobile customers so they can tailor content on their mobile phones to suit their personal interests and needs. Optus Zoo subscribers can have the latest news, live sports scores, horoscopes and weather reports sent directly to their mobile phone or download wallpaper, music, ringtones, games, photos and now Lonely Planet CityPicks travel guides.

Stuart Tucker, Marketing Director Optus Mobile said, “Lonely Planet CityPicks travel guides are a great solution for time-poor business travellers who want to quickly find a restaurant for dinner or pick up a souvenir between meetings as easily as searching for a phone number on their mobile phone.

“Mobile phone users want to be able to customise their phones to give them the information they want at their fingertips. As most people who travel take their mobile with them we expect the CityPicks guides for Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney to be popular with interstate business travellers and people on short city stopovers,” Mr Tucker said.

Jeff Trounce, Business Development Manager at Lonely Planet said, “Lonely Planet first launched CityPicks in Europe where they have been very popular. Australia, through our relationship with Optus, is the first market outside Europe to be able to access the city guides. We know from the European experience that people often download guides to their dream destinations, even if they are not travelling immediately, so we expect cities like London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo to be popular in addition to the Australian cities.”

Optus Zoo subscribers can download Lonely Planet CityPicks guides from the Optus Zoo website via a PC or, if the phone is WAP enabled, download direct to their mobile phone. Once the CityPicks guide is downloaded to a phone customers can access it anywhere in the world – regardless of network coverage. Customers can also download Lonely Planet CityPicks while overseas if their phone is activated for international roaming. Each city guide costs $6.60 (including GST), a one time charge that is added to the post-paid mobile phone bill or deducted from a pre-paid account balance.

Lonely Planet CityPicks guides can be used on any Java-enabled mobile phone connected to the Optus mobile network but are optimised especially for the following models: Nokia 3650, 7210, 7250 and 6600; Sony Ericsson T610 and P800; Motorola T720; and the Siemens MC60 with additional models expected to be made available in the next few weeks. Lonely Planet CityPicks guides are available on Optus Zoo for the following cities:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Prague, Czech Republic
3. Copenhagen, Denmark
4. London, England
5. Manchester, England
6. Helsinki, Finland
7. Paris, France
8. Marseille, France
9. Lyon, France
10. Nice, France
11. Frankfurt, Germany
12. Berlin, Germany
13. Munich, Germany
14. Athens, Greece
15. Florence, Italy
16. Milan, Italy
17. Rome, Italy
18. Venice, Italy
19. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
20. Lisbon, Portugal
21. Moscow, Russia 22. Barcelona, Spain
23. Madrid, Spain
24. Stockholm, Sweden
25. Geneva, Switzerland
26. Zurich, Switzerland
27. Los Angeles, USA
28. New York, USA
29. San Francisco, USA
30. Montreal, Canada
31. Beijing, China
32. Hong Kong, China
33. Tokyo, Japan
34. Bangkok, Thailand
35. Singapore, Singapore
36. Seoul, South Korea
37. Sydney, Australia
38. Melbourne, Australia
39. Brisbane, Australia
40. Perth, Australia
41. Johannesburg, South Africa