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Bedbank hotels4u.com has teamed up with The Handy Group to create an accommodation search and booking ­service for mobile phones.

Hotels4u head of ­­e-commerce Steven Moore described the service as a 'working ­prototype', which enables­ consumers to search live ­availability and booking via a secure payment engine.

Moore said the service had been in development for some time and described the mobile arena as complex.

"On the Internet you have a browser and windows that ­cover the vast ­majority of users, but the ­mobile arena is very ­different. The challenge is to get it to work on everyone's phone, browser and network provider."

Moore said the success of the mobile service would ­depend on its adoption through the ­networks. He added that Handy was handling the ­negotiations.

However, Moore was doubtful about whether the market was mature enough for bookings via mobile devices.

"I still don't see users ­booking through that channel but it's not far off," said Moore.

Moore also said the company had considered the marketing potential for mobiles such as alerts and post-booking information, but the ­current focus was on the ­consumer website.

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