Flight passengers may soon be able to check in from their smart phones

If there is one travel gadget that has become a must-have for the frequent flier it is the smartphone, an indispensable piece of technology that can keep travelers connected like a laptop but is as mobile as a cell phone. A new proposal from travel startup WorldMate could make smartphones even more useful for the avid excursionist by embedding travel services into the phone itself.

The Palo Alto-based company claims to be in contact with major manufacturers like Samsung, Nokia and Motorola as well as mobile operating-system providers like Apple, Google and Microsoft to create cell phones geared towards travelers.

Not merely content to create applications for the phone, WorldMate is hoping to redesign existing hardware to create a more intuitive device capable of everything from remote check-in at the airport to last minute ticket purchases.

The company's chief financial officer Nadav Gur claims that his company has the broadest international customer base of any online travel agency, meaning a partnership with a cell phone provider could result in the earliest and most thorough entrance into the travel embedded cell phone market.

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