Barry McInerney, LBS Applications portfolio manager, says that consumer adoption of LBS is expected to rise within GSM markets as an installed base of GPS-enabled mobile handsets begins to take effect.
The resulting higher positioning accuracy will boost the demand for value-add services such as turn-by-turn navigation, child locator, and social networking. Services such as navigation and local proximity search for restaurants, movie theaters and hotels are becoming increasingly popular.
Mark Jefford-Baker, a market analyst for Ericsson, says that there are several developments in the mobile industry that are making LBS more attractive to new users.
"A few things have transpired to help the market grow - such as reduced prices, network speeds and increased screen size - and now users can download information faster and see maps in greater detail because their screens are bigger," Jefford-Baker says.
Handset mapping and turn-by-turn navigation services are now entering the "discovery" mode for many subscribers in Europe, says McInerney, and the number of mobile subscribers accessing maps and downloading routes using their mobile handsets in Europe and the United States is beginning to grow.
Online maps are available in mobile services such as "show me on a map" and mobile local search. With the continued advancements in mobile phones and the entry of GPS-enabled mid-range mobiles, off-board mobile navigation is likely to become a resounding success. For much less money, consumers will have all the benefits of a portable navigation device in their mobile phone, but with the added advantage of always having the latest maps, voice directions, traffic, etc downloaded from the network.
LBS have allowed service providers and operators to tailor content based on the user or subscriber's whereabouts. For users, this means easy-to-use services that enhance business efficiency.
"Adding local geographic information to a mobile application means end-user value is improved considerably," Jefford-Baker says. "And combining this capability with other enabling technologies, such as graphics, makes the user experience even better. These days, services can be tailored to the user's situation and this is what location-based services are all about - increased user value."
While the market is still in its early stages, a lot of work has been put into using location-based services for government and industrial applications.
"We've seen that these services are popular in South Africa and Israel, where security is an issue, but we're also seeing that the application is popular for fleet and employee location," Jefford-Baker says.
Ericsson offers an end-to-end solution for location-based services, comprising its Mobile Positioning System (MPS), service-enabling middleware and GIS, content and applications, a range of professional and integration services, and interoperability with existing GSM and WCDMA networks.
