"Within two years, location-based services such as GPS (Global Positioning System) will be a common, standard feature in most GSM/WCDMA phones," McInerney says. "Together with mobile local search, map and navigation-based services integrated or bundled within mobile phones, this will create a mainstream awareness of, and interest in, location-based services."

The timing seems to be just right.

Location-based services have been around for several years, but it is not until now that the Java-powered technology has existed to make positioning services appeal to the mass market.

Improved WAP portals, WAP applications, better graphics that are easier to use, and higher data speeds make for a better experience for the consumer. At the same time, consumers and businesses are waking up to the usefulness of positioning services.

When Canada's Bell Mobility launched its child-tracking service in mid-2006, 25 percent of the Canadian public had heard of it. Watching its success, two other operators in the North American market, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, soon followed suit.

A recent study by Berg Insight, a Swedish research firm, concluded that more than 60 percent of all WCDMA phones sold in Europe in 2010 will have built-in GPS/Galileo receivers (Galileo is the European satellite navigation system).

Berg further estimates that revenue from location-based services will reach EUR 622 million (USD 834 million) three years from now, and account for 1.8 percent of non-voice revenue in Europe.

A significant portion of that growth could come from the enterprise segment, as businesses discover how location-based services help them track workers or equipment.

Electrolux in the Netherlands, for example, uses a positioning service to help its mobile staff work more efficiently.

In Sweden, SOS Alarm, the company operating the Swedish emergency response system, also recently launched a positioning system that allows operators to quickly track a person who makes an emergency call from a mobile phone, saving lives and money.

SOS Alarm pays for the information that the operators furnish. This is an incentive for the operators to provide good and timely information.

Mobile positioning also comes in handy for mapping traffic flows during construction, or for providing timely information to motorists.

All this provides a great opportunity for operators today, says Per-Gunnar Andersson, Ericsson's business manager for positioning solutions.

"The best part is that these applications suit all operators' customers - be they companies, consumers or government authorities," he says.