| We believe that there is a perfect storm brewing that | | | | traditional GPS chips require a long first time-to-lock on |
| will cause location-based services to take off in a big | | | | the position, Assisted GPS (A-GPS) uses cell towers |
| way in 2009 and 2010. It has already taken off in the | | | | for triangulation to shorten lock times. This translates to |
| portable navigation device (PND), but now it will happen | | | | a much better user experience. |
| on your mobile smartphone. | | | | - GPS Chips are Cheap. The mature PND market has |
| What are location-based services? The best known | | | | driven GPS chips down. Today, a GPS chip can be |
| example would be your Garmin or TomTom driving | | | | added to a smartphone for less than $1 USD. |
| navigation. But that's a very basic example. LBS can | | | | Practically very smartphone shipped in 2009 will have |
| include things like Buddy Beacon where you can track | | | | built-in GPS or A-GPS. |
| where your friends are, locating someone for | | | | - Astounding Smartphone Growth. Mobile phones are |
| emergency 911 response, finding what are the best | | | | getting more sophisticated and can now access the |
| restaurants near you, etc. | | | | web with very reasonable user experience. While the |
| Here are some recent events brewing up the big | | | | overall mobile phone market grew only by 11% in 2007, |
| storm: | | | | the smartphone segment grew by over 50%. It's the |
| - Mature PND Market. The portable navigation device | | | | new frontier for every major company to compete for |
| (PND) market is mature. In 2008, 50 million units were | | | | advertising dollars as there will be more smartphones |
| shipped. | | | | in use than PCs and laptops combined. |
| - PND Makers Need New Revenue Streams. Since | | | | So what does this all mean? It means we will see an |
| the PND market is mature, consolidations are | | | | acceleration of innovation on both hardware and |
| happening, and margins are now razor-thin. PND | | | | software over the next couple of years. The iPhone |
| makers are proactively trying to apply their | | | | and Android-based handsets are leading the charge to |
| technologies to increase their revenue stream from | | | | make location-based applications and services |
| other sources. The Garmin nuviFone is a prime | | | | mainstream. Consumers will also get increasingly used |
| example. | | | | to them as new innovations tackle the problems of |
| - Users Understand LBS. Location-based services are | | | | privacy and location management. To read more |
| gaining customer acceptance in the market, with | | | | about location-based services and other mobile |
| services like the VZNavigator and a slew of | | | | computing topics, visit us at |
| location-based apps on the iPhone. | | | | Are you location-aware yet? |
| - Location Technology Development. Whereas | | | | |