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TCS & Starquest Expeditions Debuts iPad App with MEI Portico

Tuesday 11. September 2012 - MEI and Adobe provide platform for exclusive personalized travel app

Managing Editor Inc.(MEI) today announced the launch of TCS & Starquest Expeditions’ new iPad app. The private jet expedition company worked side by side with MEI to build the app, which emphasizes user-specific content distribution made possible by MEI Portico. The announcement marks another tablet publishing success story for MEI and the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite(DPS). The app is available in the iTunes App Store.
An industry leader in world travel, TCS & Starquest Expeditions has been offering its clients platinum-standard journeys by private jet for more than twenty years. The company’s educational expeditions accommodate up to seventy-eight passengers and last from two to three weeks each.
When TCS & Starquest Expeditions decided to make the move to tablet and build a digital venue for its print materials, the veteran travel provider chose MEI and Adobe: “At first we tried to build an app from scratch with different engineers, but it quickly became clear that we needed a less labor-intensive, more cost-effective option,” said Taemi Lim, documentation and digital publishing manager at TCS & Starquest Expeditions. “Adobe DPS and MEI Portico gave us an off-the-shelf solution that allowed us to complete the process quickly and with our own design team.”
MEI’s DPS and Portico experts trained and worked alongside the travel tour company’s team to install the software, build the app and submit the finished product to Apple. Portico allows the TCS & Starquest Expeditions administrators to present content specific to each group’s expedition without needing to submit an update to Apple. Through a personal login, registered travelers gain access to specially tailored guides, personal travel itineraries and other exclusive folios.
If a traveler has signed on for multiple journeys with TCS & Starquest Expeditions, logging in to the Portico custom storefront ensures that he or she will have access to content that pertains to his or her history as a TCS & Starquest Expeditions customer.
“The iPad is a fantastic device for travelers” said Brett Kizner, director of product marketing at MEI. “TCS & Starquest Expeditions has harnessed the power of the MEI and Adobe platform to create a sophisticated, personalized experience for TCS & Starquest Expeditions’ discerning customers.”
The new app ensures that all TCS & Starquest Expeditions customers are equipped with exactly the information they need all in one place. The Portico-enhanced app assures that travelers receive the same level of individual attention from their digital travel guide that they expect from TCS & Starquest Expeditions.