The AL3RT asset tracker is designed for the power sports industry and runs on the AT&T network.
Kika Enterprises announced at CTIA Super Mobility this week that its AL3RT asset protection unit will be available as an accessory for Polaris electric bikes worldwide, beginning January 2016. The AL3RT trackers will be sold at sports dealerships in the United States.
Powered by AT&T, AL3RT is a stand-alone, customizable asset locator and fleet management tool designed for theft protection of on- and off-road vehicles, motorcycles, snowmobiles and personal watercraft.
AL3RT customer benefits include: real-time location alerts, anti-theft alerts, accident panic alerts, historical location data, coverage in locations around the globe, long battery life (up to seven days) and a water- and dust-proof housing. The product line will also include several accessories, such as a multi-use cradle for easy mounting and Bluetooth multi-sensors that can be programmed individually.
Supported by GPS, GSM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies, users can use their AL3RT smartphone app to locate their asset, as well as arm and disarm sensors and configure geofences virtually anywhere in the world. AL3RT can be configured to send individual or group alerts via email or SMS.
“We are excited about the launch of the AL3RT, because it represents the first true anti-theft alert solution designed for the power sports industry,” commented Ricardo Salguero, president of Kika M2M. “The AL3RT offers superior features, reliability and AT&T connectivity, making it a tremendous extension of our growing line of customizable M2M solutions. This addition truly positions Kika M2M uniquely in the market with a broad range of proprietary M2M solutions for the power sports industry.”
Kika M2M will showcase the AL3RT at CTIA Super Mobility, taking place Sept. 9-11 in Las Vegas, as a part of AT&T’s Booth #3724.
This year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was the biggest ever, with 95,000 attendees and thousands of booths, conferences and people with sore feet walking a cavernous exhibition hall. While the Geneva Auto Show ran close to the same dates, connected vehicle companies and technology were prominently featured. What was interesting, however, was the rise of indoor positioning companies and mobile advertising agencies with interest in location.
BARCELONA — Joining the 95,000 or so Mobile World Congress attendees were about three dozen companies who are offering indoor location and location advertising services. These companies have exhibited at previous conferences, but not in the numbers this year.
At the huge Fira convention center where MWC was held March 2-5, Los Altos, Calif.-based Pole Star installed more than 600 beacons for indoor location. Visitors were able to be guided to booths and other areas through an interactive map. “Business was good in 2014, we sold 10,000 beacons. We are making money,” said Christian Carle, Pole Star CEO.
One analyst said that the big change at MWC wasn’t the number of indoor positioning companies and demos, but the maturity and breadth of the technology. “Intel announced indoor positioning capabilities in their Wi-Fi chip, and had a demo that was very impressive. Many smaller companies that in past years were showing raw technology were showing polished solutions this year, such as Quuppa, MTI and Sensewhere, said Bruce Krulwich, Grizzly Analytics president, who has authored a report identifying 150 indoor positioning companies. “I definitely see a shake-out coming up, but it won’t be one technology prevailing over another. Different technologies meet different needs in the industry, and different technologies fit different sites. There are technologies that deliver universal indoor positioning, without any infrastructure or preparation, such as Wi-Fi multilateration and sensor fusion.”
Krulwich said that there is a shake-out that’s already started because there are too many companies working on similar technologies. “Start-ups in the area that don’t have differentiating innovation, don’t have integration into retail or other back-end systems, and don’t have market penetration, are already finding themselves in a challenge. But companies with clear innovations and commercial deployments will do fine,” he said.
United Kingdom-based Sensewhere is using crowdsourcing in its indoor positioning software. The software uses radios to scan for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to allow an IP location to reference the sources and form a location database.
“It’s what we call the universal indoor positioning versus venue specific indoor positioning, which can work anywhere — we just need a crowd of people. Our target partners are handset manufacturers, network operators, social media, social network providers, and also chipset guys as well,” said Rob Palfreyman, Sensewhere CEO. “So, there are obviously a lot of companies like Google looking at venues; there is Micello and TomTom looking at add-ins in the indoor location, which is great news, but it just needs to have a technology that can drive the blue dot on their map, and we feel that Sensewhere is the right place to provide that blue dot because of the crowdsourcing global nature of our approach.”
One company, which has developed a popular mobile game, is using its network to attract advertisers for its location-based ad platform. “We already have the infrastructure in place because of our mobile game. With our platform, we can allow advertisers to launch campaigns using our beacon signals and geofencing,” said Pedro Jahara, CEO of Brazil-based RevMob.
New location technology like the ability to track SIM cards was rolled out at MWC. W-Locate, which is partnering with Morpho in Thailand, is tracking SIM cards with its XimLoc product, which the company said is more accurate indoors than other technology.
Even such companies as Geotab, which is a strong player in the fleet market, are leveraging MWC to continue a foothold in the European market. The company displayed its IOX-CAN system that can send data from a mobile device to the MyGeotab system, which can be viewed an analyzed by fleet managers, said Maria Sotra, Geotab marketing manager.
Geotab also partnered with Telefonica in November 2014 to focus efforts in Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, Sotra said.
At MWC, location-based advertising market is gaining traction as advertisers are seeing the benefit of locating and attracting customers. New York-based xAd said it has doubled its revenue for the second year. “We have billions of mobile ads processed and billions of ad impressions. The company is profitable,” said Dipanshu Sharma, xAd founder and CEO.
He said the company has expanded into France and Germany and added China to its global ad network.
Another company that is using location technology as a differentiator is Airpush, which had another big presence at MWC. The company’s Abstract Banners was a big draw to attendees. Location, particularly geofenced areas, have created a call to action for consumers, which is attractive to advertisers, said Cameron Peeples, Airpush vice president of marketing.
Connected Car Still Big Opportunity at MWC
Although the Geneva Auto Show was starting as the MWC was ending, there were still several big announcements by connected car companies in Barcelona. Even the well-publicized Samsung S6 and S6 Edge and HTC One M9 handset rollouts included Mirrorlink, the connected vehicle standard from the Connected Car Consortium.
In another big announcement, Audi and AT&T said that all 2016 model vehicles equipped with Audi connect will come with the carrier’s 4G LTE or 3G coverage. This increase in services is big because the auto giant just rolled out 4G AT&T service in Audi A3s last year.
AT&T selected Airbiquity to provide end-user registration and device management connected vehicle services for select customer programs. “Airbiquity will deliver these services to AT&T using our Choreo cloud-based connected vehicle services delivery platform and project management, engineering, and operations teams,” said David Jumpa, Airbiquity chief revenue officer. “This is a ‘white label’ agreement whereby AT&T will integrate Airbiquity’s service delivery capability into AT&T’s connected vehicle customer solutions.”
Another location company is making huge inroads in connected vehicle markets with its Glympse for Autos product. Glympse will be installed in select Volkswagen and Peugeot models through MirrorLink, said Bryan Trussel, company co-founder and CEO.
The app allows users to share location from their vehicle by setting the recipient and timer, and hitting send. The company has a similar app for Gogo inflight aviation networks to allow a person on the ground to know where an airplane is for picking up passengers.
In other connected car news, Accenture is providing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles the capability of in-car, Internet-based services. Starting with the new Fiat 500X, Uconnect Live services, which was co-developed by Accenture, will power an infotainment system that offers music and news services, social network access, the ability to monitor driving style and a range of diagnostic services.
Accenture also partnered with Visa for an IoT-based connected car commerce test. At MWC, the company tested a scenario where drivers could order food from the car using cellular, Bluetooth and beacon connectivity. Accenture deployed a similar system with BMW’s ConnectedDrive, which allows customers to choose services in real time for a vehicle.
Health Market Even Has Location Potential
Niche location applications are growing as Internet of Things, or IoT, markets start to grow. One company taking advantage of the mobile market is Annapolis, Md.-based TCS, which featured its VirtuMedix platform in its MWC booth.
The platform is tailored to emergency physicians as part of the growing market for video telemedicine products and mobile health, said Jay Whitehurst, TCS commercial software group president. “It’s already saving lives,” he said of the platform, which combines encryption, navigation, mapping and messaging.
While the product, now being rolled out in a North Carolina emergency medicine group, provides patients with an alternative to urgent care centers and emergency rooms, it also can be used for longer term cases such as assisted living and rehab centers, the company said.
Whitehurst said TCS has made several company acquisitions that have played a part in new product rollouts, which include the company’s Trusted Location. The application allows financial firms, online gaming companies and others to identify and prevent credit-card fraud. The application identifies and validates a device’s location worldwide.
In other Mobile World Congress news:
Spirent said its simulators have the capability to evaluate Wi-Fi Offload and Wi-Fi performance of mobile devices on its test framework. The new product allows companies to test multiple devices on a single unit to cover Wi-Fi/LTE mobility and interoperability. The testing is important in light of wireless carriers’ strategy to extend VoLTE in areas where cell coverage is limited, said Saul Einbinder, Spirent vice president, venture development.
Google Waze said its Google Mobile Service (GMS) will be available as a preinstall option on mobile devices. OEMs and carriers can preinstall the app on their handsets so consumers can use the service immediately, the company said.
Trimble’s ALK said its ALK Maps and route visualization software is now available in Europe. ALK Maps, launched in the United States in 2012, allows users to overlay routing, geocoding points, weather and other features, the company said.
Macy’s added Shopkick indoor location beacons in preparation for holiday shopping. (Photo by Nicholas Eckhart is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)
This year was filled with hope and some success for the location industry. In what was probably the biggest deal, Qualcomm bought United Kingdom-based CSR for $2.5 billion — at the same time, spinning off its own location beacon company, Gimbal. While the connected car continued to get a lot of press at the biggest trade shows, indoor location technology matured to a point that many retailers are believing it’s a way to get consumers back into the stores — and away from their computers.
As we come to the end of 2014, many industry observers view indoor technology and markets to be like where outdoor location was in the early 1990s: many technologies and providers all pushing different solutions. However, the gap between the beneficiaries of the market, the retailers and brands, and the indoor location technology providers is narrowing as tests become more prevalent.
Such retailers as Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Macy’s and CVS have rolled out, or planning to launch, tests that include indoor mapping and a product locator.
“iBeacons and other beacons proved to be the fastest location-proximity technologies that are being deployed full scale by Macy’s, CVS and other retailers for a first quarter 2015 rollout,” said Kris Kolodziej, an indoor location-based services advisor. “I see more acquisitions like the one of Groupon acquiring Swarm Mobile, a beacon platform for smaller tier-two retailers and businesses. In addition, we will see more partnerships like the one between Gimbal and Urban Airship to provide a holistic outdoor-indoor solution for geofencing and engagement platforms.”
Location companies paid attention to mobile carriers’ focus on launching and advancing their LTE services in 2014, said Keith Bhatia, TeleCommunication Systems vice president, business development.
“2014 has been the year of transitioning location-based services from 2G to 3G to complete 2G-3G-4G platforms,” he said. “The other significant location market event for TCS during 2014 has been growth of user plane services by (over-the-top) apps. The operators who have chosen to compete with OTT players have seen location requests exponentially expand.”
TCS believes that the location market, in the next five years, will evolve to a machine-to-machine and Internet of Things (IoT) concepts that will expand into consumers’ everyday lives, Bhatia said. “From the connected car to telemedicine, health devices, connected home and smart cities, all mobile connected devices will benefit from location-based services,” he said. “We believe that location services will continue its rapid growth for years to come.”
Selling retails on the promise of indoor positioning and proximity marketing has been tough in the past few years — and some providers have focused on the wrong message, Bhatia said. “As mobile device adoption continues to surge, indoor positioning and proximity marketing will become an important tool for many retailers. A significant barrier so far has been too much focus on coupon delivery,” he said. “We believe the retailers will find real benefits in terms of understanding layout, traffic and congregation of users. Combining this location information with their retail data will provide early insights into trends and early indications of potential challenges.”
Dave Hutingford, CSR director of product line for location, believes the big selling point for retailers is striking the balance between what benefits they obtain from the app versus what benefits the consumer gets — what he calls the equity balance.
“Too many irrelevant notifications while walking around the shop will result in people not wanting to run the app, and can potentially harm consumer acceptance of retail applications. The interest is already there from the retailers’ side as the benefits are somewhat obvious, but the question is what do you give back to an increasingly technology-smart consumer?” he said.
Overall, the indoor location market is attracting major interest from retailers — which is refreshing to many industry observers after seeing online sales cut into brick-and-mortar stores’ profits.
“Removing the need for dedicated infrastructure to run indoor location was a big hurdle removed from the ecosystem. Certainly we expect to see good pick-up of the solution over the next few months for a wide variety of location services, and being handset-agnostic is a big benefit for any developer,” Hutingford said. “However, if you are looking for accuracy down in the meter range, you will need to add infrastructure to supplement the location calculation, which can come in many forms.”
Connected-Car Market Made Headlines in 2014
If an industry executive attended any of the bigger trade shows this year — CES, CTIA in Las Vegas, or the Mobile World Congress in Spain, it was the same thing — connected vehicles are the big story. Adoption by automotive manufacturers, as a number of analysts have pointed out this year, was the most important news story for the connected-car industry in 2014, said John Horn, Kore Telematics executive vice president and chief strategy officer.
“Essentially every vehicle that rolls off the assembly line in 2015 will have an element of connectivity built into it. To keep up with the level of demand, we are starting to see scale and scope really start to matter to the companies that power this type of connectivity,” he said. “2015 will prove to be another huge year for industry consolidation, which will be necessary to keep up with the global demand for connected-car technologies.”
The biggest trend in 2014 connected-car technology was the emergence of infotainment content for connected cars, said Scott Frank, Airbiquity vice president, marketing. “Before 2014, the most an average consumer would expect out of a high-end vehicle head unit were features like navigation, basic cell-phone connectivity, and hands-free calling,” he said. “Today, drivers are able to get a wide-variety of apps in their vehicles to do things like stream music and keep up with their social media channels. User experience advancements were also made to provide a seamless transition for digitally oriented drivers as they moved from office, to car, to home, and back again. For example, with the NissanConnect Mobile Apps system, someone listening to a streaming music app like Pandora on their PC in the office can put it on hold, get into their car for the drive home, and pick up the song right where they left off — as well as see their favorite playlists, album selections, and cover art.”
However, as with any industry that experiences quick growth, there will be growing pains, Horn said. “The automotive world has already started to experience some of those pains as connected technologies continue to advance at a rapid pace. We saw how the analog shutdown left many OnStar customers stranded with obsolete hardware,” he said. “We’ll likely see similarities as 2G, 3G, and 4G networks are eventually turned down in favor of more advanced technologies. I’ve been saying this for years, but now is really the time for the removable module. Connected technologies will turn over much faster than cars, and the only way I can see to future-proof against this is through the removable module.”
Airbiquity’s Frank said that there are definitely consumer acceptance and technology barriers for the automotive industry going forward related to connected car as we know it today and autonomous car as its being forecast going forward.
Like waves of technology that have come before, functional consumer awareness and adoption will follow the technology adoption curve, Frank said. “Certain generations and user types will be early adopters and more likely to accept new and evolving connected-car technology and features — and the user experiences and value that come with it — the minute it’s made available,” he said. “While others will be either blissfully unaware of the technology built into their car — and the value it could bring them — or are simply satisfied with traditional technology like basic AM-FM and satellite radio. One thing for sure is there’s a correlation between early adopters of technology like smartphones and early adopters of connected-car technology and related features.”
Frank quoted a recent Parks Associates study that found 48 percent of vehicle owners that own smartphones are very interested in the ability to view maps — or receive directions in their cars. This compares to 37 percent of vehicle owners that own/don’t own smartphones. “Like flip-phone users that transitioned to smartphones after understanding the end benefits, consumers will increasingly become aware of and use their connected-car systems,” he said. “We’re seeing evidence of the connected-car adoption curve in the increasing activation rates and time of usage for our customer’s connected-car programs.”
Horn, who headed RacoWireless, which was acquired by Kore for an undisclosed amount this year, said in 2015 industry will start to see the connected car become much more easily monetized. “We’ve seen this first hand, as we have just rolled out some new features with AT&T and Audi. Now, your Audi Connect subscription can be part of your AT&T Mobile Share plan and treated just like another line,” he said. “It is going to be easier than ever to consume in-vehicle connectivity and the business model will advance to the point that makes it appealing for both the consumer and the solution provider.”
In 2015, driving-centric apps and services will begin to appear and eventually become as important as infotainment content in the consumer purchasing process, Frank said. “The current automotive manufacturers’ focus on providing infotainment delivery reflects their desire to meet the expectations of digital lifestyle consumers who are heavy users of smartphones and want to use their favorite apps and services inside their cars,” he said. “This is a logical first step, but these savvy consumers will increasingly value apps that are truly useful and relative to the driving experience. An example is an app that proactively and dynamically recommends modifications to a driver’s high-frequency routes to help them optimize fuel consumption, lower CO2 emissions, minimize engine wear, and avoid road hazards. As a result, apps that don’t add to the consumer experience relative to driving will eventually die off from lack of use, and automotive manufacturers will replace them with more and more driving-centric apps to satisfy their customers and differentiate themselves from competitors.”
The rise of autonomous vehicles, a derivative from connected-car technology, will keep automakers, carriers, suppliers and government agencies busy for decades.
“When it comes to autonomous vehicles, we expect the adoption curve to be more extended than what we’ll see for the connected car, given the increased consumer concerns about safety and adapting to the new fangled idea of riding in a car without a human driver,” Frank said. “Consumers will not only want to know what this fancy new technology is and how it works, they will also need to feel confident that it will run perfectly and not put themselves, their passengers, or other people and property in harm’s way. Consumers will also have concerns about who will be legally and financially liable if an accident occurs.”
In other location news:
Two Trimble companies, PeopleNet and ALK, recently provided real-time tracking of the 2014 Capitol Christmas Tree’s cross-country journey from the Chippewa National Forest in Minnesota to the front lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington. The companies used enterprise products for routing, mileage, mapping and visualization to track the tree.
LBS Insider’s Kevin Dennehy will be attending the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. Please contact him at [email protected] with your story ideas.
Since the AT&T Drive Studio opened in January 2014, twelve companies have joined AT&T there in an effort to collaborate and develop new services for the connected car of the future. The latest company to join is LG Electronics, which signed on November 18.
AT&T Drive Studio is a connected car center for innovation and research. Its sponsorship agreement with LG allows the companies to collaborate on the AT&T Drive platform to support services on automotive-grade hardware and equipment for tomorrow’s connected vehicles.
Located in Atlanta, the more than 5,000-square foot AT&T Drive Studio features working garage bays, a speech lab, a full showroom to exhibit the latest innovations, conference facilities, and much more. Drive Studio integrates AT&T solutions across multiple companies and serves as a hub where AT&T can respond to needs of automotive manufacturers and the auto ecosystem at large.
“At the Drive Studio we work with automakers to make the in-car experience better and safer for the driver and passengers,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T. “The spirit of the AT&T Drive Studio is to bring together players in the auto industry ecosystem, like LG, to design the road ahead.”
“By analysis of customer insights and Car OEM’s requirements, safety, comfort and convenience are key factors in automotive area,” said Jong Rak Lim, vice president and head of LG’s In-Vehicle Infotainment R&D Lab. “As global telematics supplier, we are very pleased to participate in AT&T Drive Studio as a sponsor and hope to bring better Connected Car solutions into the market together.”
AT&T already provides mobile Internet access in vehicles manufactured by both U.S. and non-U.S. automobile makers. AT&T entered the market with a proprietary, global SIM platform that made it possible for automotive, consumer and M2M equipment makers to work through a single carrier to wirelessly enable and connect products across the globe, and cars are being sold throughout world today with this SIM.
When comedian Larry Wilmore started out Day 2 at CTIA Super Mobility Week by reporting from a connected car on the show floor, he was only half joking when he said, “It’s almost like you’re driving in a smart phone, and with smart phones getting bigger it’s not too far off. I think I saw an HTC this size.”
The experts in the keynote Connected Car panel agreed: The car is the new smart phone.
Just ask Ralph de la Vega, CEO of the just-formed AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions Group, who called the Chevy Corvette “the best smart phone I’ve ever gotten to test.” The Corvette was conveniently displayed next to the stage, along with a connected Tesla Model S.
As CTIA CEO Meredith Atwell Baker pointed out, what was once relegated to the CTIA show floor is now in dealerships all across the U.S. The statistics thrown out by de la Vega supported this observation. Thirty-two percent of new cars sold globally (and 60% of new cars sold in the U.S.) by 2017 will be embedded with cellular technology. Seventy-two percent of people would delay a new car purchase one year to buy a connected car by their preferred automaker.
De la Vega co-moderated the panel with Glenn Lurie, his successor as CEO of AT&T Mobility. Panelists representing General Motors/OnStar, Ericsson, VoiceBox and Tesla overwhelmingly agreed that the emphasis on the connected car going forward has to be safety.
“[Drivers are] trying to fill the time and be productive. People naturally want to do that. They’re going to bring the phone in, reach over, grab it and try to do things. And the more capabilities, the more they’ll do it,” said Mike Kennewick, co-founder & CEO of VoiceBox, maker of natural language technology. “It’s imperative as we bring the Internet into the car, there’s a component that allows you to do it safely.”
What that would mean, exactly, though, was a matter of opinion. Each panelist had a chance to discuss their company’s recent and coming advancements.
De la Vega says AT&T’s studies show people prefer a shared family data plan that would allos them to share data across people and across devices, and a belief by the wireless provider that customers should be able to add their cars to their rate plans.
GM has successfully integrated 4G/LTE into 33 different models in the U.S. and Canada and next plans expansion in Europe, Mary Chan, President of Global Connected Consumer at GM shared.
VoiceBox’s Kennewick calls the voice recognition in cars today “just like the movies” but says VoiceBox strives to simplify the apps in cars and make voice activation less about reiterative command-and-control.
Telsa, a leader in over-the-air auto updates, will be launching a mass market car “in a few years” and is now exploring how best to keep the customer experience focused in the car. Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan also said the company is considering opening up its infotainment stystem to other partners.
AT&T will be a major participant during CTIA’s Super Mobility Week in Las Vegas next week. Connected car, connected home and wearables will all be on display throughout AT&T’s activities:
The first AT&T Hackathon to take place at CTIA will give developers access to new APIs for the car and home.
A 60-foot x 40-foot booth showcasing the latest Connected Life products.
AT&T is kicking off the week’s events with its very first CTIA Hackathon, Code for Car and the Home, which will match developers with companies, tools and services to innovate in the connected car and automated home marketplace. Developers will turn ideas into apps using APIs and other technology resources from 30-plus industry sponsors. More than 300 developers are expected to compete in the two-day Hackathon which begins at 10 a.m. PT on Saturday, September 6, in the Chelsea Theater at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. More than $100,000 in cash and prizes are available.
Connected Life Booth
When the Super Mobility Week show floor opens at 11 a.m. PT on Tuesday, September 9, AT&T will showcase the latest in wearables, connected cars and homes. Volvo and Audi will demo their connected car experiences and a simulator will be on-site to showcase AT&T Drive, the company’s connected car platform. AT&T Drive is a modular, global solution that allows automakers to pick and choose what services and capabilities are important to them in order to differentiate their solutions in the marketplace.
Attendees can also explore how to stay connected to the home by visiting the AT&T Digital Life station. Digital Life is an all-digital, all-wireless automation and home security platform that equips customers with control of their homes from virtually anywhere. On-site activations will include demos such as augmented reality so visitors can learn about the Digital Life service and products, an interactive wall to experience the simple, easy to use Digital Life app and a hologram home to showcase how Digital Life integrates everything you need in one place, to help make your life safer and easier, and provide you with more freedom to live your life.
AT&T is the leader in emerging devices and will showcase the latest wearables from Fitbit, Jawbone, LG, Martian and Pebble. Additionally, Timex, the first authentic watch brand to enter the smartwatch space, will be on-site showcasing the new Timex Ironman One GPS+. The new smartwatch is the first GPS-connected fitness watch to connect to the mobile internet wirelessly, transmitting performance data, location, messages and more.
Also on display will be the AT&T EverThere and FiLIP safety devices. AT&T EverThere is a small wearable device that can detect falls and quickly identify location, automatically connecting the user to a 24/7 call center for response and support. FiLIP is a smart locater for kids that keeps parents and kids in touch at the push of a button.
The booth, number 4423, will be in the Connected Life section of the show floor at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. Visitors can locate the booth by using the interactive floor plan.
Connected Car Keynote
On Wednesday, Sept.10, Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO, AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions and Glenn Lurie, president and CEO, AT&T Mobility, will wrap up the show when they take the stage to discuss the Future of Connected Car.
The following guest panelists will join them on stage to discuss this rapidly growing landscape:
Mary Chan, President, Global Connected Consumer, General Motors
Arun Bhikshesvaran, CMO, Ericsson
Mike Kennewick, Co-Founder and CEO, VoiceBox
Diarmuid O’Connell, VP, Business Development, Tesla Motors
Half the year is over. It’s gone. Now it’s time to figure out where the location industry is going for the remainder of the year. One analyst (actually, several) believe that the industry, fueled by indoor location and place-based advertising, is around $14 billion right now — with no place to go but up — given some bump in consumer awareness. In other news in a busy month, Google bought Skybox Imaging for $500 million in cash.
As the mid-point of 2014 arrives, with a few big location industry deals already consummated, there is a chance for industry executives to study what is going to be a strong niche market in the months ahead.
One analyst believes a big location niche is indoor analytics and proximity marketing, which is defined as nearby a store or within a business. “The latter would include ads and coupons. We’ve estimated that roughly $3.5 billion of potentially $14 billion, or so, in 2014 U.S. mobile ad revenue, will be location-based [broadly defined],” said Greg Sterling, founder of Sterling Market Research. “Of that, about $1.4 billion will be ‘geofenced’ or nearby.”
Sterling believes that the in-store component is still in an embryonic stage. “There are billions of dollars of coupons distributed every year, but most of that is still print. Some of that is in-store distribution and redemption,” he said. “A portion of that over time will migrate to mobile in or near stores.”
Sterling said there are billions of dollars available from proximity marketing, but it will take time. He cites “Mapping the Indoor Marketing Opportunity,” a report he authored for Opus Research, that says the market for indoor location and place-based marketing/advertising will surpass $10 billion by 2018. (See a preview of the report here.)
In a published report, Sterling admitted that he was nervous about the $10 billion number, but it may turn out that the figure could be conservative because of the software licensing from indoor markets.
Sterling says that while indoor positioning has been important to the older location business, it is still in its early stages. The big deal is mobile, which has brought new attention and interest to location, he said. “Indoor location will feed mobile and online marketing with data and analytics as well as targeting opportunities,” he said.
Many executives and analysts in the location industry have marginalized privacy issues; some even say it is dead with opt-in approval by consumers. However, privacy issues will continue to hamper the location industry, Sterling said.
“Privacy is far from dead. Indeed, it’s on the rise, and a major issue that everyone in the location and mobile segments needs to tackle head on,” Sterling said. “Denial, delay and obfuscation will result in regulatory intervention and/or consumer fear/rejection.”
In a blog, Sterling said that the San Francisco-based Philz Coffee chain no longer will be tracking customers after a local ABC affiliate revealed they were using Euclid retail analytics. Sterling said the ABC report acted as if it had uncovered a big government or corporate conspiracy.
Sterling will be giving the keynote address at the Place Conference in New York on July 22 at the W Hotel. Topics include proximity marketing, indoor positioning markets, privacy and other location topics.
Google Continues Location Industry Dominance with Acquisition
Google enhanced its online mapping service by acquiring Mountain View, California-based Skybox Imaging for $500 million in cash. Sources say both Google and Facebook are purchasing satellite and drone companies in an attempt to expand into other market areas.
One of the ways Google will be leveraging Skybox is in disaster relief and to improve Internet access in remote areas, something the company has been strongly pursuing.
On its website, the five-year-old Skybox said that it plans also to share in the development of the burgeoning autonomous vehicle market and continue to design its own satellites.
A Skybox satellite image of Tampa, Florida.
AT&T Expands Location Information Services
AT&T’s new Location Information Services, which includes a security function and LBS, is expanding into more than 150 countries this summer in a pilot project. The Location Information Services are enabled through an API that can notify companies when their customers, who opt-in for the service, arrive in a new country.
Some application examples, provided by AT&T, include credit card companies confirming customers have traveled to a new country as soon as a device is turned on; allowing the credit card company to either decline or approve purchases overseas; companies using the service to track the movement of equipment to prevent stolen property; and the ability for hospitality entities to offer restaurant and other suggestions to consumers based on their location.
In other LBS news:
The new Amazon Fire Phone has GPS and location functions plus a new feature, Dynamic Perspective, which can be used for such built-in apps as maps and games. The phone is available on July 25, but Amazon is taking pre-orders. In the meantime, competitor Apple has a new iOS 8 feature that allows shoppers to enter their payment details on an m-commerce site by scanning their credit card with the camera on their mobile device, according to published reports. The operating system will use sensors to provide apps with indoor positioning data.
HERE acquired the mobile predictive analytics firm, Seattle-based Medio, earlier this month. The company plans to integrate Medio’s predictive analytics, in conjunction with its map platform, to customize LBS “prediction experiences” for consumers, according to published reports. These experiences (full disclosure, I hate it when companies use the word, “experience”) may include delivering restaurant or other information at a relevant time, such as around lunch. While no financial details were released, the deal is expected to close at the end of July.
Hundreds of businesses in Brixton, near London, will be integrating Apple’s iBeacon as part of the first networks for mobile payments, according to published reports. Businesses in Brixton are switching from currency payments to mobile payments by text. Previously, iBeacons have been used for proximity offers, advertisements and product information when a user is in a retail area. The mobile payment application allows users to quickly check out, reports say.
Not everyone is talking up the accuracy of indoor positioning. Arlington, Virginia-based Telecommunications Industry Association says the technology, which is seen as the one way location-based services providers will be able to capture consumer interest, is not ready. In other LBS news, AT&T has come out with data pricing for its connected vehicle initiatives.
In a recent FCC filing, the Telecommunications Industry Association said that indoor positioning technology is not sufficiently developed to support ongoing wireless E-911 location accuracy requirements.
While TIA supports the FCC’s goal to improve location accuracy, “Imposing location accuracy mandates at this time would be premature, given the nascent stage of the technology that will be needed to accomplish the Commission’s objectives, and should neither favor nor disfavor specific technologies,” said the association in its filing.
The NPRM proposes a requirement to achieve “rough” indoor location information, TIA said. It proposes to require providers to provide horizontal information for wireless 911 calls that originate indoors, specifically a caller’s location within 50 meters.
TIA also disagrees with an FCC proposal to require mobile operators to provide z-axis, which is vertical location within 3 meters of a caller’s location, for 67 percent and 80 percent of indoor wireless 911 calls — ranging from three to five years after adoption. Again, TIA says that the technology is not fully developed.
TIA quoted AT&T’s filing: “[The] time [is] right to begin discussing Indoor Location Accuracy for E-911” but the “FCC should be careful to ensure that any proposed rules on location accuracy are aligned with proven capabilities of the current state of technology and they should set realistic accuracy benchmarks that the industry and public safety can embrace.”
The location industry has been counting on indoor positioning, with its beacons and Wi-Fi enhancements, to jump-start a location-based services market that always seems to have tremendous potential, but the numbers don’t back it up. Some big-time analysts have said that while the promise of indoor positioning is huge, it just isn’t there technically yet.
In fact, one analyst said that the biggest technological breakthrough last year was indoor mapping. Such major retailers as Home Depot and Lowes launched indoor maps with product search locators. These same analysts say that indoor Wi-Fi positioning is not accurate enough for macro location.
The big deal coming up is how FCC positioning accuracy regulations will affect beacons or Bluetooth low energy for micro location and proximity services.
TIA said it supports initial FCC location accuracy requirements back to 2007. However, don’t ask TIA for more location regulation. “To date, the development of 911 and E911 location accuracy technologies and applications has been fostered by a voluntary and consensus-based standards process. This process has proven quite successful to date, and the Commission should refrain from imposing regulations that could slow additional development,” the association said.
AT&T Announces Connected Car Pricing
AT&T Mobility said standalone pricing for new LTE-enabled OnStar service will be $5 or $10 per month, depending on whether the driver is an OnStar subscriber. The company said it will allow customers, with a GM LTE-capable vehicle, to add the car as another device for $10 — which is the same price as a tablet.
OnStar subscribers will get coverage ranging from $5 for 200 MB of data per month to $50 for 5 GB. GM is also allowing customers to buy one-time data packages.
At this year’s CES, General Motors announced its first LTE-enabled vehicles — in which AT&T Mobility is powering the LTE network for GM’s OnStar service. The first LTE-enabled vehicles, which will be available this summer, are Impala, Spark, Volt, Orlando, Spark RV, Silverado, Silverado HD, Malibu, Equinox and Corvette Stingray. GM plans to have 30 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles LTE-equipped by the end of the year.
AT&T also made recent deals to provide connectivity for Ericsson Connected Vehicle Cloud which connects to the AT&T Drive platform for automakers.
CEA Hosts CES on the Hill
Members of Congress and their staff had the opportunity to observe location technology during the Consumer Electronics Association’s recent CES on the Hill event in Washington. Exhibiting companies include Origo Safe, distracted driving; AT&T Drive; DashIt; Qualcomm, which showed off a geofencing product around schools; and RideScout.
Washington-based Ridescout is a cool, and free, mobile app that allows a user to find the nearest subway, bus, taxi, bikeshare, sedan service, carshare, pedi-cab or carpool. A user can choose from a list of options by proximity, cost or arrival time.
“We launched in November in Washington, D.C. We are in Austin, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago and planning several new markets,” said Steve Carroll, Ridescout vice president of operations.
The app, which is on the iOS and Android platforms, generates revenue by sharing with the ride providers, large organizations and universities and the public transport network, Carroll said.
Some of Ridescout’s partners include Mozio, RidePost, Metro of Washington, Bandwagon, Sidecar, Car2Go, Arlington Transit, Capital Bikeshare, Yellow Cab, DC Circulator and Dash.
RideScout, founded by two Army veterans, was hatched when founder and CEO Joseph Kopser wanted an application to show him the best way to get to work in the Washington area. He could not find one and started the company with Craig Cummings. The company initially launched an alpha product at South by Southwest in 2013.
Though it was the first to combine all modes of transportation in a single application, the company has some competition. Of course this competition is from the 800-pound location gorilla, Google.
Google, with its Google Maps platform, shows the directions to the nearest transportation mode. Now it is incorporating Uber, which is an on-demand transportation provider.
This is not the first time Google has launched a product in an effort to dominate a market place or niche. When it launched Google Maps in 2009, it put the hurt on many companies in the location industry, which underwent a three-year period of consolidation, company closings and layoffs.
Three additional companies — Qualcomm, Red Bend and QuickPlay — have signed on to work with the connected car industry at the AT&T Drive Studio, a connected car center for innovation and research in Atlanta, Georgia.
“This is an exciting ecosystem and we are committed to leading the way to take the connected car to the next level for auto manufacturers and their drivers,” said Glenn Lurie, president, AT&T Emerging Enterprises and Partnerships, AT&T Mobility. “That’s the essence of the AT&T Drive Studio, to bring together the best players in the auto industry ecosystem to collaborate and create the future faster.”
The AT&T Drive Studio will now include support from the following companies:
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., intends to showcase its newly announced Qualcomm Snapdragon Automotive Solutions for infotainment and telematics at the AT&T Drive Studio. Qualcomm Technologies plans to integrate these solutions with AT&T’s Drive portfolio, including AT&T’s global SIM, bifurcated billing, voice recognition, and the nation’s most reliable 4G LTE network.
AT&T has selected Red Bend Software to be a solution provider to remotely manage automotive software in the new AT&T Drive Studio. Hosted in the AT&T cloud, the Red Bend Software Management Center is an OMA-DM standard-based platform designed for car manufacturers to manage in-vehicle software and applications over the air with reliability and efficiency. Red Bend’s comprehensive software management platform significantly reduces the time and cost for automotive OEMs to manage the lifecycle of all in-vehicle software, from head units to map content and ECUs.
AT&T has selected QuickPlay Media to develop an in-vehicle video service. The offering will be powered by QuickPlay’s OpenVideo platform and will deliver Live Linear TV and streaming video on demand services to automotive manufacturers collaborating in the AT&T Drive Studio. QuickPlay’s solution will enable AT&T to provide in-car “infotainment” by delivering secure streaming of hundreds of live linear TV channels and hours of premium VoD content. The solution includes a configurable, customizable client application, support for adaptive streaming, complete content protection with DRM solutions like Microsoft PlayReady, user entitlements, dynamic advertising, banner ad support, multi-language support and featured content.
Opened in January 2014, the AT&T Drive Studio is a dedicated facility for connected car innovation and research. Located in Atlanta, the more than 5,000-square foot AT&T Drive Studio features working garage bays, a speech lab, and a full showroom to exhibit the latest innovations. The AT&T Drive Studio integrates AT&T solutions across multiple companies and serves as a hub where AT&T can respond to needs of automotive manufacturers and the auto ecosystem at large.
From CES to the Detroit Auto Show, it has been a big month for in-car connectivity that enables vehicle diagnostics, streaming entertainment, telematics and navigation. Ford, GM, Google and Audi unveiled new connected vehicle platforms and features, and AT&T stole the carrier limelight with LTE Connected Services.
Plus, two industry giants announced that they are working to enable vehicles to continuously record road position at accuracies of eight inches or less. Shoppers are becoming more open to sharing their personal location with retailers. And the U.S. GAO issued a report on location privacy related to vehicle technology and applications. It has been a busy month.
The first mass-marketed connected vehicle system was Ford Sync, which now boasts one million users and seems poised to grow rapidly with the release of an updated version. The Mustang will be the first of the company’s models with the new Ford Sync, which lets drivers use voice to activate iPhone and Android apps. New voice activated apps include Parkmobile, a parking space finder, and the Domino app, which lets me command my car to order a pizza, just the way I like it. GM announced its first LTE-enabled vehicles for about 10 of its models. Fast connectivity in vehicles will transform in-car experiences and hopefully not kill us.
Carrier Ringmaster. AT&T wrangled itself into the center ring of car connectivity announcements. The carrier has won a multi-year exclusive agreement to enable Telsa with high speed connectivity. Despite Audi’s collaborative relationship with T-Mobile, AT&T was able to steal some work away from T-Mobile by getting a deal to supply connectivity for some Audi models. AT&T has also teamed up with Ericsson, Amdocs, Jasper Wireless and others to create AT&T Drive, a mobile platform for developing LTE connected vehicle services.
Pathway to a Jetson Car. Two industry biggies, Continental and Here, are working together to create an end-to-end connected high-precision mapping and vehicle system offering for OEMs. The system will serve as the basis of highly automated driving functionality with the first objective of continuously determining road position to within three to eight inches. That’s quite a task. The maps will include road information that will feed vehicles with information to allow them to react to changing road conditions or speed limit changes, automatically. Continental was the first automotive supplier to be granted a test license for automated driving on public roads in Nevada.
See Me Now. The percentage of consumers willing to share their current location via GPS with retailers nearly doubled year-over-year to 36 percent, according to a new IBM study of more than 300,000 global consumers. The study distinguished four distinct groups of consumers, differentiated by their interest in and use of social, location and mobile technologies while shopping. The largest group, 40 percent of shoppers, use social, location and mobile technologies, but don’t utilize them for buying products. The second largest group, almost 30 percent of shoppers, will use these technologies for making purchases. The rest of the shoppers sit on either pole of being tech laggards or hyper technology users.
In-Car Privacy under the Microscope. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has looked into privacy issues for in-car location-based services. The GAO examined how 10 companies are using location data and if they share it, and how the policies and practices of these companies align with industry recommended privacy practices. Each of the companies stated that they do not share personally identifiable location data with marketing companies or data brokers. The GAO found that not all of the companies were following industry recommended privacy policies. The report was prepared for the Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law of the Judiciary Committee. The companies that the GAO chose to examine included TeleNav (ScoutGPS Navigation), Google Maps (Navigation), TomTom (LIVE Services), Garmin Traffic, Ford Sync, Chrysler UConnect, Honda AcuraLink, GM OnStar, Toyota (Lexus Enform and Toyota Entune), and Nissan Infiniti Connection and CARWINGS.
Retailers are Getting Closer. Qualcomm has made its Gimbal proximity beacons commercially available, which are reportedly accurate to one foot and work indoors and outdoors. Gimbal is a proximity platform for brands to engage customers’ mobile devices with contextual communication, using a combination of physical location, activity, time and personal interests. The intent is to increase the relevance of content delivered to end users’ devices to allow retailers, content providers and developers to send personalized high-value content to mobile devices.
Qualcomm Incorporated, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., has announced an Internet of Everything (IoE) development platform based on Qualcomm Technologies’ QSC6270-Turbo chipset that supports Oracle’s Java ME Embedded 3.2. The IoE development platform features support for standalone GPS.
The platform, which uses Qualcomm Technologies’ Gobi modem solution for 3G, enables developers to accelerate development efficiency and decrease time-to-market for a wide range of applications and devices to connect to the AT&T mobile internet. AT&T and Qualcomm Technologies expect this IoE development platform to be available to developers in the second quarter of 2013.
The IoE development platform provides a starting point for creating a range of cellular-connected products and applications for IoE verticals such as tracking, industrial controls and health care. With this platform being capable of supporting Oracle’s Java ME Embedded 3.2 software release, developers with little mobile development experience can quickly go from concept to writing and executing Java applications directly on the QSC6270-Turbo chipset.
In North America, this IoE development platform will be supported by AT&T, allowing developers to test their solutions and demonstrate functionality on a live network in the design and development phases, which can reduce complexity, cost and time for developers as they drive to get their solutions to market. With access to the various hardware interfaces and capabilities of the 3G modem via the application environment hosted on the QSC6270-Turbo chipset, developers can also customize and optimize end-product PCBs without the need for additional discreet processors or micro-controllers, thus cost-effectively integrating cellular capabilities into a wider range of devices and solutions.
The platform includes several onboard sensors and indicators, including an accelerometer, light sensor and temperature sensor. The Java ME 3.2 software release, which can run on this platform, includes several new JSRs for IoE applications, as well as Device Access and AT Command Pass Through APIs that give developers access to a large number of chipset IOs and interfaces, such as GPIO, I2C and SPI. The platform supports cellular coverage for tri-band UMTS/HSDPA – 2100/1900/850 MHz – and quad-band GSM – 850/900/1800/1900 MHz – support, as well as 2.4GHz Wi-Fi a/b/g/n via a Qualcomm Atheros, Inc. AR6103 module.
“This IoE development platform opens a world of opportunity for equipment makers who want to connect their devices to the mobile internet,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, emerging devices, AT&T. “Wireless connectivity makes products better, and this IoE development platform makes it easier for both existing and new AT&T developers to embed wireless into their products.”
“Qualcomm Technologies sees the Internet of Everything as having significant potential. In addition to large IoE verticals like automotive and energy that have established industry players, application developers are key to creating future IoE verticals and applications that haven’t even been thought of yet,” said Kanwalinder Singh, senior vice president of business development, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “This IoE development platform with Java support is a tool to extend the power of our integrated chipsets to application developers. We are excited that AT&T shares our vision of a cellular-connected IoE, and by the opportunities that will be created by the AT&T developer community.”
Now that CTIA is over, and without a lot of location-based services news at the Orlando show, the time is ripe to examine the potential blockbuster AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile and how it affects the location industry. In the meantime, is Apple trying to get its mapping initiatives stronger to compete with other heavyweights? Does this include trying to be its own map database provider?
The potential blockbuster acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T raises some eyebrows in the location industry, not because of the consolidation of two major wireless carriers with navigation programs, but for spectrum availability issues. At least one analyst believes so.
“I think AT&T has been very open in indicating that one of the major reasons for the acquisition of T-Mobile was a response to the spectrum crunch,” said Michael Dobson, TeleMapics president. “According to Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, their customers’ data usage has grown 8,000 percent over the last four years and is predicted to grow 8 to 10 times larger over the next five years. During the CEO Roundtable at CTIA, de la Vega indicated that the proposed deal will help to alleviate the spectrum crunch that both AT&T and T-Mobile are experiencing in key markets by allowing them to more efficiently use the allocated spectrum. I should note that details on how the spectrum would be used more efficiently as a result of the potential acquisition were not addressed at CTIA.”
Dobson said Robert Roche of CTIA’s comment were illuminating. Roche indicated that data usage in 2010 grew by 110 percent compared to 2009 and totaled 388 billion megabytes of data. Note that this “data” total does not include the more than two trillion minutes of air-time generated by wireless users or the 2 trillion text messages sent by them during the same period, Dobson said.
“In 2010 data accounted for approximately $50 billion of the total $160 billion, or services revenues realized by the wireless carriers. In 2000, data revenues for carriers were $211 million out of $55 billion in wireless service revenues,” he said. “In essence, data revenues have increased from less than one-percent of the revenue pie to almost one-third of present revenues over the last 10 years.”
While it is impossible to ferret out the size of the data usage total that could be attributed to location services, Dobson says there is little reason to assume that it does not mirror the trend in data growth in general. “If AT&T can advantage itself by easing its spectrum crunch through the acquisition of T-Mobile, it could result in the company being more interested in navigation and LBS than in the past, especially if the action takes the heat off of them in the cellular call performance horse race with Verizon — for instance, fewer dropped calls,” he said.
As an interesting side note, CTIA’s Roche indicated that texting has grown from an average of 14 million messages a month in 2000 to 187.7 billion messages during the 31 days of December 2010, Dobson said. “How many of these were related, in some manner, to location services or casual navigation — not a formal navigation service — remains unclear, but it is likely that many of these messages are about the user, where the user is, and where you can meet them,” he said. “Location and navigation are at the core of many social interactions, but finding the business strategy to unearth the value remains the problem for both the industry and the carriers.”
Is Apple Trying to Improve Mapping?
According to a number of recently published reports, Apple is starting to recognize that Google may have its stuff together on mapping technology and use. Recently, Apple had a job opening for an iOS Maps application developer — with rumors that it plans to redesign the iOS application — and even create its own maps database.
“It is always difficult to know what Apple’s corporate strategy is in any area, much less one, like mapping, that is not in the limelight. While it is quite apparent that Apple will make some strategic move in mapping/location services, the nature of the strategy will likely be determined by Apple’s goals for its nascent advertising business aimed at mobile handsets,” Dobson said. “Those who use an iPhone have probably used the resident map app that is linked with a contact list. While the map data is provided by Google, the rest of the application was designed and developed by Apple. Clearly, they have experience in working with location data, as well as having augmented these skills through two modest acquisitions of companies who knew how to ‘munge’ data.”
Dobson suspects that Apple will come out with some enhanced location software, featuring its usual slick interface and well-thought-out application. “However, the interesting question for the industry is whether or not Apple needs to be a map database provider in order to differentiate itself and its phones from the competition,” he said. “Android (Google) phones are powered by Google Maps, Nokia phones by Ovi Maps, and Windows phones by Bing Maps and soon by OVI Maps (Nokia) — although each of these is merely an instance of Navteq, which is, of course, owned by Nokia.”
Dobson isn’t sure whether Apple needs to be a map supplier to be successful in the mobile advertising business. He said that the question, however, is whether or not Apple would be comfortable having a potentially substantial revenue streams dependent on the good will of a “foreign,” and possibly antagonistic, map supplier who is also a mobile competitor, or owned by one.
“On the other hand, Apple is always upsetting the applecart. For example, I understand that one of the major traffic providers in the U.S. is developing a street-level database for the country’s top 20 urban areas,” he said. “When I first heard about this, it did not make much sense to me, since it is difficult to get into the navigation business with a piece of data here and a piece of data there. However, when I thought of this development as a strategy supporting an advertising play, it became a little more sensible. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing what Apple intends until someone spills the beans, but it sure is fun speculating.”
Is CTIA Becoming a Throw-away Show?
Some industry observers have noticed the lack of real news at the CTIA conferences…and Dobson is one of those folks. “I have become disenchanted with CTIA and consider the show a throw-away. Anything interesting at CTIA must occur behind closed doors, because it certainly does not appear on the stage or on the exhibit floor,” he said. “On the other hand, perhaps I am too harsh; after all, these folks want to sell services and hardware and are not particularly interested in the details, as long as whatever it is, is hot,” he said. “My disdain for the lack of inquisitiveness at CTIA was sparked by a former Verizon President Denny Strigl, who has written a book about how to be a good manager.”
At the conference Strigl said a manager needs to focus on four things — and only four things — to be successful as a manager. His recommendations: 1) grow your revenues, 2) add new customers, 3) retain old customers, and 4) cut costs. I realize that Mr. Strigl was generalizing, but it often seems that the CTIA audience sees data as a product to sell, but does not have a clear idea about the companies that provide quality data and the markets they serve, especially the location and navigation markets.
“Please note that this is not sour grapes. Apparently unlike Mr. Strigl, I think that innovation in product development needs to be near the top of a manager’s to-do list. However,
the innovation at CTIA seems to have come from Apple, Google, and others who decided how to take advantage of this weakness in the carriers’ philosophy,” Dobson said.
In other LBS news:
I will be reporting at the O’Reilly Where 2.0 conference in Santa Clara, California, this month. If there are location topics you think I should know about and cover, please send me an e-mail.
