Enhanced technology and new ways of charging for location-based services are producing new business opportunities for operators and service providers.
Anybody with school-age children or who has spent time trying to find their way through an unfamiliar city, for example, will recognize the benefits of location-based services over the mobile phone. People can have the security of knowing where their children are - even after school - or solve a navigational problem at the touch of their mobile phone keypad.
But as convenient and indispensable as these services sound, location-based services are only now beginning to form important parts of operator offerings, thanks to companies such as Google driving consumer awareness of LBS, increased availability of GPS handsets and a trend towards lower consumer prices. And the benefits reach beyond simple navigation aids and family locators; they stretch into the world of business, with location-based services enhancing the efficiency of fleet management and personnel location. Location-based services also offer new opportunities for mobile operators and service providers, with services such as mobile social-networking that allow users to socialize with friends and communities.
"Studies by Ericsson ConsumerLab have for many years pointed to GPS functionality in the phone being one of the top three mobile-data services most desired by subscribers," says Jonas Nordström, business development manager for Ericsson's Location-Based Services solution.
Turn-by-turn navigation is increasingly popular, he says, because GPS capability is contained completely within the handset and does not require any add-on hardware, as with earlier forms of the technology. Users can download information more quickly and, with today's bigger screens, can see maps in greater detail. With Ericsson's solution, they also have access to a positioning method called Assisted GPS (A-GPS), which provides superior performance and further enhances the consumer experience. New charging structures also boost the demand for navigation services.
"The trend toward flat fees is having a significant impact on the popularity and usage of these location-based services," Nordström says. "The trend now is towards a subscription that includes a fixed number of positioning requests per month. Many operators previously tended to charge pretty high prices per positioning request, and that meant subscribers did not use the service so often. But the flat-fee principle is having the opposite effect."
Ericsson offers an end-to-end solution for location-based services, comprising the commercially proven Mobile Positioning System, service-enabling middleware and Globla Information Systems (GIS), content and applications, together with access to all available GSM and WCDMA handsets.
