When BBC Worldwide’s Lonely Planet temporarily dropped prices for some of its mobile travel guides during this summer’s Icelandic volcano eruption, it found a 500 percent sales uplift.
Now it’s dropping prices again during another commuter crisis, and with Christmas just a week away…
— With snow causing disruption at London’s Heathrow and elsewhere, the publisher is making 13 of its paid iPhone city guides free until December 23.
— And it’s reducing its 25 compass-enabled Android city guides (with built-in augmented reality, courtesy of Wikitude) from $4.99 to $0.99 until December 25.
Seasonal travel necessity may be the promotion logic cited by Lonely Planet’s press releases, but the pricedrop is likely aimed at putting the publisher’s apps on the Top Travel Apps sections of iTunes Store and Android Market in time for new iPhone and Android handset owners this Christmas.