Travel Talk Eurobike 2017: Smart Cycling

“Smart Cycling — From digital route planning to the smart lock” with Thomas Froitzheim, Naviso at Travel Talk Eurobike 2017

At Eurobike 2017 it was clearly visible: More and more bikes are e-bikes. Sales numbers prove that trend. Along with that trend, bikes become more and more connected and smarter. Komoot is part of that development with Komoot Connect together with partners like COBI, Wahoo, Flyer or Haibike and therefore present at Eurobike.

Digitalization, connectivity and smartness is a general evolution, not only present in bike industry, but also tourism and travel. With that, a large part of this years Travel Talk was about e-bikes and smart services. Part of that was a pitch format moderated by Thomas Froitzheim, Naviso: Komoot versus Outdooractive.

The differences in short: Komoot’s Focus on Users and User Experience with the Result of a Much Larger User Base

Komoot focuses on users and their great outdoor experiences, while Outdooractive focuses on content management for various customers. It is at the core of Komoot to focus on user needs and deliver information via channels the users actually use. Focus on users means to think and develop mobile first. The result is a user base of more than 4 million users at Komoot and 0.5 at Outdooractive (Compare metrics of reach in detail). For partners of Komoot it is highly important to present and promote their products via channels with great reach.

For us focus on users and user experience also means to be open to connect, partner and collaborate with others, because we want to deliver always the best information available. We don’t charge for people to enter information, nor to distribute. No matter if it is Samsung, Wahoo, Mountain Bike Holidays, Engadin St. Moritz or COBI and Flyer e-bikes, they are able to publish content or integrate Komoot Connect for free.

Komoot is there to Enable Great Outdoor Experiences

We all dream about moments like this. A great view, sunset, a nice climb we did. We would like to enjoy great experiences, no matter if we are mountain bikers, cyclists or we enjoy nature running or hiking. For most people it is a dream, but often hard to realize:

• Where do I find places like this? Nearby out of the city?
• Can I actually make it? How long does it take? With my fitness level? Can I combine it with my ride to work? Do I need a gravel bike?
• How do I find my way? Without stopping all the time?

These and many more questions are the ones most people face. Not just in tourism areas, but especially at home, where no tourism products and tours are developed. At Komoot we focus on our users and their experience for each week, their trips and holidays. Their next adventure with their friends, weekend with their family, the hidden gem on Mallorca or just a new route back from work.

Our users and their experiences is the center of our development, the force that drives us. Great experiences are also the driver of tourism, travel and the outdoor and recreation industry in general.

This focus on users and their experiences is the main difference compared to Outdooractive mainly building a great and versatile (outdoor) content management system (CMS) for various tourism customers.

At Komoot we focus on users, user metrics and feedback. Although we know, that we can still do better, make the experience easier even though adding more features requested, we know that our focus on users made Komoot a very well rated app and the leading platform (Compare metrics of reach). A platform that is best rated and actually used regularly is also of highest interest of all our partners.

Users are Mobile — Komoot Thinks and Develops Mobile First

This is just a fact again shown e.g. by Kleiner Perkins Internet Trends Report 2017. 28% of time is spent mobile (20% online, 38% TV, 9% radio, 4% print). We all know this fact from own experience. At Komoot we put mobile in focus. We provide the full route planning experience mobile, offline turn-by-turn navigation, where Google or Apple maps is just empty, a seamless mobile sync also with e-bike displays or GPS devices. Planning on an iPad app, navigating with an Android. It doesn’t matter, we go where the user needs us.

New launches of Apple and Google make us work. We implement new platform features, the newest technology, new interaction patterns. We discuss UX and UI on different devices with our platform partners. We invest in new interactions and devices. This made us launch partner of Apple Watch, Google Now or Samsung Gear S3. But most important it constantly improves the experience of our users — simply because they are mobile and we ensure that their experience gets better with each app release.

Komoot is an Open Platform to Connect

It is our aim to provide the best experiences to our users. We are open to connect, partner and collaborate with others. Komoot is on Android Wear, Apple Watch, Samsung Tizen, Google Now. Mountain Bike Holidays, Bikehotels Südtirol and dozens of tourism destinations are active on Komoot. Besides Sponsored Collections all services are provided for free to our partners. Komoot Connect is a free solution to enable navigation experiences on GPS devices like Wahoo and even e-bike displays like Flyer COBI or speedometers. To be the platform with highest reach and best rated apps is of highest interest of all our partners.

Although Komoot and Outdooractive appear to be similar at a first glance there is a huge difference: Komoot focusses on users and user experience, thinks mobile first and is an open platform to connect to. The results are more than 4 million users at Komoot and 0.5 at Outdooractive.

It was fun and a pleasure to present our services vice versa with Hartmut Wimmer and answer questions and comments with Thomas Froitzheim at Eurobike or now. You can access the full presentation here.