GPS World

Author: Kevin Dennehy

  • Waze to Offer Location-Based Ads

    Kevin Dennehy

    The month of October and now into November was filled with several conferences, but not a lot of location news. A few news snippets, while not blockbusters, were important. One was Waze’s decision to offer its own location-based advertising. Another was a milestone for Ford, which said its Sync information system is now in five million vehicles.  On an end-of-an-era note, of which there have been quite a few in the last two years, Sprint has decided to drop the Nextel name. Nextel was one of the innovative companies in the late 1990s and early 2000s, placing location capability into mobile phones and jump-starting an industry.

    Waze recently said it is offering a global location-based advertising platform that will be directed to its 30 million users. Waze, founded in 2009 in Israel, says smartphone users can try the service for free — the profit for them is ad revenue from local and large brands.

    GPS World’s LBS Insider recently reported that Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, actually endorsed Waze as an alternative to its own mapping service after users were experiencing problems with it. Waze, which is offering the advertisements in the United States, said it saw a jump in downloads after the announcement.

    Some industry analysts say it may be a mistake for Waze to swim in the deep end of the pool to compete with such mobile advertising giants as Google.

    Waze raised a total of $67 million from investor Kleiner Perkins and Hong Kong investor Li Ka-shing.  They cite big partners such as Circle K, Dunkin’ Donuts, MACS, Kum & Go, Wyndham Hotels, Jamba Juice, and P&G.

    Palo Alto-based Waze is probably best known for its driving directions based on user input.  The company says that its users spend an average of more than 7 hours in their vehicles a month.

    The company, in order not to annoy users, is minimizing the number of pins on a map advertisement. According to published reports, the company said its advertisements will include coupons.

    From the Waze blog:  “We don’t want to bombard you, so you’ll never see too many businesses crowded on the map at once. Instead, the algorithm that powers Waze Ads aims to bring you a helpful selection of the various retailers around you on your daily drive.”

    Waze is also making advertising inroads in Europe. It recently announced a partnership with Lumata, an Italy-based mobile marketing company. The deal allows Lumata to have a an exclusive right for advertising on Waze’s app in Italy, according to published reports.

    Waze announced in June that car models will soon integrate the company’s mapping software. The company’s iOS and Android app’s users contribute road data while they drive, share accident reports, police speed traps, traffic jams and other data.

    Five Million Sync Units in Five Years…

    Ford and Microsoft’s Sync infotainment system has been installed in five million Ford and Lincoln vehicles. The unit, which was rolled out at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, was one of the first products to allow smartphones to work with car components.

    Sync was innovative in that it bundled turn-by-turn navigation, hands-free calling, text message reading, and other features.  Earlier aftermarket products, such as Clarion’s AutoPC, were busts — but perhaps five-to-seven years too early for the market.

    Ford jazzed up Sync with touchscreens and voice recognition since it rolled out its first model, which only used push buttons. It integrated other features such as audio, air conditioning/climate control, and navigation. Soon the newer version, MyFord Touch, offered video streaming, music, and a voice-activated climate control system.

    Ford announced earlier this year that it was working with State Farm to add all Sync-equipped vehicles to the insurance giant’s Drive Safe & Save approved vehicles. A customer, through a voluntary sign up, can run a Vehicle Health Report that sends information to State Farm. Potential insurance savings for a customer could be 40 percent.

    Ford is working with several industry companies, including Pandora and TeleNav Scout, through its AppLink program, which was globally offered earlier this year.

    In other LBS news:

    • Sprint’s recent decision to drop the Nextel name was the end of an era, but not a surprise. It was Nextel, before its 2005 merger with Sprint, that truly innovated consumer and enterprise applications and markets on the mobile handset. In the wake of Japan’s Softbank purchase of 70 percent of Sprint, the Nextel part of the Sprint name will go away in mid-2013. The new name will be Sprint Corp.  The Nextel brand was known for its iDEN technology and network, which is gradually being shut down by Sprint.
    • The recent U.S. presidential election had an LBS story. Foursquare had an app that had the goal of encouraging users to vote. The “I Voted” app allowed users to find their local polling station on Election Day and check in to show they cast a vote. Foursquare, trying to show that it offers more than “check-in” capability, recently announced a rating system for businesses. It is not clear whether the service, with 25 million users, is going after companies such as TripAdvisor and Yelp for a share of the evaluation/services market.
    • Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S III managed to knock Apple’s iPhone 4S off the pedestal as the world’s most popular smartphone, in terms of sales, in the third quarter, said Strategy Analytics. Samsung sold around 18 million S III phones during the quarter, compared to Apple’s 16.2 million iPhone 4S units. The Galaxy S features a large touchscreen and GPS for location-based services.

     

     

  • Mapplegate Causes Apple CEO to Suggest Alternatives

    Kevin Dennehy
    Kevin Dennehy

    The uproar caused by glitches in turn-by-turn and other features from Apple’s new Maps feature has forced CEO Tim Cook to make a public apology. It also has made some in the industry wonder why Apple decided to drop Google Maps in the first place — though many say it was the smart thing to do in the long run. In the meantime, indoor positioning technology and markets seem to be shaping, if not slowly, for serious commercial success in the near future.  Some still have concerns about indoor positioning’s technical limitations, privacy concerns and consumer acceptance.

    Apple recently told its customers to try competing map services while it improves its new mapping program. A recent uproar by iPhone users, who found that Apple’s new mobile maps gave them wrong directions right after the release of iPhone 5, has been dubbed “mapplegate” by some bloggers.

    In a letter to customers, Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive officer, said that iPhone customers try mapping services from Bing, MapQuest, Google and Waze through its apps store.

    Cook, in his letter, apologized for the frustration caused by its mapping platform. He said that more than 100 million iOS devices use the new Apple Maps.

    “We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps, including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up,” Cook said. “Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.”

    TomTom, which provides the map data for the new application, has been tight-lipped about the fiasco. In addition, the move to TomTom has some questioning Apple’s move away from Google Maps.

    One thing is for sure in this whole mess: the importance of location and mapping to consumers, something pundits have downplayed in recent years. A recent New York Times article said the Maps outcry “shows how map services, which Apple treated as an afterthought when it built the first iPhone, have become critical tools for millions of people.”

    The Times article goes as far as saying that Apple executives were surprised by the popularity of the map function, but began to concern the brass there about how much iPhone behavior data was flowing back to Google.

    Between this recent glitch and its decision not to join standards consortiums for indoor positioning, one wonders if Apple, or Google for that matter, really believes in the power and promise of location technology.

    Aisle411 Says It Has 10,000 Indoor Maps

    The mainstream media is touting indoor location as the next big thing for consumers. One company, aisle411, now with 10,000 indoor maps, says the future is now.  The “so what” for consumers is the ability to easily search for products, says Kris Kolodziej, new aisle411 vice president of location services.

    “Consumers want less stress when shopping; they want to be informed, and also have fun [and] be engaged,” said Kolodziej, who most recently was associate director at Verizon Wireless.

    Aisle411’s product enables product search, indoor/store map, indoor location (around 5 meter/aisle level) and product recommendation through an ad engine. “Users can search for products. We then display the products on a store map, down to the aisle level,” Kolodziej said. “We also recommend products based on search and indoor location by displaying coupons and offers.”

    Kolodziej says, as part of its 10,000 indoor maps, all 8,000 Walgreens stores are mapped. “You can find these maps inside the Walgreens app and inside the aisle411 app. Even Google does not have this,” he said.

    Like all new technology, including GPS, standardization of maps and technology help to grow new markets. Some believe it is the Wild West for indoor positioning, which Kolodziej contends may be overblown. “Aisle411 figured out the technical issues related to scaling indoor maps and indoor location. Aisle411 generates the indoor maps and offers them in an XML format via our SDK and APIs,” he said. “Developers can access the product data and store maps via our SDK and APIs.

    Big box retailers and other chains are showing big interest in indoor positioning, but the concern is will privacy and other issues slow it? “This Walgreens deployment is helping to educate the market, and other retailers, that this technology is what consumers want. Specific to indoor location, consumers are more open to sharing their location with their store/retailer vs. Google or anyone else,” Kolodziej said. “Since the store already knows you are there to shop, users are not afraid to share their location inside the store.”

    Aisle411 recently purchased WiLocate’s technology assets — and a few patents pending as part of the deal. WiLocate’s positioning product, which allows access to mobile devices, leverages existing Wi-Fi infrastructure and sensor information, along with gyroscope and compass.

    Google continues to be a dominant player in indoor mapping. It recently said that Galeries Lafeyette and supermarket chain Carrefour in Paris are now mapped. This includes information about ATMs, escalators, restrooms, what products are in different aisles, and walking directions.

    Google has been mapping airports, museums and malls for some time. In addition to France, the company brought indoor maps to the United Kingdom and Switzerland last summer. In the United States, Google has mapped such places as Atlanta Hartsfield — Jackson International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota; Caesars Entertainment, Bally’s Las Vegas; MGM Resorts, Monte Carlo Resort & Casino, Las Vegas; and Vallco Shopping Mall in Cupertino, California.

    Google has also mapped such big-box stores as Home Depot, IKEA, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s — though it remains to be seen when a Wal-Mart or Target will be included.

    Analysts contend that the big indoor positioning players are Google, Microsoft, Research in Motion, Nokia and Qualcomm.

     

     

  • Companies Uniting to Expand Indoor Positioning Market…But Where Are Google and Apple?

    Kevin Dennehy
    Headshot: Kevin Dennehy

    Naysayers still exist when talking about the emerging indoor positioning market. They say that the market is still too nascent — and the technology is sub par and not there yet. However, there are just too many atmospherics, and big companies getting involved in indoor positioning development, to brush it off as another technology fad. The recent announcement that 22 companies are combining to come up with standards is a good example. Mainstream media articles touting the new market also are spearheading development and consumer interest. Still, how can you start an industry group and talk standards and markets without the two largest players?

    In a move that indicates that there is a strong market, 22 companies recently partnered to create the In-Location Alliance. The new group, which includes Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics and Sony Mobile, aims to improve and expand indoor positioning and related services.

    Google, which has been the dominant player in location markets, was noticeably absent. Google has partnered with large retail chains and has mapped many indoor malls, airports and other facilities to help drive the market with its Google Maps for Android 6.0.

    Another company apparently not part of the alliance is Apple, which recently ended its location data partnership with Google. Apple is launching its iOS 6 operating system update, called Maps for iOS, which features 100 million business listings and Yelp recommendations.

    In a prepared statement, the group said it welcomes the addition of any new member “who is ready to further investigate business opportunities in indoor location-based services and sees value and benefits in industry collaboration.”

    The In-Location Alliance says it will go after both the consumer and enterprise location markets, even though both have technical and market limitations for indoor positioning. The group said services it will focus on include real-time navigation inside buildings, directions to personalized products and promotions inside retail stores and malls, asset and employee location, customer identification, and security solutions.

    Because the technology is widely available on smartphones, the alliance will focus its products on enhanced Bluetooth 4.0 technology and Wi-Fi to develop mobile services as a starting point.

    The allied companies say they will conduct pre-commerical pilot programs and business model verifications later this year in order to launch handset-based applications next year.

    Other members of the In-Location Alliance include Broadcom, CSR, Dialog Semiconductor, Eptisa, Geomobile, Genasys, Indra, Insiteo, Nomadic Solutions, Nordic Semiconductor, Nordic Technology Group, NowOn, Primax Electronics, RapidBlue Solutions, Seolane Innovation, TamperSeal, Team Action Zone and Visioglobe.

    Nokia also has been developing indoor positioning systems that use 3D models, rather than 2D floor plans. Broadcom released a chip that supports indoor positioning through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and even NFC.

    Mainstream publications such as the Wall Street Journal and USA Today have written articles about indoor positioning as a potential burgeoning market. The articles say such big brands as Target, Walgreens and Home Depot are implementing indoor positioning and marketing strategies. Walgreens is partnering with Aisle411, which offers an application with 9,000 store maps.

    Mapping Services Now on New Kindle Fire       

    The next model of Kindle Fire, Amazon’s tablet, will have mapping services installed as part of a deal with Nokia. What is noticeable is that it does not have location technology from Google, which is strange as it is the Android mobile operating system that powers the Kindle Fire. Published sources say Amazon will announce the agreement this month.

    As our sister publication Wireless Pulse reported, Competitor Barnes & Noble recently adopted OpenStreetMap, through Berlin-based Skobbler’s ForeverMap 2 app, to allow developers to create Nook applications with location functionality later this year, according to published sources.

    While the Nook line of products are Wi-Fi enabled, they lack pure play GPS capability. Although Nook devices don’t have 3G or 4G access of smartphones, it is a step toward developing location capability.

    A basic version is free on the Nook, and a premium version costs $4.99. The Nook units with the location capability include the Nook Color and Nook Tablets.

    Both the Kindle and Nook have one common thread — their parent companies opted not to go with Google Maps. Is the location giant taking notice?

    20 Years of Covering Location Technology

    September 2012 marks my 20th year of writing about the business of location technology. In 1992, the big GPS companies (Trimble, Garmin, Ashtech, Sony, Magellan, Rockwell) were trying to develop consumer applications that were evolving from their military technology developed for the recently concluded Gulf War.

    Most of the news back then was in the form of government contracts, and some survey agreements, or evolving policy about GPS. It turns out that the consumer side was being developed not by the GPS industry, but intelligent transportation industry providers through the digital mapping companies Etak (now TomTom) and Navigation Technologies (now Nokia).

    While the terms “telematics” and location-based services were not being used in 1992, some companies saw the potential for big dollars incorporating positioning technology into mobile phones. I wrote an article in October 1992 headlined “Rockwell Says GPS in Cellular Phones Means Big Business.” I quoted a few industry consultants at that time who said that they had doubts that it would be a big market because of the cost and size of the GPS chipset, antenna issues, and consumer acceptance. The big deal about putting GPS into cell phones was to meet an FCC enhanced 911 requirement, but that happened a few years later.

    Such companies as Motorola brought the name “telematics” to North America and attempted to jump-start the market here. At least one industry executive never liked the word telematics, saying it was a “Stalinist” word.

    While companies have come and gone, and the technology has evolved to a point that commoditization is pervasive, the promise of location technology and markets will still be strong. Companies and individuals have made fortunes and lost them in the location industry, but one thing for sure — it has never been boring covering and writing about the business and people.

  • Breaking Down Samsung’s Purchase of CSR

    By Kevin Dennehy

    There have not been many earth-shaking acquisitions of companies that have location as a big part of their offerings. However, the recent $310 million acquisition of CSR’s handset connectivity and location business by Samsung merits an additional look. CSR, along with Broadcom and Qualcomm, are looking at the indoor location market as a strong one in the next four years. In other news, the Mobile Resource Management market is seeing 20 percent growth—not a market with consumer excitability, but one that makes money.

    The recent $310 million acquisition of CSR’s handset connectivity and location business by Samsung has put a number of competitors on notice. One analyst, Liam Quirke, IMS Research, says that because of GPS’ increasing presence on smartphones, and Samsung now being the largest handset manufacturer, it made sense for Samsung to want to own this part of the supply chain.

    “This complements its already large manufacturing operations that supply a number of smartphone components, including its own Exynos branded application processor — in addition to manufacturing the Apple-designed Ax range of SoCs,” he said.

    The Samsung-CSR transaction refers only to the mobile business (i.e., handsets and tablets). “Samsung’s GPS strategy here is inevitably focused around such devices. The trend within connectivity, particularly in devices with small form factors such as handsets and tablets, has been one of increasing integration,” Quirke said. “Connectivity has been packaged into a single chip with some IC suppliers also including GPS. An example would be Texas Instrument’s WiLink 8 solution. An alternative is to include GPS on the cellular baseband, a route which Qualcomm decided to take and has since begun to integrate into its application processors — and more recently also including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.”

    A number of restrictions placed upon CSR by Samsung, as part of the transaction, prevent CSR from selling a GPS product combined with an application processor into the mobile field for 10 years, hinting that this is a direction Samsung may take in terms of integration and subsequently removing additional potential competition, Quirke said.

    In addition to the $310 million deal, Samsung will invest $34.4 million in return for 4.9 percent stake in the remaining CSR business. The completion of this acquisition is expected to be in the fourth quarter. Quirke said that as well as picking up the benefit of CSR’s patent portfolio, the acquisition also adds the research and development and marketing support for its Bluetooth and GPS technology for handsets.

    The deal follows Samsung’s acquisition in June of Nanoradio, a developer of ultra-low power Wireless LAN for chipsets for devices such as smartphones and tablets, Quirke said. It also  provides Samsung with the connectivity technologies with which to make an entrance into the wireless connectivity market.

    During former founder Kanwar Chadha’s tenure at SiRF, which merged with CSR in 2009, the company acquired the GPS businesses of Motorola and Conexant as well some smaller companies such as Centrality, Enuvis, Impulsesoft, Kisel, and TrueSpan.

    Indoor Location Market Will Be Important to CSR

    CSR, along with competitor Broadcom, has become increasingly involved in the indoor location market, with the announcement of its SiRFusion location platform in November. However, Quirke said that the finer details of the transaction between Samsung and CSR indicate that Samsung has only purchased the technology license for GPS, not indoor location. “If correct, this means CSR is free to sell its indoor location technology to other handset OEMs, and in the reverse means that Samsung is not able to do this,” he said.

    With that in mind, indoor location is one of the five key growth areas that CSR is targeting, Quirke said.  “Indoor location, and the various applications associated with it, is centred around mobile devices and, as such, is why I feel CSR was eager to hold on to this portion of their mobile business. Indoor location remains a nascent market with much potential, particularly when considering the opportunity to provide highly targeted marketing material in commercial venues such as shopping malls — not to mention the opportunity in the enterprise space,” he said.

    IMS predicts in its “Indoor Positioning, Mapping, Technology and Services 2012” study that 110,000 supermarkets, shopping malls, or large retail stores will have indoor maps by 2016, making extensive use of indoor location technology.

    CSR has struggled in the mobile space in recent years, while Broadcom and Qualcomm have continued to succeed on the back of their strengths in connectivity combining ICs and cellular baseband chips, respectively, Quirke said.  “Current indoor location solutions offered by the major IC suppliers reside on the GPS chip itself, making use of a number of wireless technologies and MEMS sensors. In light of this, CSR will need to provide a compelling reason for a handset manufacturer to choose its indoor location solution over one from Broadcom or Qualcomm,” he said.  “On a more positive note, early indications suggest that CSR’s solution may be slightly ahead, in terms of providing an accurate working solution — of those from Broadcom and Qualcomm.”

    Enterprise Market Strong…

    In other industry news, the leading suppliers of GPS fleet management solutions for the local fleet and enterprise markets are continuing to grow at a strong rate, nearly 20 per year, said Clem Driscoll, president of CJ Driscoll Associates.

    “FleetMatics, the largest supplier to small fleets, filed an S1 in May and the IPO is expected in the near future. Telogis continues its wave of acquisitions, most recently NavTrak, said Driscoll, who has completed his “2012-2013 Mobile Resource Management Systems Market Study” that profiles 100 MRM suppliers in several markets.

    A strong trend in MRM for both local fleets and the trucking sector is monitoring driver behavior, Driscoll said. “Many suppliers monitor speeding, acceleration, deceleration, speed on turns, etc., and generate driver scorecards to identify the best and riskiest drivers,” he said. “This monitoring of driver performance, along with engine idling time and route adherence, also helps fleet operators minimize fuel consumption, which is a major concern these days.”

  • Social Loco Conference Highlights LBS Brand Marketing

    The Social Loco conference in San Francisco highlighted brands leveraging social location. However, it seems as if the conference focused more on the social than the location element. As one attendee said, “Location as a topic is almost like electricity as a topic, it’s just there.” In other industry news, veteran location executive Kanwar Chadha is moving on…

     

    SAN FRANCISCO — Most companies and attendees at the recent Social Loco conference here realize that while social is big, and such companies as Home Depot and Kraft are looking hard at it, the location part of it still has detractors who don’t know what to do with it.

    The problem with social location advertising is that ad execs and large companies don’t understand it — or know how to spend money against it, said Marc Prioleau, managing director of Prioleau Advisors.

    Prioleau said location industry executives would talk to each other on who is going to rule the world, with little effect. “[The problem is] that no one came from brand backgrounds and were hacking around an application, rather than focusing on a brand’s objective. Some of the ideas that were hot two years ago…aren’t so hot now,” he said.

    The big impact of location-based services, or social loco marketing, is getting consumers to take specific actions to get into a store, said speakers on a mobile panel. Location is relevant when a company can use it as a signal of intent to bring in a five- to 10-percent conversion [sale] rate. “There still has to be relevant and interesting ads, which will open the floodgates for innovation to come in,” said one panelist.

    Proximity marketing may be the key ingredient to making LBS a big part of a brand’s advertising strategy. Panelists believe that a large part of consumer purchasing comes in the proximity of someone’s home. Around 40 percent of mobile searches are local.

    The fact that a lot of searches are local is not enough, said Di-Ann Eisnor of Waze. “[Users] say that, ‘I am doing this thing already, what else could I be doing [around this area]?” she said. “Intent becomes very powerful — people sharing that intent.”

    A venture capital speaker said that brand managers at Pepsi, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, and others are holding back money to find new ways to have consumers “buy that one more can of Pepsi.” He said that brands are looking at social location as ways to try something they haven’t before. “They will get some air time with some senior leaders because of that,” he said.

    Still, hard to convice die-hard VCs that location is the way to go. “Social loco [constitutes] two important elements [of advertising]. But I don’t wake up and say, ‘Let’s do a social loco deal today’ — what is this business going to build over time?” asked John Malloy of BlueRun Ventures.

    One VC said that LBS is a technology, not necessarily a business mobile. “Investing in mobile, yes, but that’s like saying we invest in people who walk around on two legs. The challenge with location is that it tells me where I am, but not necessarily tells me what to do,” he said. “We need to see a connection to revenue. That’s a challenge with companies such as foursquare — to get a distribution to a network of merchants. Until you are getting paid, it’s just theoretical.”

    Travel May Be LBS Niche Market

    Using social location applications helps travel companies, airlines, hotels, and others in that industry find customers, said panel members. “Consumers are starting to look at social commerce and social proofing as a way to intelligently tap into friends. They are looking at five hotels my friends have been to,” said Kevin Fliess, Room 77 general manager and vice president of products. “Location and price is a huge consideration — and reading reviews from friends has more value than reading anonymous reviews.”

    “One of the challenges we face — location is sensitive — how they can share their trips [is important]. Clearly, the more options you deliver is confusing to consumers,” Nancy Ramamurthi, TripIt vice president, product management and marketing.

    One of the off-shoots of travel may be photography. David Staas, CEO of jiwire, said that the company surveyed 800 mobile consumers who used smartphones as the primary device to take a photo. “There is a location component to it; 31 percent want to remember where they took the picture,” he said. “Men and women we surveyed had different behaviors. Women want to use location to communicate with a broader network; 91 percent take pictures on the go; 20 percent of them are more likely to location tag.”

    Big Names and Big Companies Rarely Say Anything

    At such conferences as Social Loco, big-name entities such as Facebook and Google speak, which draw attendees. Sad thing is that none them say anything, most knowledgeable industry vets agree.

    Emily White, Facebook’s director of mobile partnerships, was a keynote speaker at Social Loco and fits in this big-company, no-substance conference speak genre. Yet the big media outlets, because it was Facebook speaking, quoted her with the earth-shaking news that mobile is important, and, hold on to your seat, “the web is being rebuilt around people.” Note to these big companies: Cut the PR stuff and ‘I’m so hip and my company owns the world’ talk, particularly when you are talking to a crowd of savvy marketing executives.

    Privacy Is Dead: That’s News to Me

    Actually, really isn’t news to me. Anytime a conference has a privacy panel, you know that fireworks will ensue and nothing ever gets resolved by the time the panel ends.

    Social Loco’s privacy panel was no different. One panel member said privacy is boring. “It’s boring to legislate, like seatbelts and helmets,” he said.

    A Qualcomm speaker said the company has a lawyer who does nothing but work privacy issues. Another speaker, in a rather politically incorrect manner, said more people are harmed from the Catholic Church than by Facebook’s location privacy policy.

    Chadha Leaving CSR/SiRF after 17 Years

    After more than 17 years with SiRF, including three as chief marketing officer following a merger with CSR, Kanwar Chadha is moving on. In a note to colleagues, he said he has “decided to move on and explore new destinations in my journey of adventure and discovery.”

    When Chadha co-founded SiRF in 1995, the company wanted to sell GPS for consumers, which was revolutionary as most in the industry were still trying to sell survey equipment.

    “Many thought we were pipe dreamers, some felt we were foolish to enter a market dominated by big companies with a technology controlled by the Department of Defense, and others looked at us as another flash-in-the-pan start-up,” he said. “We were technologists and evangelists at the same time. We developed innovative technologies and products to make GPS work in environments that system was never designed for, but are important for consumer usage such as urban canyons and dense foliage; all keeping in mind price points that mainstream consumers could afford.”

    Chadha was proud of an idea book he called “Navigations,” which outlined “futuristic, but artistic concept devices and scenarios highlighting potential use cases of GPS in our daily lives,” he said. “Things we may take for granted today but seemed quite far-fetched in 1995. It was expensive collateral, but probably the best I have done in my life, and it became quite popular,” he said.

    During his tenure at SiRF, the company acquired the GPS businesses of Motorola and Conexant as well some smaller companies such as Centrality, Enuvis, Impulsesoft, Kisel, and TrueSpan. He was at the company during the 2004 initial public offering and its merger with CSR in 2009.

    “Many of the original SiRFers have moved on, and I have focused my last three years on helping transform CSR into a ‘platform-focused company’ from being just a component supplier. There are many interesting challenges ahead, such as making indoor location reliable and meeting consumer expectations with location across a broad range of applications,” Chadha said.

     

  • Google Enhances 3D Maps: Is It Enough To Keep Competitors at Bay?

    Kevin Dennehy
    Kevin Dennehy

    Google’s recent announcement that it plans to enhance its 3D maps on the Android platform was seen as a preemptive strike against Apple, which is planning a similar announcement. In other recent news, some analysts and trade press are saying Verizon is paying way too much for Hughes Telematics. All of this is making for an interesting summer for the location industry.

     

    Google recently demonstrated new 3D capability for Google Earth, in a move that some say preempted a similar announcement by Apple, which will roll out its own product at our deadline during the Worldwide Developers Conference.

    While Apple is set to announce its own version of a mapping program for iOS that does not use Google Maps, some in the industry are wondering if the 3D capability is enough for developers to stay with Google, particularly with the fees the company is charging high-volume users. The big winner in the Apple announcement was TomTom, which has signed a global agreement with Apple for maps and related information. No further details of the agreement will be provided, the company said.

    In terms of upstaging Apple via 3D, one company executive thinks that is overblown. “I don’t think Google was trying to do that directly on just that feature. I think they are very concerned about the Apple announcement — not just because they will lose Apple as a customer, they will, but because they fear a ‘wow’ factor upstaging them despite all the great work [Google] has done to date,” said Kim Fennell, deCarta president and CEO. “Their press conference last week was more about reminding everyone how hard it is to do this stuff really well, and I think they wanted to remind Apple, and the market, it takes a lot do the complete mapping solution really well. I think their Google Earth capabilities with street views and their new 3D modeling is a major investment and they wanted to set the overall bar high for Apple.”

    DeCarta says half of its new developers are coming from Google Maps. The company says that, in the last 90 days, 488 new companies have signed up to its developer’s program.

    In a white paper, de Carta says:  “The timing of this surge confirms that Google is no longer seen as the ‘Benevolent Provider of Free Stuff’ that it once was. What is more surprising is that not all of the companies jumping ship are big guys…in fact some are not even close to the 25,000/day map threshold that Google uses to trigger the hounds.”

    The company contends that there is a common theme that developers want to work within clearly defined partnerships, how much they will need to pay, and whether or not they can execute their business model — especially if that involves advertising. “They want to create some differentiation and most of all, they want to know whether or not their partner will one day decide to compete with them,” the company white paper says. This restriction trickles down to real estate, travel, local search, and other sites, the company says.

    Fennell said deCarta started working with Google competitor OpenStreetMap in 2009 when it was early in the market and there were almost no takers.  “We were too early, the market wasn’t really looking for an alternative yet — and the map data quality wasn’t good enough. Three years later, it is looking much more interesting both from supply (map data availability) and demand (customer interest),” he said.

    Verizon’s Purchase of Hughes Telematics a Financial Reach?

    To strengthen its presence in the machine-to-machine and connected car market, Verizon Communications said it plans to buy Atlanta-based Hughes Telematics Inc. for $612 million, or $12 per share. The high price has some analysts scratching their heads — particularly because Hughes was trading at only $4.35 per share the day the deal was announced.

    Hughes Telematics, which competes with OnStar, began to provide LBS, connected safety and convenience services to Mercedes-Benz customers in 2009.

    “I was frankly surprised at the valuation considering HTI’s financial position. I assume Verizon sees a lot of value in the Mercedes account and potential value in HTI’s VW account — and at least one other OEM account which they are expected to get,” said Clem Driscoll, president of CJ Driscoll Associates.  “I think it is also clear that Verizon’s plans called for increasing its role in telematics through acquisition of a telematics service provider. A previous attempt at a TSP acquisition was unsuccessful. HTI clearly has some good technology, as evidenced by the Mercedes Mbrace solution.”

    Driscoll said that Hughes Telematics’ financial problems probably discouraged some auto OEMs from using them in the past, but those issues should now be resolved.

    The Verizon-Hughes Telematics acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter. Verizon plans to retain Hughes Telematics’ management, operate the company as a subsidiary of its Verizon Enterprise Solutions group, and keep the company headquartered in Atlanta.

    ITS America Holds Small Annual Meeting — Why?

    It isn’t big news that private companies still court government contracts and attend the ITS America Annual meeting in Washington to work on connected vehicle committees. However, this is the first time I’ve covered this conference, and I’ve attended off-and-on since 1993, to notice attendance has reached the point that only a few die-hard private sector companies are going to this government-focused meeting.

    Remember, the ITS America meeting was the only game in town in the 1990s and early 2000s, with two of the dominant players at that time, Navteq and Etak (later to be purchased by Tele Atlas) anchoring a growing navigation and location industry.

    Instead of ITS America dominating the entire connected vehicle conference market, most private companies choose to attend the pricier Telematics Update Detroit meeting. What made the meeting more disappointing is the fact that ITS America does attempt to focus on the connected vehicle. The U.S. Transportation Department invited delegates and the press to a connected vehicle demonstration with Ford, General Motors, and Toyota, among other team members. The demonstration highlights this summer’s testing of 3,000 vehicles, which will test crash-avoidance technologies in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in a year-long government program.

    Still, some companies attended such as Inrix, Beat the Traffic, and TomTom. The Virginia Transportation Department is partnering with TomTom to analyze where travelers entered and exited the I-95/I-64 corridor.

    Some companies are getting ITS grants, such as Xerox, which grabbed $15 million from the U.S. DOT for a pilot program incorporating real-time parking guidance systems, among other projects. These parking systems, using smartphone apps from Streetline, enable motorists to view spaces based on price, location, and real-time availability.

    Simulators Keeping LBS Companies on Target

    Spirent Communications, which is monitoring the popularity of LBS, said its new GNSS simulator supports simulation of signals from individual or combined GPS/SBAS, GLONASS, and Galileo constellations, with eight satellites per constellation.

    The company, which said it recognizes the increase in LBS’ momentum and the market need for improved positioning performance on mobile devices, has expanded its LBS LTE test product to support an LTE Positioning Protocol and Observed Time Difference of Arrival. The company says both are critical enablers for LBS adoption.

  • Indoor Positioning: Overhyped or Just What LBS Needs?

    Because LBS Insider’s deadline is this week, CTIA coverage from New Orleans is not included in this month’s column.  Janice Partyka, editor of GPS World’s Wireless Pulse, is covering CTIA in the Crescent City for the latest location-based services, M2M, and connected vehicle news.  So instead of talking about CTIA (and why there aren’t many pure LBS players or sessions there anymore), this column examines the hype surrounding indoor positioning — is it LBS’ savior, or just another technology that may, or may not, pan out?

     

    The location industry will know very soon whether indoor positioning is just another overhyped technology niche — or the needed capability that will drive the largest advertisers and retailers to finally embrace location-based services. Some industry analysts say indoor location may take off in as few as 12 months — particularly if smartphones include the feature in new product offerings.

    At several location industry conferences, the obligatory indoor positioning panel is cropping up, leading some to believe that while intentions are good, perhaps the technology hasn’t developed fast enough. The jury is still out on indoor positioning. “It is badly needed, but also needs to be down to the meter-level,” said Ralph Eschenbach of Sand Hill Angels, a venture capital firm, at the recent GPS-Wireless 2012 conference. “The technology is not here yet.”

    Another contrarian said that industry segments like automakers need not just show users how to navigate to destination, but give folks information when they near the area. “It would be nice if a BMW told me where’s the cheapest gas,” said Gary Gale, Nokia director of places, location and commerce.

    Some analysts, like those at IMS Research, believe that an indoor positioning technology will be from multiple sources — though Wi-Fi has been the primary tech solution. IMS cites reports that say Bluetooth in Nokia’s HAIP can meet the one-meter threshold of accuracy for indoor markets.

    IMS said the major indoor positioning players, so far, are Google, Qualcomm, Broadcomm, CSR, Qubulus, Nokia, NextNav, and Path Intelligence.

    While intangible benefits such as measuring consumer behavior and shopping experience will be important for retailers and advertisers who are hoping to fund indoor positioning systems, the goal is to drive customers to the stores. This will also be tied into the “what do I do when I get there” answer to the navigation question.

    Still, the benefits will be transparent to advertisers once consumers are able to save time, and perhaps money, with indoor positioning capability on their smartphones, said Ankit Agarwal, CEO of indoor positioning company, Micello. “There is definitely a business model for indoor positioning. It enables product search and walking paths throughout a store,” he said. “Stores will be able to track multiple routes folks are interested in taking [through a store].”

    Once again, Google seems to be the major player in indoor positioning. LBS Insider reported late last year that Google went indoors with the launch of Google Maps 6.0. The company has attracted some of the big-box retail stores such as IKEA, Macy’s, Home Depot, and Bloomingdales to have their stores mapped. However, a lot of the bigger malls, and Target and Wal-Mart, have not been mapped. The Google product tells customers what floor they are on in a building, but so far is only available for Android.

    Google’s indoor mapping partners include 18 U.S. airports, which will open up more partners and LBS relationships in the future.

    In other news, but related to indoor positioning and other LBS markets, Greg Tarr, partner at Rogers Venture Partners, said at GPS-Wireless: “There is no privacy…get over it.”

    TomTom Launches Global Geocoding Web Service

    As GPS World reported, TomTom launched a new volume batch geocoding web service late last month at the Geospatial World Forum in Amsterdam. Geocoding, the process of converting addresses into geographic coordinates to allow location analysis for businesses, is taking on a new twist with the new product.

    “This not your father’s geocoding. The turn-around time to download the product will be attractive to companies,” said Dan Adams, TomTom vice president, location and live services. “When I was with GDT and we were acquired by Tele Atlas, it gave us more exposure to global geocoding. Since the TomTom acquisition, there has been a recasting of those products, with the same sort of dynamics, but bringing them to the Cloud.”

    What Investors Look for in a Location Company

    In a venture capital panel at GPS-Wireless, industry experts basically say that location markets mean more than just navigation now. They also have some strong opinions on the composition and strategies of companies they plan to invest in.

    “We notice that some startups don’t have enough engineers,” said Sanjay Subhedar, Storm Ventures managing director.

    Other VCs say they look first at the market size of the location niche, but still believe the personality of the company’s management team is important. However, there was no location market segment any VC agreed on; some were sold on the promise of enterprise markets; others believe a strictly consumer play is where the future is.

    LBS Insider Covering ITS America Conference

    Not a sexy show like CTIA or Telematics Detroit (which is being boosted by the connected car craze, despite its jaw-dropping price to attend), ITS America’s annual meeting this month in the Washington, D.C., area will feature connected vehicle sessions and government programs. Before market-centric conferences as Telematics Detroit and Where 2.0, ITS America, even with its government focus, was the only game in town for companies looking to get into the navigation and location business.

    One of these “government programs” traditionally featured at ITS America is distracted driving sessions, which at least one analyst says younger drivers don’t want to be bothered with. “Only 20 percent of young consumers are worried about distracted driving [we found in our studies],” said Thilo Koslowski, Garnter vice president, who also said, unlike what some automakers and analysts believe, that a car is not a “laptop with four wheels.”

    LBS Insider will be covering the ITS America annual meeting. If attending, contact us with your story ideas.

     

  • Companies Look for Alternatives to Google Maps, but Location Giant Chugs Along…

    The big news at the recent O’Reilly Where 2.0 and GPS-Wireless conferences, both located in the San Francisco Bay Area, may be continued industry fallout from Google’s decision to start charging higher volume users. Location-based services may have jumped the shark, as one Nokia executive said at GPS-Wireless, but such deals as Foursquare’s partnership with American Express can only help grow consumer awareness and drive mobile purchases. Indoor positioning and connected vehicles continued to be a hot topic at both Where 2.0 and GPS-Wireless. Yet, at least one executive at GPS-Wireless said that “the year of LBS has come and gone — and nobody noticed it.”

     

    SAN FRANCISCO — A few companies in the location industry have decided to change mapping vendors in the wake of Google’s decision to start charging companies when their sites averaged 25,000 map views per day. Around the time of the recent 2012 Mobile World Congress, Foursquare said it would move from using Google Maps to user-contributed map service OpenStreetMap. The company said Google’s recent price increases prompted the change.

    Foursquare did not change mapping vendors because of the quality of the maps, said Holger Luedorf, Foursquare vice president and head of business development. “Google Maps are a great product. We are big fans of openness, but it was not the lack of quality why we switched,” he said at GPS-Wireless 2012.

    But while some companies are heading to other places because of the Google charging policy, the company says it is still doing well. “We did announce that Google was going to start charging for 25,000 or more [map hits]. In terms of usage, we have actually gone up since the announcement,” said Jay Akkad, Google product manager, mobile local ads, also at GPS-Wireless conference.

    One of the big topics at GPS-Wireless is the idea that the term location-based services has “jumped the shark” in terms of consumer awareness and acceptance. “What the hell is LBS? It is an enabling technology,” said Duncan McCall, PlaceIQ co-founder and CEO. “The mythical Starbucks LBS deal does not make me care. We now have advertisers who have a particular [return on investment] they are looking for.”

    At least one speaker, on a venture capital panel, said that the expression “LBS” hasn’t been useful in defining the market in at least eight years. “The huge opportunity is not location — there are tons of 100K-a-year-guys staying at the Red Roof Inn and not the Four Seasons. The huge opportunity is how people shape their habits — and location is one way,” said Prioleau Advisors’ Marc Prioleau. “Banner ads push to consumers, but the objective is loyalty. It’s the ‘we know where you are and where you go’ model.”

    In all of the talk about LBS, the usual “who pays for it” was a hot topic at GPS-Wireless. “With 150,000 ads on a platform, [the consumer] doesn’t have to pay for it,” Luedorf said.

    For the navigation piece of LBS, it still is the one area consumers know about and want, panel members said.

    “Navigation still is hot. More than half of our users choose to use carrier-branded navigation,” said Brian Salisbury, TCS director of business development. “Consumers will start marginalizing a [paid for] service when it stops producing for them. The value for the consumer is if it is bundled with other services—sometimes that bundle is subsidized.”

    People still are paying for navigation, despite attendees saying that a freemium model is the future, said Kris Kolodziej, Verizon Wireless associate director of cloud and location services. “Consumers are always going to find options. Maybe they will be looking at premium traffic [in the future],” he said.

    Groupon, which presented at GPS-Wireless, announced at the recent 2012 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that one quarter of its users purchased vouchers through a mobile service, a triple increase to more than 9 million deals. The company also said that LBS and proximity-based sales will increase because it plans to roll out mobile service in more than 30 countries soon. Currently, the company has its daily-deal service, online, in 48 countries.

    “The core foundation of our company is the daily deal. Groupon Now goes into the core of location — where we are expanding into 30 markets — so location doesn’t get more specific,” said Andreas Lieber, Groupon director of mobile partnerships. “We recently released our mobile numbers and are seeing 25 percent growth — this is a really significant revenue stream.”

    Mobile searches and deals will continue to grow, Google’s Akkad said. “Mobile searches have grown four times since 2010, according to our user surveys. This is a huge opportunity for developers,” he said. “One area we have noticed is the ability to close the loop in the location business. Businesses have to identify who is coming into their stores — that’s why hyper local ads are important — because of the proximity signal that tends to be a strong signal.”

    The big location market still is evolving, but Foursquare’s deal last summer with American Express doesn’t hurt consumer awareness. “The deal with American Express drives users to Foursquare. No one knows how it is going to play out, but we are seeing an uplift as people are spending money,” Luedorf said. “[Location is] not monetizing heavily right now — companies need scale. But it actually is selling. We believe it’s through an ad model we can build, but not a premium service. Facebook and Twitter are trying to monetize — we will see.”

    While the deal with American Express is a nationwide one where cardholders check in with Foursquare on their mobile devices at certain shops and restaurants for deals, check-ins may not be the emphasis the company wants in the future. “We are seeing more people consuming the data — not just checking in. They want to see what’s local in terms of tips for eating out and drinking and other entertainment,” Luedorf said.

    Overhyped Expressions in the Location Industry           

    One of this editor’s pet peeves is the use of the word “experience” as in “consumer experience” when a company official describes a market, product or service. In a new technology and markets panel, moderator Clay Babcock of Rand McNally asked his panel what is an overhyped expression in the location industry. Kanwar Chadha of CSR said, “GNSS triangulation, TV or otherwise.”

    Nick Brachet, CTO of Skyhook Wireless said, “near field communications.” Babcock chimed in with “augmented reality,” the expression “gadget play.” David Allen, CTO of Locaid said “anything to do with beacons.” Ankit Agarwal, Micello CEO, “any Starbucks story, especially something about a coupon.” One person said, in a conference filled with this story line, “indoor positioning is overhyped.”

    At Where 2.0, the expression “SoLoMoCo” is destined to be one of those types of overhyped monikers. SoLoMoCo stands for a busy mix of social, local, mobile and commerce.

    Panel at GPS-Wireless.

    Exhibits at GPS-Wireless.

     

  • Continued Growth of Connected Vehicle and M2M Highlighted at MWC

    The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is getting bigger every year — so much that it’s almost a mini CES that is hard to navigate and find companies…much less big location-based services news. While there were no big jaw-dropping mergers and acquisitions, big product roll-outs and partnerships, this conference will continue to be the main showcase for location companies wishing to establish a presence in Europe.

     

     

    BARCELONA — It was tough to find out what might be the big deal for the location industry here at the Mobile World Congress, among 67,000 attendees and more than 1,500 exhibitors. Two areas continued to stand out, as they had at the January Consumer Electronics Show: the rise of the connected vehicle and machine-to-machine connections.

    An MWC keynote was given by Ford Motor Co.’s chairman Bill Ford (right), who gave long-term strategies for the company, which includes big connected car components. Ford’s Sync, which is already on 4 million cars in the United States since it was launched in 2007, now is available in Europe. The company hopes to have 13 million cars equipped with the connected service by 2015 — 3.5 million of those in Europe.

    One of the more significant deals at MWC was Sprint Nextel’s announcement that it will be the strategic wireless partner for Chrysler Group’s Uconnect voice-activated vehicle communications system.

    In keeping with the connected theme, GSMA’s Connected House featured such companies as AT&T and Airbiquity that showcased the transfer of connected lifestyle from car to house. Airbiquity demonstrated its products for cloud-based services, mobile phones and application integration into vehicles. The company launched its Application Developer Program at MWC.

    TCS Offers Family Locator to Auto Makers for Connected Car Initiatives

    TeleCommunication Systems announced at the MWC that it’s incorporating the TCS Family Locator into connected vehicles and is offering it on the iPhone and Android platforms. TCS Family Locator allows users to locate family members’ vehicles through aerial photos or maps to monitor when they arrive or leave specific areas.

    TCS was a pioneer in enhanced 911 roll outs, which was the basis of today’s location-based services, said Jay Whitehurst, TCS senior vice president, commercial software group.

    The cloud-based Family Locator product is being offered to vehicle manufacturers, telematics service providers, and wireless carriers for connected car initiatives, the company said.

    Currently, Family Locator supports BlackBerry and other phones.

    For the enterprise market, TCS said its Workforce Locator mobile resource management product now has extended coverage to data cards and any device with a SIM card, which includes mobile Wi-Fi hotspots and tablets.

    Also at MWC, TomTom said it partnered with HTC to provide the maps, points of interest, and turn-by-turn directions for a line of HTC smartphones in India. TomTom views India as a growing market, citing a study that forecasts more than 5.2 million smartphones will ship to the country this year.

    The HTC deal is TomTom’s first major partnership in India, said Nuno Campos, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing for its licensing division. Campos said that Jocelyn Vigreux, formerly president of TomTom USA, has been consolidating all business units in India to steward the company’s HTC partnership there.

     

    TomTom also announced a partnership with NDrive to deliver maps and other content to its location-based applications. The three-year deal is big for TomTom as NDrive has millions of users worldwide, Campos said.

    When asked how TomTom is competing against the Googles of the world, Campos said that the market is big enough to run a profitable mapping business. His only crack at Google was that “they are finding that making maps isn’t easy.”

    TomTom, through its joint venture partner AutoNavi Holdings Limited, also announced a seven-year agreement with Qoros Auto, an international automotive corporation. TomTom and AutoNavi will deliver HD Traffic, marking the first real-time traffic customer for the newly expanded joint venture. In 2013 the first cars — aimed at young metropolitan users — will hit the streets in China equipped with HD Traffic, providing drivers with the most accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date traffic information available.

    In other Mobile World Congress news:

    • Urban Airship said its new Unique Opt-In Report allows users to gain insight in to the numbers of distinct users opting in or out of push notifications. This enables companies to hone mobile messaging strategy based on users’ behavior.
    • Locaaid rolled out its Global Cell-ID at MWC. This new feature, accessible via Locaid’s Location-as-a-Service (LaaS) platform, allows enterprise mobile developers to acquire carrier-certified, permission-based location on their devices in more than 165 countries around the globe.
    • American Roamer changed its name to Mosaik Solutions at MWC. Through its partnership with Europa, the company’s Global Coverage Analyzer and CellMaps are marketed in Europe. Mosaik Solutions’ customers include AT&T International, OnStar, and Comcast.
    • ALK Technologies Inc., which previously charged for its navigation applications, now said its CoPilot GPS is a free app for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. The company contends that CoPilot is a lot more than Google’s free map service and allows users to search millions of pre-installed points of interest for nearby restaurants, hotels, and gas stations. The company had a booth at MWC and exhibited at Showstoppers, as did Poynt.

    Indoor positioning continued to be a big topic to enable LBS markets at the Mobile World Congress. Richard Najarian, Broadcom senior director, business development, said that market is shaping up. The company also showed off its Bluetooth Low Energy modules that enable indoor location positioning.

     

    Some other MWC observations:

    1. Qualcomm had an off-site reception for its indoor positioning partners that included Cisco and others.
    2. The Android room at MWC was huge…with such companies as Glympse participating.
    3. Telmap, now owned by Intel, which has recently said it will invest millions into connected vehicle initiatives, has a strong presence in Europe with many LBS applications.

    The company says it’s the No. 1 local content aggregator in Europe, according to Motti Kushner, Telmap’s chief marketing officer.

    Neustar, which is partnering with TELUS and other major operators in North America to create mobile services, had a large presence at MWC. The company’s intelligent cloud helps operators to integrate location and messaging, said Gary Zimmerman, Neustar’s director of product marketing.

    Some of these applications include geofence, which Neustar works with partner ZOS, to create opt-in mobile campaigns that send offers to subscribers based on their location. The company also offers enhanced location that shows how a brand can personalize location information once a consumer gives consent to participate.

    GPS World Partnering with GPS-Wireless

    GPS World is the GPS-Wireless (www.gps-wireless.com) conference’s exclusive media partner. GPS World’s Chris Litton will be on site at GPS-Wireless 2012, which is March 21-22 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, to discuss why location companies should advertise in the magazine and LBS Insider, which has more than 10,000 worldwide subscribers.

  • Government and Fleet Markets Find Steady Growth

    It’s not a market that will help users find friends or places to eat, but it seems to be one that keeps movin’ along. The government and enterprise market for location-based services seems to be steady, if not growing, as evidenced by nearly 9,000 attendees at the recent Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Topics included the 20th Anniversary of the government’s intelligent transportation systems program.

     

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Standing out among the thousands of college professors, scientists and engineers were a core of companies who have made inroads into intelligent transportation systems and other government markets here at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, held January 22-26.

    Such companies as TomTom have tried to harness the government market for the past few years with real-time traffic information. The traffic information companies contend that the government market will be big for policy makers, who need detailed support tools to make money-saving decisions for local traffic management programs.

    At TRB, TomTom announced a partnership with Delcan Corp. to provide historical traffic data for the Strategic Highway Research Program 2 (SHRP 2). The program is managed by the TRB.

    “We’ve been using our real-time traffic information, and our historic products, to work with them on traffic management and planning,” said Nick Cohn, TomTom senior business development manager.

    By using GPS-based measurements from the TomTom historical traffic database, Delcan and its partners will develop models for travel time reliability analysis and research as part of the program, the company said. TomTom says its traffic database, which uses traffic measurements, costs less money and is time-saving — compared to survey methods.

    Last year at TRB, TomTom announced a partnership with PTV where the company was able to deliver TomTom traffic content, via TomTom Traffic Stats, to its customers in the transportation sector.

    20th Anniversary of ITS Well Attended

    An introspective session at TRB was the Intelligent Transportation Systems 20th Anniversary, which was attended by industry veterans who were around when the first U.S. Transportation Department directives calling for ITS were issued. Most of the panel members agreed that when ITS was being thrown around as something that may replace Cold War contracting dollars with new markets, no one really tried to predict how technology would shape autos and communication.

    While panel members agreed that EZ-Pass was one of the big ITS accomplishments over the last 20 years, some acknowledged that GPS and the Internet and cell-phone development were never really focused on (as at least two weren’t even developed). They agreed that the automotive industry took over the market, not the government.

    “Fortunes were made — and lost. Mostly lost,” said Mort Downey, former DOT deputy secretary. Downey said the big deal in getting ITS off the ground was President Clinton’s decision to turn off GPS’ selective availability.

    Michael Noblitt of IBM’s Global Business Services remembers that the telematics market really was developed by aftermarket manufacturers. “It was an exciting time. Privacy was traded for convenience and service. Consumers now see [telematics] as valuable,” he said.

    Rich Schuman of Inrix, who was the second employee of the entity now know as ITS America, presented a timeline of technology events and tied them to intelligent transportation initiatives. “It’s a chaotic world — don’t try to find it. Focus on business incentives and leave technology to the bigger market,” he said.

    Industry old-timers remember that the ITS America and ITS World Congress meetings were the only places to get market information in the 1990s because of auto manufacturers and the two largest digital map makers at the time, Navteq and Tele Atlas/Etak, were the major players. Both meetings have seen a resurgence in the number of auto makers and traffic companies exhibiting to compete for their share of the government market.

    ALK Doing Well in European App Stores

    At TRB, LBS Insider caught up with Alain Kornhauser, ALK Technologies founder, who talked about his role in the company and what markets have been good for them in the past year. ALK has been in several publications as having the iPhone and Andriod “top app” for its CoPilot Live, which is doing well in Europe, Kornhauser said.

    “We’ve done well in respect to app stores. We also participated in the recent Iowa Caucuses when we offered directions to candidates for all 94 of the state’s counties,” he said.

    Kornhauser said that Barry Glick, former MapQuest executive who was hired last year as CEO, runs the company’s day-to-day operations. In December, ALK established a new group, Enterprise Solutions, which combined its PC MILER, CoPilot Truck and CoPilot Live Professional product lines plus supporting map data, software tools and professional services. The Enterprise Solutions Group is led by Michael Kornhauser, senior vice president and Alain’s son, who reports directly to Glick.

    While competing against free navigation applications, publications are saying that CoPilot Live has a niche because it has a friendlier interface and better directions to gas stations, restaurants and other points of interest.

    Industry pioneer Kornhauser, who was involved in autonomous vehicle testing, said that ITS was a success because of the private industry, without government impact or influence. “They didn’t stand in the way,” he said.

    Kornhauser, a long-time Princeton University professor and head of its transportation program, said he likes being an entrepreneur. “I also like the [location] space,” he said.

    In other LBS news:

    • Join us for GPS World magazine’s LBS Market in 2012 webinar, “LBS 2012 — Show Me the Money,” on Feb. 22 at 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. Speakers will include several industry executives. Register for free.
    • Audiovox Electronics Corp launched its Car Connection and Care Connection products, both of which Audiovox considers LBS-capable, that will use Sprint’s Nationwide Network in the U.S.A. Car Connection is a new plug-in on-board diagnostic (OBDII) device that will allow consumers to monitor, manage and maintain not only their own but other family drivers’ habits. Care Connection is a wearable personal tracking system that features two-way voice communication to locate children, teen drivers and aging parents.
    • Persistent Systems purchased Openwave’s Mobile Location-Based business, to offer what its says will be the first enterprise carrier-based LBS. The company says the big market opportunity is that businesses want asset tracking, geo sensing and couponing.

     

  • CES Turning into Big Tech Auto Show

    Navigating your way through thousands of booths and 140,000 attendees is a challenge in itself at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. While there was a huge amount of location-based services news, the big deal was the presence of just about every automobile manufacturer. Such off-site meetings as the Consumer Telematics Show, Showstoppers and AT&T Developer’s Conference also highlighted the connected car.

    images

    LAS VEGAS — It took several years, but most major automobile manufacturers are onboard with the idea that a vehicle needs to be connected. Most automobile manufacturers came to the Consumer Electronics Show here to show off their connected devices and explain where they think the market is going.

    “The connected vehicle has arrived, though it is not a smart phone on wheels. This the year we are seeing a lot of growth — and I have been doing this a long time,” said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner vice president. “From 2008 to 2012, the majority of car manufacturers have installed connected vehicles. From 2013 to 2016, we will see really major market adoption. A mature market expects connected vehicles — and that’s right around the corner.”

    Koslowski says that automakers shouldn’t be locked into one specific market strategy. “They aren’t going to make it if they do.  Technology and business approaches evolve in parallel,” he said. “The traditional value and supply chains may not be the best way to market these systems…and you will see some consolidation.”

    The aftermarket will take over the connected marketplace if the car makers won’t adjust their strategies, Koslowski said. He said in 2004, the CRM opportunity seemed to be more important to auto makers, but now it’s somewhere in the middle of importance. “We are primarily in the product differentiation phase now,” he said. “It is an open playing field right now, but it will be a challenge for companies who think they have it all figured out.”

    Gartner’s research has found that consumers want wireless map updates, real-time weather and traffic, remote software updates and parking availability. What they don’t like are family and friend location information, creating and reading e-mail in a car, anon-demand music book, and such social networks as Twitter in the vehicle.

    TomTom Signs Deal With Samsung

    One of the bigger announcements in the location space at CES, and maybe the one with the most LBS tie in, was TomTom’s deal with Samsung. TomTom’s maps and location content will power Samsung’s Wave 3 smartphone. The deal basically allows the phone to have LBS, said Charles Cautley, TomTom managing director, automotive licensing.

    The business-to-business market has been a strong one for TomTom, which estimated that around 40 percent of its earnings came from that segment, said Cautley, who spent considerable time at General Electric in the commercial vehicle market before coming to TomTom three years ago.

    To cap off a big week, TomTom rolled out three portable navigation devices, Start, Via and Go Live. It also signed a licensing agreement with high-end automaker Fisker Automotive. Through a three-year-deal, TomTom will provide map and location data for the Fisker Karma electric sedan. “We absolutely think the electric vehicle market is going to grow,” Cautley said.

    TomTom competitor Magellan also rolled out some new PNDs, including the RoadMate 9055-LM and back-up camera. “Overall, the PND is becoming less a novelty and more a utility,” said Magellan’s Stig Pedersen, senior director of marketing strategy. “We are moving more towards safety features in the next year.”

    Auto Companies Announce Offerings At CES

    Some in the automobile industry are now saying that CES is the place where car makers are rolling out the new technology, not at the concurrent Detroit Auto Show, which is used to roll out new cars.

    Chrysler Group’s Uconnect now has a website that allows its users to get in-car updates for their in-vehicle system through a mobile phone, said Joni Christensen, Uconnect head of marketing.

    After the initial cost of Uconnect, all that a car owner needs to pay for, after a year’s free service, is the Sirius radio, Christensen said. The navigation system, like Ford’s Sync, is tied to one system — and like Cadillac’s Cue, can be switched from one screen to a view that is incorporated into a car’s speed gauge.

    OnStar will give “selected” developers access to a proprietary application program interface (API) to create mobile apps designed with OnStar’s suite of services, the company said. The first partner to use OnStar’s API will be RelayRides, a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace.

    In other company news, OnStar and Verizon Wireless are working on a second-generation connected research vehicle. The Chevrolet Volt research will receive streaming content from the Cloud enabled by the Verizon 4G LTE network and building on OnStar’s Advanced Telematics Operating System (ATOMS).

    Audi said it is also offering a 4G LTE capability for its Audi Connect services. The company will continue to use Google Earth maps and will show a driver their destination in 3D imagery.

    Telenav launched a new product called Scout at CES that can work with Ford’s SYNC connected unit. Scout provides customized navigation, entertainment, and convenience features for connectivity between a smart phone, vehicle, or a computer.  Scout Key features turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic, and estimated drive times to specific destinations at different hours of the day. Scout also provides personal local search based on a user’s preferences for entertainment, restaurants, and other points of interest once they arrive at a destination.

    “It’s free on iTunes right now, but we plan to launch it on other platforms,” said Sooner Heath, Telenav customer solutions manager.

    Indoor Positioning Looking to Get Bigger

    Soon all malls, shopping centers, airports, sporting venues and other businesses will feature indoor maps, which could be the boost LBS needs, particularly if big businesses come on board and advertise. At CES, CSR said it is working with Micello, Google and Nokia Location and Commerce on indoor positioning, that combines Wi-Fi and GPS.

    Some of the capabilities include being able to see what floor in the building you are walking in, pedestrian dead reckoning, and turn-by-turn walking directions, said Blake Bullock, CSR product manager.

    Fernando Villasol, Nokia Location and Commerce director of content, says the advent of indoor positioning will soon open up new market opportunities for developers.

    In other CES news:

    • Kenwood says its marketing agreements with Garmin continue to produce great aftermarket sales. The company rolled out its $1,500 DNX7180 Navigation/Multimedia Receiver, which features navigation from Garmin, including Lane Assist with Junction View. A built-in free feature is the Navteq Live Traffic for the life of the product.
    • Location Labs’ new Safely line of services include phone controls to allow parents to lock kids’ phones, a family locator, a teen phone lock during drives that is available on Sprint and T-Mobile phones, and a social monitor for Facebook.
    • Like TomTom’s discontinuation of the Tele Atlas name, Nokia has basically done away with the Navteq company name, though many in the industry still say “Navteq” when talking about the mapping side of the business.
    • There was an LBS and Safety Zone at CES that was in a terrible area in the back of North Hall. While there was a lot of foot traffic, looks like smaller and international companies were thrown in the back — not near the bigger auto players which would have generated more attention to the booths/companies. Overall, CES is more of a connected vehicle show than LBS…a change that has been happening for two years.

     

  • 2011 Showed Better LBS Market Gains, But Was It All About Google?

    2011 was a decent year for the location-based services industry. It was an even better year if your company was lucky enough to get bought out by an ebay, Google or Intel. While acquisitions stood out as the key LBS news in 2011, privacy stood out as an ugly issue that threatened consumer acceptance. In addition, automobile manufacturers are viewing social media as a new profitable technology for vehicles and were trying to convince consumers that the connected vehicle is the way of the future.

     

    This year featured a slew of location-based company acquisitions and consolidation — far more than in 2010. The acquisitions of such established location companies as Where and Telmap by eBay and Intel, respectively, at least show that bigger companies want that capability in their online offerings.

    Google made many moves into the location business in the last two years — and really went crazy in 2011 with acquisitions. Google is trying to grab a large share of the European traffic market by offering real-time services in 13 European companies. Google shook up the navigation market with free navigation service for Android phones in 2009.

    To top off a big year for Google, the company is taking its mapping technology indoors with the launch of Google Maps 6.0. Indoor mapping and positioning received big headway in 2011, and it was reasonable to assume that the 800-pound LBS gorilla, Google, would be a big player to entice big retail companies to come on board for location technology to allow customers to find products.

    According to published reports, some of the big-box retail stores such as IKEA, Macy’s, Home Depot and Bloomingdales have been mapped. However, a lot of the bigger malls, and Target and Wal-Mart, have not been mapped.

    The cool thing about the product is that it also tells customers what floor they are on in a building. The uncool thing about the product is that Google Maps 6.0 is only available for Android.

    Google’s indoor mapping partners include 18 U.S. airports, which will open up more partners and LBS relationships in the future.

    A look at all of Google’s location market moves, and analysis, in 2011:

    • Google’s major partners, who have more than 25,000 Google Maps application uses per day, will be charged starting next year. Some say it won’t hurt small companies much—and may even help companies who compete with Google. Either way, some say the decision was inevitable for companies making a profit–and using Google’s resources for free.
    • The recent $12.5-billion Google acquisition of Motorola Mobility has some industry experts saying that the location market piece of pie is getting smaller every time the search giant makes a deal. Many industry experts have said that the main makers of Google Android smart phones should feel challenged as well as the company has seemingly gone into business against them. Google is once more trying to corner more of the social shopping market by buying The Dealmap, a 15-month-old company that offers its own location-based daily deal service.
    • Google purchased Menlo Park, Calif.-based The Dealmap, a company that collects data from hundreds of sources and arranges deals by location, on its website and a smartphone application. The start-up, founded last year, has 15 employees and 2 million users, according to published reports. Google tried to buy Groupon for as much as $6 billion last year, and decided to launch its own service, Google Offers, in Portland. Google’s service has since expanded to New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.

    More transition is happening in the LBS market this year — even at our deadline. As GPS World reported, LBS company Gowalla looks like it is shutting down by the end of January 2012, according to the company’s blog. Company president Josh Williams said he and his staff are now going to work for Facebook.

    While some LBS analysts said this year that GPS technology, and its offshoot niche navigation capability, are just embedded widgets in the overall location market, others say they still are the driver to consumer awareness and acceptance.

    “In my opinion, one of the biggest trends in 2011 included market acceptance — and demand — of GPS technologies. We are now seeing end-users demand GPS technologies in the workplace,” said Jonathan Hubbard, SpeedGuage CEO and co-founder. “In fact, truck drivers now say if you don’t have GPS-enabled automated logging of my work hours, or what we in the transportation sector call hours of service monitoring, then I won’t work for you. That’s a significant change in how GPS-enabled technologies were formerly viewed — more or less — for solely tracking purposes, and we see this trend only continuing and gaining momentum in the coming year.”

    Other Markets and Issues Made Big Splash In 2011                                                                 

    In vehicle technology also made headlines in 2011 when automakers said they would be increasing social media and other capabilities for new car models. Because of larger screens going into many vehicles, LBS seems like a natural advertising fit, but Thilo Koslowski, Gartner vice president, said that car companies will developing market strategies along traditional display-type marketing models.

    Koslowsi said the biggest competition the auto industry has is the smartphone or other consumer mobile device. “We will see growth in vehicle application on the Android platform, while Apple will be leveling off. [Research in Motion] will have a lower share,” he said.

    The other big “issue” confronting the LBS industry is privacy, which became big news in May when it was revealed that location data was secretly stored in all iOS 4 devices. It was learned that Apple was storing a file with location data in every iPhone or iPad with iOS 4.    These discoveries prompted Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), who was concerned that as many as 15 percent of users are children, to ask now-deceased Apple boss Steve Jobs about the operating system. In a letter to Jobs, Franken, who presided over hearings on location technology and privacy, asked why Apple consumers were not informed of the collection and retention of their location data, how frequently is a user’s location recorded, why is this information not encrypted, with whom has the information been shared, and what is the purpose of collecting the location data.

    Apple contended that iOS devices are not logging the location of the user, but caching a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell tower locations around a user’s position. Some of these cell towers may be many miles away from the user.

    In other LBS Insider news:

    • Veteran telematics vendor Cross Country Automotive Services and its subsidiary, ATX Group, which is a provider to BMW, Hyundai, Infiniti, Lexus, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Toyota, announced their new corporate brand name, Agero. Cross Country, which purchased ATX in 2008, says Agero will create products for auto manufacturers, insurance carriers and aftermarket providers.
    • GPS World Magazine is GPS-Wireless 2012’s official media partner. GPS-Wireless 2012 will be March 21-22 at the Hyatt Regency—San Francisco Airport.
    • LBS Insider will be covering the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. Please send me your news tips and releases.