What’s up with Location-Based Services?

It’s been long time since I wrote about ‘Location-Based Services’ on my blog. Thinking this, I was curious to understand the status of LBS in current scenario. This post will answer few curious questions that directed the flow of my endeavor to satisfy my curiosity. So without wasting anytime let’s see if LBS buzz has lived up to it’s expectations in this dynamic wireless era.

What is the status of the overall global LBS industry?

According to a recent study by Gartner Inc., The worldwide users of Location-Based Services are set to double to 95.7 million in 2009, up from 41 million a year ago, which should result in over $2 billion in revenue. “The LBS industry has matured rapidly in recent months through a mixture of consolidation, improved price/performance of the enabling technologies and compelling location applications,” said Annette Zimmermann, senior research analyst at Gartner.

Is there any demand for the LBS based apps? And what are the opportunities for advertisers and carriers?

Recently Compete launched a Smartphone Intelligence report that highlights few findings related to the above mentioned questions. 1 in 3 smartphone owners currently use a Location-Based Service at least once a month. In addition to this, 20% smartphone users expressed possible interest in using LBS if they knew more about what was available and how to use them. The below mentioned char shows some specific types of LBS apps that are being used now:

As we can see, weather & navigation based apps are a hit with the current LBS users. It also turns out that consumers are interested in getting local alerts and special offers or promotions from nearby stores or other retailers. This  interest in ‘local alerts & special offers’ present a wonderful opportunity for advertisers to reap the rewards by serving  these users with relevant ad content that will most likely see higher clickthrough rates! Surely looks like a valuable tool for the advertising networks!

Is greater interest in local  services like alerts,  ATM, restaurant reviews, special offers etc. a consequence of recession? Surely looks like that to me, with increased number of household with tight pockets, greater interest in “Local”  does not surprise me. People are surely limiting city-to-city travel and have started exploring more options available in their own city. Isn’t it? As more and more people venture out in their own city, they become more likely to use LBS to explore local restaurants, events, store locations, etc.

The report also states that, LBS services are also important to mobile carriers. It is because smartphone owners who use LBS are more likely to spend more money each month on their total wireless bill.

Also, 24% of Smartphone users have spent anywhere from $10-$50 for a single application, while 28% have spent between $5-10 on a single app. So LBS definitely looks like a gold mine for advertising networks, service providers and the mobile carriers! Only thing to look is the way revenue is shared by these parties in the future.

Talking about future, what does the future for LBS look like?

As it is very apparent that greater availability of GPS phones, reduced prices, and flourishing app stores arena have all contributed to the rapid growth of location tools. Gartner, Inc. also predicts that free Location-Based Services will gain further traction, with 40% to 50% of all users in North America and Western Europe using these tools in the next four years.

Apple’s App Store has proven itself a hot commodity. It features more than 35,000 applications available to consumers in 77 countries, enabling developers, including retailers, to reach tens of millions of iPhone and iPod Touch users. – Internet Retailer.

LBS subscribers forecast by ABI Research

Looks like the relevance of LBS will keep on growing till the development of new mobile devices & mobile operating systems used in NetBooks keep on evolving. And as LBS goes mainstream data plan will also reduce considerably, surely LBS has a great future!

I couldn’t have asked for a better video to end my post! CNN reporter Susan Candiotti explains  the pros & cons of  Location-Based Marketing.

Location-Based Services grips MILLIONS worldwide…

This post is in follow up on my past articles about “location-Based Marketing“. Thanks to the cost of smart phones, comparatively cheaper data plans,  The iPhone & other clone iPhones of the world… worldwide location-based service users will be surpass 60 million mark! That is almost 224% up from 2007.

As per research conducted by eMarketer, the number of users is estimated to reach 486 million in 2012.

Consumer’s affinity to social networking is also one important reason for the increase. As John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst says “Consumers have discovered that the appeal of location-based services extends beyond pinpointing locations, businesses and other points of interest”. Now looking at the consumer trend; time is not away when marketers will start following them to mobile location-based services, resulting in increased interests in terms of dollars towards Location-Based Marketing.

Partnering with LBS:

In February 2008, CBS teamed up with Loopt, a social mapping service, to offer location-based service-based advertising. CBS ran localized banners on CBS Mobile News and CBS Mobile Sports to point Loopt customers to local businesses based on their physical location.

In March, Loopt announced a partnership today with Filter Creative Group to deliver real-time, location-based broadcasting from the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival in Austin, Texas to consumers everywhere.

In September, Quattro Wireless partnered with uLocate to offer location-based advertising inventory exclusive to the iPhone. uLocate’s application, WHERE, is already one of the most-popular downloads at Apple’s iPhone App Store.

product innovations in convergence with LBS:

uLocate Communications, the world’s leading developer of location enabled applications, announces an agreement with Garmin to add friend-finding capabilities to select current and future Garmin GPS devices.  The partnership leverages APIs on uLocate’s WHERE™ platform to enable Garmin users to easily find and connect with friends nearby through  the leading friend finding network, Buddy Beacon.

I will also take an opportunity to mention about Brammo’s Enertia Electric Motorcycle. Enertia comes equipped with GPS & WiFi! this bike is in class of its own. The company plans to use GPS to give riders more information about their driving pattern to make necessary adjustments to the battry output through computer. Brammo also plans to create a community out Enertia buyers by making effective use of inbuilt GPS. How smart! Enertia riders can share their route or discuss optimal driving settings, meet their friends by detecting their bikes on map, etc

In the end:

Location-Based Services are still evolving, but in years to come as consumers evolve, LBS it will also be an effective tool to enhance customer service & create loyalty. I believe that LBS will be a very good platform to tap in, and can provide phenomenal results if implemented (in synergy with brand strategy) correctly, efficiently, and effectively to create an engaging customer experience with the brand.

location-based service (MEETS) transit advertising

Interesting right? AudioConexus, a Media and Entertainment company, helps sightseeing companies and mass-transportation operators deliver accurate, consistent next stop announcements and location-based advertising & intends to enahnce visitor’s experiences by providing high-quality location relevant content.

This is so cool! the company has come up with a GPS Audio & Video system that delivers location based alerts inside the bus. Definitely can be extended to rail as well. This innovation is intended to increase the savings in staffing, delivery safe & consistent brand experience. It also act as an revenue generating tool for location-based advertisers. Another interesting thing about this system is that, it transmits the content to the travelers in any language & any topic as per relevance.

How does this work?

The GPS Digital Video System is a compact MPEG-2 player that is vibration resistant, designed for rugged transportation routes and environments. Audio and Video clips are easily stored on cards by simply copying files from your PC onto CompactFlash.

Audio and Video is triggered (location-specific) based on your exact requirements. GPS trigger advertisements, promotional messages, route related information, and safety information using audio only or audio and video [DVDs, commercials, promotional spots, etc.] to deliver a more entertaining, engaging, location relevant customer experience.

Location-based Marketing: Anytime, Anywhere…

Today Cell phones are virtually everywhere. Almost everyone are connected to cell phones! Therefore businesses see this as an immense opportunity to effectively reach nearly everybody by segregating the content through a device that triggers content relevant to your surrounding at that particular time & place.

This is the era of convergence and combination of location and accessibility with multimedia, navigation, and communication capabilities warrants what some have called, the birth of a new medium- Location based Marketing (LBM)

Location based marketing is an emerging medium to connect with consumers and being a student of creative brand management this intrigues me to dive deep into this emerging new wave of technological convergence.  As per our beloved Wikipedia, “It is an information and entertainment service, accessible with mobile devices through the mobile network and utilizing the ability to make use of the geographical position of the mobile device.” LBSZONE.com a community established in 2003 for the technology professionals interested in Location-Based services (LBS) defines LBS in a very crisp definition i.e. “Delivering information on Location.”

Location-based service identifies a location of a person or object, such as discovering the nearest banking cash machine or the whereabouts of a friend or employee. It also expands its scope to include parcel tracking and vehicle tracking services, personalized weather services and even location-based games!