- 23 April 2010
- 8:50pm
- Filed under
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Updated: iPhone guides for stranded travellers
adminLonely Planet author
This week Lonely Planet has seen more than 3 million downloads of its iPhone city guides, making them the top free travel applications in the iTunes App Store.
To help travellers who were stranded due to the chaos caused by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, Lonely Planet on Monday (19th) made 13 of its European iPhone city guides available free of charge for four days.
In an effort to continue supporting travellers who remain displaced, Lonely Planet has decided to offer its entire European iPhone city guide range at £2.99 (€3.99, US$4.99, AU$5.99), a discounted rate from their normal price of £9.49 (€12.99, US$15.99, AU$18.99) to provide travellers with practical information and suggestions on what to do while in an unfamiliar destination.
Tom Hall, Lonely Planet Travel Editor, said, “The rate at which the iPhone city guides have been downloaded has been phenomenal. We have had a fantastic response from travellers and want to continue to support them through this extended offer which now covers 32 cities across Europe.”
The 32 guides will be available at the discounted price of £2.99 (€3.99, US$4.99, AU$5.99) until Friday 30th April from the iTunes App Store.
Amsterdam
Barcelona
Belfast
Berlin
Budapest
Copenhagen
Dublin
Edinburgh
Florence
Glasgow
Istanbul
Krakow
Lisbon
London
Lyon
Madrid
Manchester
Marseille
Moscow
Munich
Nice
Oslo
Paris
Prague
Rome
Seville
St Petersburg
Stockholm
Stuttgart
Venice and the Veneto
Vienna
Warsaw
This is an update from original post of April 19, reposted below.
In response to the widespread chaos caused by the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, Lonely Planet is offering 13 of its European iPhone guides free.
‘Travellers stuck in unfamiliar places need access to practical information as well as suggestions on what to do whilst stranded’, said Tom Hall, Lonely Planet Travel Editor. ‘That’s why we’re giving away iPhone city guides to major affected destinations.’
The 13 guides will be available free until Thursday, 22 April from the iTunes app store. You can access them via the links below.
The cities included are:
- Amsterdam
- Barcelona
- Berlin
- Budapest
- Copenhagen
- Istanbul
- London
- Moscow
- Munich
- Paris
- Rome
- Stockholm
- Vienna
Clarification: if you download the app for free, it is yours to keep. You will not be charged in the future for an app that you have downloaded free.
Great idea… we’re stuck in Buenos Aires and a free guide for that would sure come in helpful ;-)
Discrimination against Android, which is even more ubiquitous than the iPhone overseas (not mention simply a better phone). Weird.
@hpmoon. Quit being a douche, they’re giving stuff away free, tough luck if it doesn’t cover your brand of phone. Show us some stats on Android adoption or stop making false claims. I’m not in the US and I don’t know a single Android user except the one that works for Google.
Lovely! Being a real Dutchman, I’ve downloaded them all already. But wouldn’t it be a great idea to make the same cities as In App Purchases for the “Lonely Planet Travel Guides” app free as well? Guess it would promote your other books so much more :-)
Fantastic, will they be made free as In App Purchases so they are all in one app?
Thanks a million! I am stuck in Prague and a bunch of friends are stuck in Oslo, any chance you can release a free version for those two cities??
Are the free city guides also available through the larger Lonely Planet iPhone App or are they only available as stand alone smaller Apps?
I get the confirmation to purchase if I try to add them through the App interface.
Thanks
This is the iTunes link for the App in question: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/lonely-planet-travel-guides/id317165182?mt=8
arrgghh why isn’t prague listed?
Does this work for the ipod touch?
Stupid question: will we have to pay for them after Thursday, 22 April? Is this just to use within this period?
How about Indonesia ? there are so many lovely beautiful place to visit..
What about Android phones ????? Come on!
Free application is a very good option
@acamf: yes, it seems like they are only free to use right now. The app intro screen says “This guide will be free for the next four days (until 11:59pm Thursday GMT) so you can make the most of your “unexpected” holiday.” You’ll probably be asked to pay after that.
For those stranded at Bangkok airport for the past three days, will the Bangkok guidebook be available? Some are stuck here until at least the weekend.
Thanks livepaola, very important to know that! Imagine having to pay all the ones that were thought to be free!
Or if you just want to rant about the volcano – http://www.damnyouvolcano.com also has some beginnings of a ‘doing stuff’ like feature
for those somehow wondering, the APP is FREE if you download it by the deadline. the app is YOURS, so they won’t send you a bill after the deadline! use it when you want–there’s no ‘invisible ink’ or James-Bond-style self-destruction method.
Dear Android Users: You should get used to suffering penalties as a result of your support of a clearly inferior phone. Get an iPhone.
And to Lonely Planet: Thank you!!!
Hi all – just to confirm, if you download the free app by Thursday, it is yours to keep.
We will not be charging people who have already downloaded the app.
Thank you for the clarifications!
And will that include future updates, or not?
thank you very much.İncredable avşa adası
Yes, updates will be free.
This is quite cool, it’s fair to say I wouldn’t have checked these out without the promotion – downloading now!
No love for Dublin?
How about Dundalk? I’ve been stuck here all my life.
With the backlogs and delays of people stranded in Europe expected to last for days if not weeks longer, I don’t suppose there’s any chance of any extra cities being put on the volcano relief sale as well?
Even just a city per day or something like that, it would be some more positive publicity for Lonely Planet..
If these guides were available for “purchase” from the Lonely Plant Guide app for free, then a user can integrate it with that app, instead of downloading and installing each one individually. These guides still show $0.99 in the LP Guide app. Fail!
Hi @parindshah, I’m Christen Duong, the mobile product manager at LP. Re these guides being 0.99 in the LP Guide app, it’s the lowest price we can make them. We use Apple’s in-app infrastructure, and for some reason, it doesn’t allow us to make things free.
We have written Apple to request free functionality, in case we need to make apps free again. Hopefully, when we do, it’s not due to another volcano!
Thanks a lot Lonely Planet! Great offer.
I’m a long-time LP fan and a new iPad owner. I assume that the apps will get updated every year or so as tourist attraction info and prices change (just like new editions of the LP books come out every so often). If I purchase the LP apps, will I get free updates when the app is updated with new info?
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