The San Francisco CVB has come up with an original way to get their hands on an official app – A ‘Pimp my App’ contest in partnership with the APPNATION expo that’s being held at the Moscone Center in September.

SF CVB APPNATION Pimp My App contest

The San Francisco CVB gets a free app and free publicity, and APPNATION gets free buzz surrounding their event, which again is good for San Francisco. And the contest winner gets the fame and $2,500 as the grand prize.

Matt Stiker, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, SFCVB, says that “We’re hoping that the creative talent of the developers attending the conference, ignited by the assignment of promoting one of the greatest cities in the world, will result in some very intriguing and engaging apps for San Francisco.”

The winner will be announced at the opening session of the APPNATION conference on Sept 13, 2010.

This is the inaugural APPNATION event, and its success will determine how much attention, and how many participants and exhibitors it attracts going forward. The focus of the conference this year is on the “burgeoning consumer applications revolution and global app economy.”

In addition to the SF CVB app contest, APPNATION is also holding another similar app contest sponsored by the Fox television show Fringe. Contestants are welcome to enter multiple apps for either or both contests.

More info: www.appnationconference.com/pma.php

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Apple Inc. has filed patents with the US Patent & Trademark Office for two travel related app ideas for directly interfacing with airline and hotel booking and information systems, along with a third one for fashion shopping. The patents were filed last year, but have just been made public by the USPTO.

Apple travel app patent

The travel services app patent (20100190510) deals with “Systems & methods for accessing travel services using a portable electronic device.”

Application summary says this includes “Such services can include, for example, reserving a travel itinerary, checking-in remotely for a reservation, providing airport information, providing for social networking, obtaining dining or entertainment during travel, controlling and requesting cabin services, providing arrival notifications to third parties, providing destination location information, and the like.”

The hotel app patent application (20100191551) summary says “This is directed to systems and methods for accessing hotel services through a portable electronic device.”

Examples of hotel services cited include “that a traveler can interact with a hotel to make a reservation, check-in, order room service, control room settings, use a concierge to identify attractions of interest in the vicinity, purchase entertainment options, check-out, and schedule subsequent aspects of a trip (e.g., order a taxi, reserve a rental car, or check-in to a flight).”

Apple Hotel app patent

The third patent application is for high-end fashion shopping (20100191578), and includes methods for providing information for promotional and invitation-only events, browsing catalogs, availability of fashion items, and view or provide ratings or reviews for stores or fashion items.

If Apple is willing to risk innovation in mobile travel apps with patents like these, it means they’re actively seeking to book a place at the table as a gateway between mobile consumers and travel service providers.

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