GPS World

Tag: Wireless LBS Insider

  • Does Automobile as Ultimate Mobile Device Include LBS?

    As touchscreens get larger in vehicles, so does the thought that location-based services should be included. At the Telematics Detroit 2011 conference, while most industry observers say that some sort of advertising will soon be in every vehicle, not everyone is sold on having advertising flashed to drivers as they go by a business.

     

    NOVI, Mich. — While the automobile may become the ultimate mobile communication device, it remains to be seen how big a role location-based services will play in this new development, said an analyst here at the Telematics Detroit 2011 conference.

    “We have been looking into LBS for 10 years. The idea of driving by a store and getting a coupon is one that [consumers are] cool to. There is a big privacy issue that may backfire on companies,” said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner vice president. “In our studies, social networking still scores low for the average car consumer. The people who are buying cars are not thinking about Twitter while driving their cars — though the numbers are higher among younger drivers. Navigation is still the top feature that consumers want.”

    Because of larger screens going into many vehicles, LBS seems like a natural advertising fit, but Koslowski says it will be more 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.”

    The risk for auto manufacturers is getting too many gadgets and applications into a car. “There is a lot of risk, and hype, when manufacturers try to get too much into a vehicle. Consumers will expect certain connectivity features in the future,” Koslowski said. “Many of these innovations will occur, for the premium brands, in 2013 — that’s just around the corner in automotive years.”

    Overall, Koslowski says telematics vendors and automakers should balance their priorities and opportunities. “They should seek new partnership models and strive for controlled openness [of systems], which means not complete control. The automobile will emerge as the ultimate mobile device,” he said. “There are several challenges about the connected vehicle. It is too expensive — not a must-have for consumers. Manufacturers have an unrealistic expectation.”

    One of the companies wanting to get its services into a vehicle, Verizon Wireless, showcased its “Rule the Road” initiative at the conference. Rule the Road, which leverages the 4G and LTE networks, features a suite of services such as Wi-Fi hotspots, vehicle diagnostics, navigation, and traffic and safety/security.

    “What you can and can’t do [in a vehicle] are important. Most navigation systems have long wait times to reroute; in the LTE world, traffic date and rerouting are immediate,” said Janet Schijns, Verizon Wireless vice president, business solutions group, who previously worked at Intel and Motorola’s enterprise group. “The car is the most powerful mobile device.”

    Schijns says the car will be a great mobile communications device because owners are more loyal to it than another consumer product. “The average person used to own a computer for five years — that time continues to be reduced. They are less loyal to their mobile devices,” she said. “But people are loyal to their cars. They are the longest-life mobile device.”

    Manufacturers continue to innovate and roll out products tailored to the automotive telematics market. CSR made several announcements, and exhibited, at Telematics Detroit.

    One of its products, the SiRFstarIV GPS engine (GSD4e 9500), features active jammer removal technology that precludes in-band interference in cars.

    “It’s the same receiver adopted by Samsung on their Galaxy mobile phones,” said Lars Boeryd, CSR director of automotive marketing.

    CSR also said that Renesas Electronics Corp. adopted its location and connectivity hardware for its automotive infotainment platform. The company also is tailoring its CSR6000 Wi-Linx to automotive manufacturers to turn cars into rolling Wi-Fi hotspots, which seemed to be a big deal during sessions here.

    M2M Constitutes Large Location Market

    One bright spot in the whole location market is the burgeoning machine-to-machine segment. Some of the numbers are big: 4.4 million MRM units deployed by 250,000 companies, said Clem Driscoll, CJ Driscoll & Associates founder, in his annual presentation at Telematics Detroit.

    Driscoll still believes that the Contran 245 Brazil law that requires every new vehicle in that country to have a GPS-enabled system will be huge for the industry. However, he concedes that the South American country has been slow to implement this law.

    Trucking fleet markets, which have been in the doldrums since a 2008-2009 slump, may be heading back toward profitability because of new government regulations that require electronic onboard monitoring recorders, or EOBRs, Driscoll said. “These simple EOBRs will be in the $300-$500 range,” he said.

    Kore Wireless Group, which exhibited at Telematics Detroit, said they bought Melbourne-based Mach Communications Pty Ltd., a wireless M2M network provider. “The growth in the Asia-Pacific market is going to triple. We wanted to have a solid presence in that area,” said Pete West, Kore Telematics business development manager.

    Kore, which partners with Vodaphone and Iridium, is looking at such future M2M markets as insurance and health-care diagnostic monitoring, West said.

    Another M2M company, Telenor Connexion, announced that it had partnered with Italy-based Octo Telematics, which specializes in telematics services and systems for the insurance and automotive market. “The company has seen aggressive growth, particularly in emerging countries in Eastern Europe. In Europe, the market is pay-as-you-drive. It’s a progressive way for building new customer segments that did not want restrictions in Europe,” said Per Lindberg, Telenor Connexion global business development executive.

    Telenor Connexion, which has a long-established relationship with Volvo Trucks and many other companies, now builds its own M2M platforms.

    In other conference news:

    • Overused conference word alert! The word “experience,” as in “driving experience,” or “consumer experience,” is way overused. Just like the 1990s’ “value-added” and ”best-of-breed” or “solution” (instead of product). A prominent wireless exec used the word “experience” more than a dozen times in her 40-minute presentation.
    • Telematics Detroit 2011 had a big crowd, which was not bad in a so-so economy in a remote location.

  • Location Industry Hits Speed Bump

    Location privacy issues have the power to put the skids on our industry. When I stepped into the Where 2.0 show, little did I know I was about to see Apple publicly open its kimono, reveal its location collection practices, and further fuel public and government outrage on location privacy.  Apple doesn’t stand alone as Google also stores similar data on Android devices. And in a smaller breach, TomTom’s user location data was sold to the Netherland’s government, helping  to optimize the placement of speed traps. Congress responded by hauling Apple and Google into a Congressional subcommittee meeting. Senator Patrick Leahy captured the hearing’s mood when he said, “American consumers and businesses face threats to privacy like no time before.” He went on to say that he was “deeply concerned” about the reports that iPhones and Android devices were “collecting, storing, and tracking user location data without the user’s consent.”

    Apple’s recent revelation was that its iOS operating system stores user location data in a hidden file. The location was being provided to iTunes during back-ups, giving Apple a log of a user’s movements and activities, for up to a year. A new iOS version reduces the log to a week of data and ends the back up to iTunes. The cache can be eliminated by disabling the device’s location feature.

    Leak from Google Skyhook skirmish. Larry Page, now-CEO of Google, sent an e-mail last year to top executives with the news that Motorola had chosen to use Skyhook, and not Google, location services. According to e-mails leaked to the San Jose Mercury News, Google executives responded by emphasizing the importance of collecting location data from smartphones, and the value of the data.

    “I cannot stress enough how important Google’s Wi-Fi location database is to our Android and mobile product strategy,” Google location service product manager Steve Lee wrote. “We absolutely do care about this (decision by Motorola) because we need Wi-Fi data collection in order to maintain and improve our Wi-Fi location service.”

    At the beginning of 2010, because of public concerns, Google had stopped collecting Wi-Fi data from vehicles used to capture street images for Google Maps’ Street View feature. When the vehicles also scanned an area for Google’s location database, Google admitted that in doing so, it inadvertently collected personal data from unsecured wireless networks. Google had turned to collecting location data via Android phones and the Skyhook move was seen as a major threat.  Motorola later decided to resume using Google’s location services, and Skyhook Wireless sued Google for patent infringement and interfering in its business relationship with Motorola.

    Who’s there? Location veteran Duncan McCall unveiled PlaceIQ at Where 2.0. The company provides meaning to hyper locations, categorizing the types of people, places, social, and digital activity that occurs within a city block or 100 square meters. PlaceIQ doesn’t use personal information but tries to infer information about people situated at a location. For instance, a location might be a trail head at a popular hiking destination or a tourist spot like Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Place IQ can identify locations in which an advertiser’s target audience has a likelihood to be present.

    Let’s make a deal. Groupon purchased location-enabled social networking company Pelago (Whrrl).  Look for Groupon to take on foursquare, which has led in social networks and local check-in market.  Groupon will move beyond being a new customer acquisition tool to adding a social platform on which a location-enhanced social community will exchange recommendations and insights on deals. A loyalty program will be added to reward check-ins and usage.  Groupon will expand beyond its current local small businesses focus to include national brands and large retailers.

    Keep your hand on your pocket. eBay wants to be your mobile wallet. The company just purchased location-based services provider Where.  Previously called uLocate, Boston-based Where develops mobile advertising, search, recommendation and daily deals services. Where will be housed in eBay’s PayPal division and used to strengthen the company’s position in mobile and hyper local shopping and deals. This fits with eBay’s earlier acquisitions of local shopping start-up Milo, barcode scanning developer RedLaser, and online retailer GSI Commerce.

    Got mail. Last month’s column highlighted indoor location and generated unprecedented mail to my inbox. I mentioned a few companies providing apps that involve indoor mapping or locations, but as many pointed out, there are more. Others include Eakahau, Ehud, Fast Mall, Geodelic, Les Quatre Temps, Point Inside, and Spotlight Mobile. I’d like to clarify that Aisle411 maps offer routing and some interactive capabilities. Choices for indoor positioning include both handset and network solutions like Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, U-TDOA, Wi-Fi,  radio frequency pattern-matching, and geo-location sensors.

    Mapping for good. Ushahidi, a non-profit organization, developed open software and interactive mapping for “crowd voicing” to increase transparency and allow people to document their condition. After the Kenyan disputed election, 45,000 users contributed information about violence and peace activities throughout the country. The platform was also used after the Haiti earthquake. Ushahidi utilizes an elite team of volunteers for coding and other important jobs. Get involved.

  • Location Privacy: Will It Derail Mass Market LBS?

    This column rarely covers privacy as a critical issue to build location-based services markets. Why? It was our contention that most LBS are opt-in — or opt out — at the discretion of the consumer, making privacy an important issue, but not a market stopper. Frankly, many privacy panels at location conferences either bordered on hysteria, or were not relevant to market growth. However, since the recent Where 2.0 conference, which revealed that some entities were storing location information without users’ permission, the privacy issue has the potential of suppressing products and markets before they even start. Some are dubbing this new privacy concern Locationgate.

     

    SATNA CLARA, CALIFORNIA — In a potential breach of public trust — and perhaps thwarting LBS market growth — it was revealed at the Where 2.0 conference here (April 19-21) that location data was secretly stored in all iOS 4 devices. Since the conference, where attendees learned that Apple was storing a file with location data in every iPhone or iPad with iOS 4, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Apple CEO Steve Jobs to address privacy concerns about the operating system, particularly for children, who make up 15 percent of users.

    In a letter to Jobs, Franken 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 contends 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.

    At our deadline, Franken, chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, will this week be heading the subcommittee’s first hearing, titled “Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones, and Your Privacy.”

    According to published reports, scheduled to testify at Franken’s hearing are Alan Davidson, Google’s U.S. director of public policy, and Bud Tribble, Apple’s vice president for software technology. Other hearing attendees include privacy experts and representatives from the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.

    Privacy is becoming an issue for consumers who are using Facebook Places, Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter, and other social media more frequently. In fact, one company, Neer, which is a subsidiary of Qualcomm Services Labs, has an entire business plan based on privacy. Neer’s social media system allows users to determine where, when, and to whom their location information is sent.

    Location privacy is starting to be a big issue overseas. According to published reports, South Korea sent police into Google’s Seoul office this month to examine how the company’s AdMob platform and Android devices can collect private data about user’s location. Google purchased AdMob last year for $700 million.

    In France, companies with with GPS-enabled devices are required to turn the systems off during an employee’s personal break, said lawyer Francoise Gilbert, in a privacy session at Where 2.0. “There is a significant difference in laws [overseas]. One size doesn’t fit all,” she said. “It is a bad idea to talk to your lawyer the day before you plan a product or website launch.”

    In addition, at Where 2.0, the American Civil Liberties Union had a speaker and booth on site to educate developers on privacy issues. The ACLU was promoting its 2011 Privacy Challenge for developers of smartphones and other applications.

    Where 2.0 LBS Developer’s Dream?

    This year’s Where 2.0 was the largest ever. The crowd was overflowing with developers — and the companies that were happy to license products to them. Where 2.0 started out as an offshoot of the geographic information systems industry — and still has that GIS feel.

    Navteq, which said it now has 50,000 developers in its network, showed off its Destination Maps product which features pedestrian-friendly guidance, including showing how they “cut across” open areas. The company rolled out advanced mapping collection technology, including rotating LIDAR, that captures 3D data points.

    A number of significant announcements came during Where 2.0, but were not made at the conference. Boston-based Where was purchased by eBay for $135 million in as big a deal as any this year in the LBS industry. According to published reports, Where was considering an acquisition bid from Research in Motion.

    Where, formerly called uLocate, was founded in 2003 to provide location tracking for GPS-based cell phones. The company changed its name and refocused on LBS markets to include a location-based advertising network, location search, and recommendation applications. The company rapidly grew — from 30 employees to more than 120.

    In another deal made within a day or so of eBay’s, Groupon bought Seattle-based Pelago for an undisclosed amount. Pegalo CEO Jeff Holden, a former Amazon executive, will head Groupon’s product development. Pelago operated a check-in service called Whrrl.

    In other industry news:

    • ALK Technologies recently announced that industry veteran Barry Glick is joining the company as chief executive officer. Glick, who led GeoSystems and launched MapQuest, has been involved in high-profile company sales. GeoSystems, and MapQuest, was acquired by AOL/Time Warner. Glick later was at the helm of France-based Webraska Mobile Technologies, which was sold to Sanef. Glick moved on to Navteq, where he was vice president of mobile and media products. Glick’s hire and track record make those in the industry wonder if he plans to spearhead the future sale of ALK.
    • I have written about location technology markets for nearly 19 years. Call me a grumpy old man, but every time I pull out my reporter’s notebook to write something down that a young Google, eBay, or Facebook executive has to say at a location conference, they say zero about the market, or frankly, anything relevant. Sad thing is that people show up to see these big-name companies — only to be disappointed. Seems as if these younger execs say a lot, but say nothing. One seasoned industry executive in the crowd lamented, “This person runs (insert company)’s location efforts — and said zero about the location market and how they fit into it.”

     

  • Indoor Location on the Move

    It’s coming. Indoor location, which has been stymied by the limitations of GPS and lack of mapping, is finally getting some legs and is heading us towards seamless navigation. A shopper is guided from home to an empty parking space at the mall, and the navigation doesn’t miss a beat as he heads inside and gets directions to a particular store, and perhaps to a given shelf. Today, the location of a wireless device usually cannot be determined more precisely than the building it is within. In tall or sprawling venues like arenas, malls, dormitories, or apartments this is a critical problem for emergency personnel trying to locate a person who has dialed 911. Mobile marketing and social network applications have also been constrained by problems in obtaining indoor location.

    Finding Cherries. Aisle 411 is a shopping app with local search and navigation that helps users find a particular item within a store. The app navigates to the threshold of a store and then provides a diagram of the interior (essentially a paper map) with a drawn path to the desired item, for instance, a jar of maraschino cherries. Apps like this provide a good service, but are held back by the nascent state of indoor navigation. Geo-coded locations of indoor stores often aren’t available. Apps that are more granular and attempt to locate goods within a store face greater challengers. Inventory is moved around and geo-coding is infrequent, hence the diagrams of Aisle 411. Some applications like Aisle 411 utilize crowd-sourced maps, in addition to venue-provided maps.

    Height Counts. Products are being introduced to determine the elusive “z” plane, or in layman’s terms, height. Location systems work well at determining the “x” and “y” axis but can’t distinguish between a location on the first floor and one on the twentieth floor. Polaris is releasing an indoor location offering in the second half of this year. In addition to Polaris’ existing location technology, the solution also uses femtocell and distributed antennas without necessitating a client on the handset. Polaris can distinguish a position within a range of five floors. Infrastructure provider CommScope introduced GeoLENS Indoor, a solution that integrates with wireless indoor coverage systems including distributed antenna systems (DAS), repeaters, and other RF equipment.

    Inside Job. Micello, a small start-up, has been addressing the indoor mapping issue. The free Micello app contains the maps of the insides of large structures including shopping malls, airports, hospitals, and business campuses. So far, Micello has mapped 215,545 structures in 2,200 locations.

    3D Indoors. Navteq showed off Destination Maps’ indoor navigation system at the International CTIA Wireless 2011 show, held in Orlando March 22-24 . The maps are available in 200 U.S. shopping malls and provide detailed 3D guidance and information within indoor structures. The system will use transmitters within buildings that communicate via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

    Monster in the Room. Mobile users aren’t satisfied by industry privacy measures. “About half the people in a study of 1,500 consumers we interviewed are concerned about who knows their location, particularly businesses,” says Kristi Crum of Verizon. Subscribers want to understand how their data is being used, whether is it being aggregated, or if it is being shared personally or kept totally private. It will only take one or two high-profile events involving misuse of data before there is fallout on our industry, warns Crum.

    Monetize, Monetize, Monetize. Mobile payment systems will become ubiquitous. Google is collaborating with MasterCard and Citigroup to embed contactless near-field communication (NFC) payment technologies in Android. Financial service companies are becoming players in mobile advertising and will likely provide advertising networks like Google with consumer data that will enable more targeted advertising. Google is starting a pilot in New York and San Francisco and is paying for thousands of point-of-sales readers for stores in the regions. Google will go head-to-head against ISIS, a nationwide mobile commerce NFC venture that includes Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. ISIS plans to introduce services within the next 18 months.

    GPS Interference Concerns Grow. The Department of Defense and the Department of Transportation have added their voices to concerns over LightSquared’s hybrid satellite-terrestrial LTE network, which they think may interfere with GPS systems. In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the agencies state they were “not sufficiently included” in the development of LightSquared’s initial work plan to address potential GPS interference issues caused by its network. An FCC spokesman tried to ease concerns by indicating that LightSquared will not be permitted to go forward until potential GPS interference issues are addressed.

    At CTIA, LightSquared acted as though there were no hurdles in its way. CEO Sanjiv Ahuja asserted that the company will beat its build-out goals with a commitment to cover 100 million POPs by the end of 2012, 145 million by the end of 2013, and 260 million by the end of 2015. “We are not only committed to meeting these milestones, we are today positioned to exceed them,” Ahuja said.

    DoCoMo. There was a large empty space where Japan’s NTT DoCoMo’s CTIA booth would have stood. DoCoMo issued a statement that it was skipping CTIA to focus fully on delivery of mobile services for relief efforts. In the bare exhibit space, a solitary vase stood filled with cherry blossoms.

  • How Does the Potential AT&T Acquisition of T-Mobile Affect the Location Industry?

    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.

  • Beyond Hyper-Local and Location Enhanced

    Be all you can be. Being location enabled or “hyper local” isn’t enough. Mobile applications are also trying to increase discoverability, push into Group-On couponing territory, and proactively deliver more relevant recommendations to users. Loopt announced limited-time and perishable inventory deals to users within proximity. Google has introduced an “open now” filter to local mobile search to find nearby businesses that are open. Not content to focused on their core check-in business (“I am the proud mayor of Barney’s Beanery”), foursquare is now recommending places near you, based on previous check-in activities, user profiles, and what your friends like. On the foursquare blog, Dennis Crowley suggests “You’ll be surprised by what you get when searching for really specific things, like ‘’80s music,’ ‘fireplaces,’ ‘pancakes,’ ‘bratwurst,’ and ‘romantic’.” Evenings with Crowley must be, well, surprising. Very.

    Mass geo shopping. It is large-scale and geo-specific and, most interestingly, it comes from a carrier. AT&T and Placecast together launched ShopAlerts. AT&T subscribers can opt in and receive offers, rewards, and coupons based on each individual’s geolocation. AT&T will create geofences (virtual geographic perimeters) around retailers, events, or geographic areas to optimize relevancy. This isn’t so different than what some of the location-enabled social network applications (Booyah!, foursquare, Loopt) are doing, but it is significant because of the scale and reach that a carrier brings.

    Making money? Ever since Google offered free mobile navigation and others app providers followed suit, content providers have struggled to find ways to monetize their applications. Many have looked to mobile advertising for revenue. But mobile advertising hasn’t developed quite as fast as many predicted, although it is still a growing and big market. Apple’s iAD mobile advertising efforts have been a disappointment. Industry insiders say iAD fill rates have fallen to less than 10 percent and Apple has halved its minimum advertising purchase to $500,000.

    In-app money tree. Transactions that occur within an application are making big money for application developers. For both free and premium apps, in-app transactions now equal 49 percent of iPhone developer income and 29 percent of iPad revenue, according to analytics firm Disitmo. This is useful for the person who may buy a navigation app and wants to upgrade to real-time traffic. Now users don’t need to be referred outside the application to a website to make the transaction. Apple and Google both recently announced in-app subscription platforms. Apple has created a firestorm by demanding 30 percent of in-app subscription fees. Google takes 10 percent.

    How much for the sword? It is jaw dropping. In-app purchases of virtual goods is overtaking advertising in top categories on the Apple platform. Flurry Analytics reports that in certain Apple app categories, “During 2010 revenue increasingly shifts from advertising to virtual goods sales until reaching a proportion of more than 80 percent from virtual goods.” You may be asking, ‘What is a virtual good?’ A gamer may want a virtual lightsaber, mansion, or respect points to enhance the game experience. My advice is to spend the wad on respect points.

    By a smidge, the winner is… Android took over RIM’s long-time run as king of smartphones. Devices that run Google’s Android operating system have taken the lead in the U.S., according to new data from The Nielsen Company. Now Android is the front runner in the U.S. smartphone market with 29 percent share, with Apple’s iOS and Rim’s BlackBerry both at 27 percent. Windows lags at 10 percent, but watch Android’s lead fatten. The much-anticipated Verizon iPhone hasn’t had the impact on Apple sales once imagined. Nielsen also reports that subscribers between the ages of 25 and 34 account for 27 percent of all U.S. smartphone users across all platforms.

    Threat to GPS. You may be following the very serious interference issue that threatens the GPS signal. LightSquared is developing high wireless bandwidth capabilities (4G-LTE) for wireless operators. LightSquared received an unnervingly fast-tracked FCC conditional waiver that permits it to broadcast a new terrestrial broadband service from 1,500-watt terrestrial transmitters. This will be in the portion of the L Band that is immediately adjacent to the band used by GPS. The FCC waiver was required as LightSquared’s FCC license only extended to dual-mode phones, but LightSquared wants to offer the option of terrestrial-only, hence the waiver. According to industry experts, the LightSquared terrestrial broadband signal is about 1 billion times the received power of the GPS signal on Earth. This may result in wide-scale GPS interference and jamming worldwide. As a result of ensuing uproar, a working group conducted by LightSquared and the U.S GPS Industry Council was formed to study the issue.

    Upward bound. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has had his hands full in the fight of network neutrality and the creation of a national broadband plan. Now there are rumors, not quiet ones either, that he may be nominated by President Obama to be the next Secretary of Commerce.

    Next stop, Orlando for CTIA.

  • With Record Crowd, Mobile World Congress Market Emphasis Shifts

    The recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona had a record 60,000 attendees. Many industry companies were either exhibiting or attending to kick tires to see how the international location-based services market is faring. Industry observers are saying the focus of the trade show has gone from European-centric markets to a broader view, particularly as new technology and standards evolve and mature.

     

    The recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona proved that the market for location-based services is on a worldwide stage — and not sequestered to certain regions. Clay Babcock, Rand McNally director of advanced navigation technology, says the Mountain World Congress traditionally focused on European markets.

    “The MWC, and the 3GSM show that preceded it, were primarily European affairs that highlighted the latest hardware in the GSM world. While the shining stars came from places like Espoo, Finland, and Stockholm Sweden, even the second-tier players were European, with Bosch, Siemens, Alcetel, Sendo, and Phillips all making phones for the growing market,” he said. “For the most part, the North American and Asian players sat on the sidelines. A possible exception was Motorola, who had two brief moments in the sun with their Startac and then Razr phones. Asian companies seemed content to make phones for the proprietary Japanese and Korean markets.”

    Several technology events have changed the market—and the key part of the shift has been the dominant role that software, ecosystems, and the well-used line of ‘user experience’ now plays a major part in the world of mobile telephony, Babcock said.

    “And with it, the center of the mobile world has moved to the west coast of the United States. The rise of the Apple iOS, Google Android–and now a lesser degree Microsoft WM7–has created new opportunities for many, but has also caught some big players off guard,” he said. “Nokia, for all its brilliance in making hardware, has been forced to drop its long-in-the-tooth Symbian OS in favor of WM7. This has angered many in the installed user base, but they miss the point. Nokia had to make a move, and a move to Android would have been a fatal step.”

    Babcock contends that with Microsoft, Nokia at least gets an OS partner that they can look upon as equals. “That was never going to happen with Google. The state of affairs is so dire at Nokia that for the second year in a row, they failed to display at the show,” he said.

    Missing at MWC is Apple, which Babcock says never comes anyway–and says that absence opened the door wide for Android. “The Android booth was a buzz of activity and excitement. Following a theme with other large booths at the show, a large section of the floor space was dedicated to partners’ applications and solutions,” he said. “The show is really all about software.”

    As GPS World reported, the Nielsen Company said that Android appears to be pulling ahead of RIM Blackberry and Apple iOS in the market share battle for smartphone operating systems. But an analysis by manufacturer shows Research in Motion and Apple to be the winners compared to other device makers since they are the only ones creating and selling smartphones with their respective operating systems.

    Location Just a Feature?

    As for location-based services, they are maturing, becoming ubiquitous in the hardware, Babcock said. “Companies are starting to understand that location is a feature, not a business. This will affect business models that were once designed as end-user plays,” he said. “Everybody still can get paid, but maybe not by entities you first thought would pay.”

    Babcock said that while the focus was on software at MWC, there was brilliant hardware on display. “The new Samsung Galaxy S II features a dual core 1-GigHz CPU and 4.3 inch super AMOLED display. Motorola, who like Sony-Ericsson is thriving after switching to Android, announced a new phone with an array of amazing accessories, one that turns the phone into a mini-laptop,” he said.

    Babcock said that, even on his cab ride to the airport to return home, there was a poster for a mobile taxi application that would locate customers and dispatch a car to their location — and let them know the estimated time of arrival. “Neat, maybe not earth-shattering, but the platforms it supported were Android, iOS and Research in Motion. The new world of phone operating systems, were found in the back of a Barcelona taxi,” he said.

    A number of such LBS industry companies as Navteq, ALK Technologies, deCarta and other entities had large presences or meeting rooms at MWC. Show organizers say the crowd topped out at 60,000, which was significantly higher than in 2010 or 2009. Like the Consumer Electronics Show in January, it appears that trade show attendance is up for the first time since 2008. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues for this month’s CTIA in Orlando.

    Foursquare Expands Language Capability

    In other MWC news, Dennis Crowley, CEO and co-founder of Foursquare, delivered a mini-keynote at the trade show about “Making Apps Smarter Through Location/Localization.” The company has made rapid expansion throughout the past year—and now has check-ins from nearly 200 countries.

    Foursquare recently announced that its service is available in French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese. Users can update Foursquare on their Blackberry, iPhone, or Android, to switch to the default language of the device.

    In other LBS news:

    • TCS said that U.S. Cellular has extended its agreement to offer the company’s Your Navigator service on BREW phones. Your Navigator is an LBS application for GPS-enabled mobile phone, offering personal navigation and real-time, turn-by-turn visual and audio directions. TCS, which has worked with U.S. Cellular since 2007, signed a two-year software licensing agreement extension.

  • Smartphones Take on PCs: Significant Historical Moment

    It is a significant first, an iconic moment, a big deal. You will want to remember where you were when you heard that smartphones started to outsell personal computers. According to a report by market research company IDC, consumer electronics makers shipped 100.9 million smartphones worldwide in the last three months of 2010, an 87 percent jump from a year earlier. PC shipments didn’t do as well, edging up just three percent to 92.1 million. The falling prices of smartphones have contributed to this trend. The numbers are skewed by the longer life of a computer compared to a smartphone, which frequently is replaced within two years. For many of us, one doesn’t supplant the need for the other.

    Are car companies and content providers allowed to wed? At the Navigation Strategies, USA, conference, it was a striking new world with the automotive industry anxious to engage with application providers. Some of the interesting tweetable snippets from leading automotive and content providers:

    • “There is a three year development cycle with automotive. But now you can integrate an app into a vehicle in four weeks.”
    • “Maps used to an end onto itself, but now it is a way to organize information.”
    • “People will pay for connectivity in the vehicle, but may only be willing to pay during the time when it is needed.”
    • “People will pay for traffic, but you need to educate them on what it has done for them. This month you saved x money in gas, this amount of time navigating around traffic.”
    • “No one needs a map for their commute. They need their alarm clock to wake them early when their commute route is congested.”
    • “Content providers can only avoid the ‘free monster’ with value added services.”
    • “Navigation is now about smartphones and how to integrate with the car.”

    Augment my reality. I’m not the only one charmed by Wikitude (no, not WikiLeaks) from Austrian-based Mobilizy. I took a walk around a hotel parking lot with Wikitude’s Philipp Breuss-Schneeweis imagining the possibilities of Wikitude Drive, augmented-reality navigation for vehicles or pedestrians. Intended as a heads-up display, it is currently shown as a smartphone mounted on a dashboard that displays the scene ahead of you, exactly as you see it with your eyes. However, the navigation route is drawn on top of the real scene. There is an option, particularly important at night, to switch out of augmented reality to see the route as a street map. Wikitude Drive was the grand prize winner of the 2010 NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge. World Browser, another product by Wikitude, identifies objects around you. Point your phone and it will (try to) identify your surroundings, such as landmarks, mountains, or buildings.

    Location-based social networks. I recently hosted a webinar on location-based social networks (LBSN). It is a hot topic: I had registrants from 42 countries. LBSNs are mobile apps based on developing a social community that broadcasts a user’s location and other content. LBSNs have an element of gaming that fuels and rewards usage, helps people find their friends or make new friends that share the same interest and proximity, and often provide offers and coupons from brands. A hallmark of many of these applications are check-ins, which is a manual or automated process of letting one’s community know one’s location: “I’m at Frankie’s Pizza.” There are too many LBSNs to list, but they include Booyah!, Whrrl, foursquare, Gowalla, SCVNGR. If you are interested, the webinar is available for download.

    My webinar guests were Brian Cho of Booyah!, maker of MyTown, and Chad Reed of Pelago, maker of Whrrl. MyTown is an LBSN game that proves the concept with 3.7 million users. Sessions average 55 minutes a day and at its peak had 1.1 million daily sessions. Advertisers drop items into the game that may depend on the player’s location and sometimes a clue cannot be unlocked without a visit to a retail location. MyTown drove more than 800,000 visits to H&M, a clothing retailer.

    Wirrl focuses on building affinity societies, and currently has 5,000 special interest societies, such as mountain biking, the Red Bull Society, and Mexican food lovers. Society members make recommendations to other members of their affinity group and a sophisticated algorithm builds up individual preferences. Whrrl’s revenue comes from brands that offer contests and prizes that match society members’ interests and locations. Reed says they use contests, instead of coupons or offers, to allow brands to control costs and add excitement.

    Making money. I’m often asked for advice from content providers on making money when consumers are increasingly expecting applications to be free, and some applications, such as navigation or mapping, are getting dangerously close to becoming a utility. One strategy is to add value in a way that is challenging for other companies to cookie cut. An example is Navx, a company based in Paris that provides fuel prices for up to 100,000 gas stations with hourly updates. Consolidating the data isn’t a fully automated process so it is unlikely that companies like Google, or the like, will want to get their hands dirty. Navx also identifies parking spaces, speed traps, and charging stations for electric vehicles.

    Probe sharing. Adding live connectivity to enable traffic and other services is critical for personal navigation device (PND) providers that are competing for market with smartphones. The recently announced TomTom GO 2505 is stepping up with improved traffic (updated every two minutes) from probe and traditional sources, as well as local search, fuel prices, and weather. TomTom is anxious to get its users hooked and is providing a 12-month trial subscription out of the box. Part of the traffic data set is provided by its own users, and Tom Murray of TomTom reports that more than 90 percent of its customers opt-in to contribute the data.

    The World Mobile Conference is under way. It’s looking like it is all about smartphones and tablets. More later.

  • Companies Finding TRB Enterprise and Government Market Haven

    Sometimes a market niche appears to be heading toward better things — even if the economy is not. This year’s Transportation Research Board’s Annual Meeting had its highest attendance ever. While intelligent transportation systems meetings have been shunned in the last few years as being too government-focused, some forward-thinking companies are using the Washington, D.C.-based meeting as a springboard for their enterprise location-based services offerings.

     

    WASHINGTON — While enterprise and government markets are not as sexy as traditional friend-finding location-based services, a lot can be said about companies trying to make inroads in this developing marketplace. At the recent Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting here, such companies as TomTom are leveraging its community input options from its consumer navigation devices and map-building to government and enterprise markets.

    While saying the portable navigation device will endure for a long time — and will never disappear — Maarten van Gool, TomTom’s Licensing Business Unit managing director, said that the company is looking at providing navigation and location products on multiple platforms. “For decades, we have delivered location and map content to the government and enterprise markets and we work with such companies as ESRI and Pitney Bowes Business Insight and federal, state, and local government agencies,” he said.

    Van Gool said that government experts and policy-makers need detailed and reliable decision-making support tools to make timely and cost-effective decisions on changes to their local traffic management programs. “The intelligent transportation systems market can benefit from accurate and comprehensive information about travel times, traffic speeds, local accessibility, and travel patterns, which are the basic building blocks for forming cohesive traffic management plans,” he said.

    Also at TRB last month, TomTom announced a partnership with PTV where PTV will be able to deliver TomTom traffic content, via TomTom Traffic Stats, to its customers in the transportation sector. “We are really only at the beginning of what we can offer and we look forward to delivering additional products for the government and enterprise markets based upon our vast historical traffic database and real-time traffic capabilities; these will become available over the course of 2011,” van Gool said. “The total [government] market size is yet to be quantified, and as the technology innovation in this space expands, we are on track to support it. We believe we can revolutionize traffic information by utilizing our assets and capabilities and we are working to educate the market before its full potential is reached.”

    In other TomTom news, if you haven’t seen it already, it looks as if the company is phasing out the Tele Atlas name at trade shows. Most company personnel are now wearing TomTom badges during this transition.

    In one of the big TRB announcements, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration announced the Connected Vehicle Technology Challenge. The new competition seeks industry ideas for using wireless connectivity between vehicles.

    RITA, through the competition, is soliciting ideas for products or applications that use dedicated short-range communications, which will be the basis for a future system of connected vehicles that will communicate with each other as well as the surrounding infrastructure, such as traffic signals, work zones and toll booths.

    According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, wireless vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications can potentially address 81 percent of all unimpaired vehicle crashes. Selected prize recipients will be fully funded to present their ideas for connected vehicle technology.

    The competition, which runs through May 1, is open to all companies, not just those involved in transportation. More information can be found at www.challenge.gov.

    
Qualcomm Makes LBS News with Neer

    Concentrating on privacy as a market driver, Neer, which is a subsidiary of Qualcomm Services Labs, allows a users to determine where, when, and who their location information is sent to. The company says applications include not only allowing family members to know where a loved one is, but business users to schedule information to co-workers.

    Privacy is what Neer, which had a strong presence in the Qualcomm booth at last month’s Consumer Electronics Show, hopes separates it from the Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter, and Facebook Places of the world.

    “First and foremost, Neer was not designed to broadcast your location to vast numbers of people. Instead, Neer allows you to selectively choose the people, places, and times you are comfortable sharing your location,” said Ian Heidt, Neer director of services strategy. “And because we enable private sharing only with those you are most close to, we have seen growing acceptance of sharing places such as one’s home or work, places that have typically been taboo in other apps. We also wanted Neer to fit in more naturally with how people behave, so Neer works simply, securely, and automatically — there is no need to ‘check in’ like other apps. And because we believe that people want to keep this information securely within their control, there are no means to share location outside Neer.”

    Right now, Heidt said that Neer is free, with no charges or advertising. “In the future, we may explore ways of including relevant ads, but for now, it is totally free on both Android and iPhone,” he said. “We are looking into numerous ways that we can monetize Neer by connecting people to the places they go. But in all cases, our primary goal is to preserve the trust that Neer is both helpful to your day and under your control.”

  • January Is Off to a Mad Start

    Join me on January 29 at 1:00 ET for a free webinar on location-enabled networking applications. I will talk with my guests from Pelago’s Whrrl and Booyah!’s MyTown about the state of the market, monetization, and the future.

    January is off to a mad start. iPhones users are no longer hostage to AT&T. CES was cooking with navigation announcements from car makers and more connected personal navigation devices. Garmin took a radical step. Location-based social networks applications are getting hotter with a new entry from Qualcomm. AT&T has a new location service for enterprises. And Groupon is sitting on a mattress stuffed with money.

    Qualcomm is now in the location-based social network business with its introduction of Neer, an application for Android and iPhones. Neer is privacy sensitive and designed to keep information within personal groups. Unlike foursquare, it is not searchable. Locations are also given names that don’t disclose specifics. For instance, it may be “meet at school,” “arrived at work,” or “meet at game.” According to Qualcomm, Neer is accurate within a few blocks.

    The market. Melissa Parrish of Forrester Research wrote a report on location-based social networks (LBSN) in July that started a heated industry discussion. Parrish estimated the market to be 4% of U.S. online adults, but many argued (some loudly) it was much larger. I asked Parrish for her current thoughts: “The LBSN market is steadily growing,” says Parrish. “Facebook Places hasn’t overpowered the market as many supposed.” This is in part because no one location-based social network app has delivered a clear and overpowering utility, allowing niche players a place at the table. Facebook also hasn’t dominated because it has been collaborative and opened up its social graph to partners like Loopt, Gowalla, and Yelp.

    Privacy continues to be a big discussion around these applications. Users are concerned both about sharing their location and having data collected about their activities. As location becomes more accurate and applications become more personalized, the creepiness factor can take hold. Parrish says the question is, “What can be done; what should be done; and what will be legislated?

    AT&T enterprise customers in for location. Last week AT&T announced Location Information Services, a cloud-based offering to provide enterprises with network-based location information for corporate assets, employee devices, and consumer handsets. “We’re seeing an increased demand from our business customers to utilize the AT&T global network to be more location aware of their assets,” said Chris Hill, AT&T. The service is being developed with LOC-AID and TechnoCom. The service is scheduled to launch later this year.

    Money is flowing. Groupon and SCVNGR are in the money. Groupon is getting a windfall. According to the New York Times, Groupon’s $950 million financing round is the largest venture financing for a start up. Groupon sells bargains in 500 international markets. Users pay up front for discounts such as 50% off shi shi cupcakes in Santa Monica or cellulite reduction treatments in Queens. Last year Groupon partnered with JiWire to enable hyper-local offerings based on a person’s real-time location, allowing contextual ads.

    SCVNGR, pronounced Scavenger, got a more modest round of $15 million. Players of this social location-based game are given challenges to compete in a particular location. Challenges might direct you to upload a photo of yourself at Sam Adam’s grave or answer a riddle about a piece of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Google Ventures is one of its investors.

    Game that revenue. Advertising spends on mobile gaming apps is predicted by Juniper Research to increase ten-fold over the next five years, from $87 million worldwide in 2010 to $894 million in 2015. The immensely popular Rovio Mobile’s Angry Birds is being offered for free and sustained by ad revenue. Yet Juniper forecasts paid downloads and in-game purchases will be 10 times higher than ad spends in 2015.

    Garmin goes Apple (finally!). Apparently, after waiting to see if iPhones catch on, Garmin announced its first iPhone navigation app. The Garmin StreetPilot is a server-based solution, downloading maps as needed, rather than storing them on the phone. It sells for $39 on iTunes. In another first, Garmin is entering the personal and property tracking market with the GTU 10.

    Transform your smartphone. Pioneer unveiled SmartCradle for iPhones at CES. The cradle is used in a vehicle in conjunction with a smartphone to create a full navigation application. According to Pioneer, it is compatible with all GPS enabled apps, including MotionX-GPS Drive, which incorporates a built-in gyro sensor and accelerometer combined with an external antenna for improved GPS reception and location accuracy. The SmartCradle will also charge the connected iPhone.

    Newbie. Four months ago Geomium launched in the UK and U.S. as a new location-based social network. Michael Ferguson of Geomium says, “We are using real time location and providing our users with a dynamic experience in which they can connect to people, places, deals, and events.” Geomium finds the 20 closest deals within a few miles and provides a stream of “shouts” about what is happening nearby.

  • CES Continues to Highlight Navigation’s Market Supremacy

    It appears that the Consumer Electronics Show is back to its pre-2009 doldrums as hotels, restaurants, cab lines, and registration numbers were up. Despite large wireless carrier presence, CES seemed to continue to be a place where aftermarket navigation providers are hawking their new units. Either way, it still is possible for LBS players, after fighting their way through miles of 3D-capable TV screens, car speakers, and dozens of entities hawking electronic tablets, to find companies still adding location to their consumer electronics offerings.

    LAS VEGAS — The Consumer Electronics Show here has historically been a place where companies rolled out new navigation systems–or enhanced existing ones. Despite wireless carriers touting how their next generation services can benefit consumers, the idea that CES is a location-based services show is misleading.

    Whether folks with a fancy location-finding social network want to believe it or not, navigation still is king when it comes to consumer awareness and sales.  In fact, most of the bigger news came from automobile manufacturers talking about their new electronics and vehicles with navigation as a prominent part of the unit.

    Ford’s honcho, Alan Mulally, said that its Sync unit is now in 3 million vehicles. He touted INRIX’ traffic services for road information.  Ford also rolled out a fully electric Focus that will have Sync and a full complement of regular systems.

    OnStar announced it was offering an aftermarket product for vehicles other than GM products. Best Buy will begin to offer the unit, the company said. However, the price, $299, plus installation, and the $18.95 a month price point, may be steep, said Thilo Koslowski, Gartner vice president. “It is cool [OnStar] is doing this. Something they should have done a while ago,” he said. “However, they are going to have to come down in price.”

    While navigation seems to be a big component in new automobiles, there still is this “oh yeah, we offer Google maps” mantra rather than explain how location-enhancement helps sell the vehicle. Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of Audi AG, mentioned his company offers navigation with Google maps, while rolling out an electric car.

    Brian Inouye, Toyota’s national manager of advanced technologies, said the embedded navigation device did not die, despite the glut of portable navigation and other aftermarket devices. “When we were selling in-dash units for $3,000, and PNDs were coming out at $300 a few years ago, we were concerned,” he said. “However, people are interested in the connectivity [embedded] units have, the few wires going into the unit they have [compared to PNDs] and new personalization.”

    INRIX, fresh off a recent 60 Minutes interview with its company president, had a number of announcements at CES.  Toyota and INRIX announced the automaker will use INRIX’s real-time traffic information for the new Entune multimedia system on select audio headunits.

    INRIX also showed off its XD Traffic in a Volkswagon Passat at CES. The unit was built on Continental’s AutoLinq platform to show routes, recommended departure times and ETAs. “User personalization is one thing we have been working on.  This information includes aggregation of community routes that integrate routes and weather,” said Ken Kranseler, INRIX vice president of product management.

    Navteq, in addition to being listed as partners in a number of CES products, had location-enable device offerings such as map data for geotagging and GPS positioning for cameras and camcorders. “We are integrated into the Panasonic Lumix and Fujifilm cameras,” said Toru Yoshimura, NAVTEQ senior manager, customer marketing

    Navteq is high on its Discover Cities products for mobile device and pedestrian navigation.  “The market is larger in Europe for [pedestrian navigation]. People are walking large distances in urban areas,” said Nicki Harada, Navteq product marketing manager.    

    Aftermarket Navigation Systems Still in Spotlight at CES

    Most of the bigger aftermarket electronics manufacturers still are offering navigation in their in-dash systems. Kenwood is in top three highest selling in-dash navigation systems for 2011, said Keith Lehmann, Kenwood senior vice president. Lehman touted its partnership with Garmin and iBiquity as reasons for the company’s navigation success.

    The systems are still for the high-end buyer, with the Kenwood Excelon DNX9980HD going for $2,000.  The unit features 3D Garmin navigation and Navteq traffic data service.

    Lehmann also said Kenwood is working with Garmin, for the fourth year, to offer a rebate program.

    Pioneer announced that it was rolling out a location-based Smart Cradle that has an external GPS receiver, gyroscope/accelerometer for smartphones. Ted Cardenas, Pioneer Car Electronics Division director of marketing, said that Smart Cradle will make smartphone better at getting quality GPS signals.  Pioneer is big on putting connectivity in vehicles. “There are some limitations of smartphones — they have small screens and require a user’s complete attention,” Cardenas said, driving home the notion that Pioneer can come up with products and applications that allow users to get all of their mobile information safely without the smartphone being the end all to be all device.

    For the PND market, Magellan, Garmin and TomTom all rolled out new units with different features. Magellan’s RoadMate 9055 features lifetime traffic and Bluetooth connectivity to mobile devices. Magellan’s Stig Pederson said that the PND market will concentrate on future consumer personalization to remain competitive. “Sharing data and relevant information is something the consumer wants,” he said.

    The connected GO 2505 M LIVE comes fully-loaded with powerful LIVE services, including the award-winning TomTom HD Traffic.  The TomTom GO 2505 M LIVE will be available at retail stores and from online retailers in mid-2011 for $349 MSRP. A trial subscription of LIVE services will be available for free with each purchase.

    “The traffic is very personalized.  It looks at all considerations of the road—actual speed of traffic, rather than posted traffic speed,” said Tom Murray, TomTom’s senior vice president of market development.

    TomTom also rolled out the VIA Series PNDs into the United States and Canada markets. The PNDs are slim with a new mounting system that limits exposed wires.

    Also at CES, Nike and TomTom unveiled a new sports watch. The new running watch, which has CSR’s SirfSTAR IV GPS installed, is tied to Nike’s online running community that has four million members.

    Other CES Observations:

    • Actor Seth Rogen stopped by a Sony reception to plug the new movie, The Green Hornet, and ran down a list of things his crime-fighting car has:  Machine guns, flame thrower…and “Sony GPS navigation system, of course.”
    • CES management had an LBS zone in North Hall with 25 exhibiting companies, many international.  The goodness is, while there was not a single CES-sponsored LBS panel (though there were two in-vehicle panels), the LBS zone had great booth traffic near anchor companies OnStar and Audi.
    • AT&T Location Information Services was rolled out at their developer’s conference a day before CES.  AT&T’s partners include LOC-AID Technologies and TechnoCom.

  • Death of a Smartphone, Birth of an Ad Trend

    Kevin Dennehy
    Kevin Dennehy

    From a distance, the Garmin-Asus partnership to produce GPS-enabled smartphones looked pretty good — particularly during the market erosion for portable navigation devices. However, published reports indicate that the companies will not renew their partnership in January 2011.

    Switzerland-based Garmin and its Dutch competitor TomTom have seen steeply declining sales for personal navigation devices (PNDs) since the high point of the market two years ago, industry observers say.

    “[The Garmin-Asus divorce] was predictable. The product didn’t sell very well and no partnership can survive forever if there’s no revenue coming,” said Marc Prioleau, Technology Growth Advisors principal. “The smartphone market is incredibly competitive and navigation is a pretty standard feature. So you’ve got small revenues, limited differentiation…not much to build a long-term partnership around.”

    Since the Garmin-Asus strategic alliance in February 2009, the companies said they have developed and marketed six devices. These products are available through carrier and retail channels in several countries. One of the phones, the Garmin-Asus A10, a touchscreen smartphone running on the Android platform, is optimized for pedestrian navigation.

    Location-Based Advertising. TeleNav, which now has 17 million subscribers, recently launched a navigation-based mobile advertising platform that allows businesses to place a sponsored listing at the top of the search results located in its mobile navigation applications. The company says users can click on a sponsored listing to receive additional information such as coupons or menu information.

    The user can call, map, or receive turn-by-turn directions to the business — all of which are actions TeleNav measures and reports as metrics to advertisers. Sounds like an interesting concept — but are carriers committing to it?

    “We see location-based advertising (LBA) as a natural and important extension of our business. As an industry, I feel that we are only at the tip of the iceberg on advertising within the intersection of location and mobile,” said Ky Tang, TeleNav director of marketing. “This is new for us and for the industry as a whole. While it’s difficult to speak on behalf of a carrier, in general, I’d say that they too see a significant opportunity here.”

    TeleNav released data saying which brands are winning the battle for the attention of the mobile consumer. Through analyzing keyword searches of millions of its mobile users, the company is able to identify where consumers are looking to go while on the road.

    “We do not in any way, shape, or form provide user-specific information to our advertisers,” Tang said. “We only provide aggregate information of how our users are engaging with their ads within our application. So in addition to the traditional impressions and clicks, we let advertisers know how many people conducted a ‘drive to’ to a specific business.”

    Tang said that, in regard to the company’s data analysis, it does provide aggregate data on what users are searching for when using the application. “We believe that this type of information is insightful for brands to really understand how users who are on the go remember and prefer certain brands over others,” he said. “For those whose brand equity isn’t as strong — as measured by how often our users search for their specific name — we give them the ability to promote their brand to the top of the list. One of the implications behind this is that in the mobile, location-based arena, perhaps there’s an opportunity for more brand equality.”

    While it remains to be seen whether the LBA space is close to seeing rapid growth, some advertising agencies are taking notice. “Some leading, innovative ad agencies see it and get it right away. But by and large, there’s still a lot of education that is required in this space,” Tang said. “Location-based advertising is very powerful and we see it to represent the next major wave of digital advertising. But in the same way that it took online advertising some time to blossom and become more mainstream, we see the same thing here for location-based advertising.”