London and Helsinki, July 16, 2009 - Dopplr, the online service for smart travel, today announced the launch of Dopplr - The Social Atlas, a free iPhone application available worldwide in the iPhone App Store.

This mobile location-based application puts the combined wisdom of the world’s smart travellers in your pocket.

Wherever you are in the world, you can use it to find nearby recommended places to eat, stay and explore. If you make new discoveries of your own, you can add them to the Social Atlas with a few taps of your finger. And every new addition helps to expand the Social Atlas, which is starting small but growing rapidly with the input from Dopplr travellers using their mobile devices.

You don't even need an account at Dopplr.com to use the app. The built-in directory of city tips and advice works for everyone.

But if you do have a Dopplr account, the application offers a rich social location-based experience. You can keep in touch with your fellow travellers, find out what city and timezone they are in, and what future trips they have planned. You can view your own planned trips, and find co-incidences when fellow travellers will be nearby. You can even contact them directly from inside the app.

"We are taking the Social Atlas mobile and putting the intelligence of the Dopplr community in the hands of smart travellers everywhere. This has been a key request from our users," says Marko Ahtisaari, Dopplr CEO. "The iPhone application is the first step. Dopplr will make the Social Atlas available on all major mobile location-based devices in 2009 including Nokia Nseries and Eseries, Blackberry and Google Android."

Recent research by Dopplr into the travel patterns and preferences of the world’s best-connected frequent travellers highlighted the importance of recommendations in travel decisions. Over 95% of digital influencers claimed to be strongly or slightly influenced by recommendations in their choice of hotels and restaurants. In addition, the Dopplr digital influencer community prefers unique travel experiences with over 40% going for boutique hotels when they travel, and 25% choosing a trusted chain.
 
According to Informa Telecoms and Media the mobile social networking market is forecast to grow at CAGR 54% to 2012 reaching $28.9bn. According to recent research by O'Reilly Media travel is the second fastest growing application category in the iPhone App store (O’Reilly Radar, May 2009).