Mark Lowenstein, FierceWireless, asked what's next for LBS?
Are we at a fork in the road? Is LBS
“too difficult to monetize?” Has LBS been prematurely commoditized? Are the incumbents too strong? These are valid questions... but perhaps we should prepare for a mini-big bang
for mobile LBS applications? (The economy not withstanding) – An
application developer’s perspective.
Up to 9 months ago the LBS ecosystem was barely capable of value
add. The only financially validated solutions were premium GPS
navigation, some family finder and asset tracking products. Free social
networking and mapping solutions, financed by companies/VCs with deep
pockets, were more focused on customer acquisition at any cost. Short
term ROI was not important.
Since the Summer 2008, the app store and privacy guidelines have had the following impact:
1) The carrier gate keeper has been pushed aside to provide access
to ever greater volumes of open OS handsets with free location
coordinates.
2) The carrier deck has expanded to the device store front.
3) The carrier has been disintermediated from value chain releasing 30-50% of value.
4) The carriers are focused on the data plan sales and main stream premium LBS applications like navigation.
5) Applications are key differentiators in competitive smart phone market.
My view is we’re in a time lag between the old ecosystem and the
new. I believe we will see a proliferation of new killer LBS mobile
applications, many of them may be in development today or even in
growth mode. We will see segmentation and new levels of innovation on
main stream products and sizable new premium niches emerge. Proximity
social networking is a huge opportunity ready for innovation.
Developers should not be disheartened by Google's Latitude.
Traffic is one new segment. A recent poll, by my company, Proxpro,
determined that over 76% of business travelers did not TRUST the travel
times given by PND, mobile navigation or mobile mapping products.
Clearly a customized, high quality, accurate, convenient traffic
solution, delivered just-in-time, is desperately needed (“desperately”
is a strong word but anyone running late for an important meeting or a
plane knows how uncomfortable it is to be late). Check out award
winning Prompt - the road warrior’s traffic early warning system by
Proxpro at www.proxpro.com.
AGPS is a nice to have and certainly produces, in some
circumstances, a better user experience but it’s not a game changer for
me.
I shall be at CTIA if anyone would like to continue the discussion there.
About Julian Bourne:
Julian Bourne is CEO and Founder of Proxpro Inc., a company that
provides advanced software solutions for the mobile workforce
management and location-based services industries. He is the inventor
of several award winning mobile solutions including a product called
“Prompt” a “push” technology that optimizes navigation and traffic
information based on a personal calendar and makes sure people are
never late (patent pending). Prompt won the People's Choice Award,
Enterprise Category, at SiRFecosystem’s Location 2.0 Summit (September,
2008), and was chosen by top LBS Industry Leaders, for its level of
innovation and mass appeal. He is also an inventor of mobile social
networking and won the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge (April 2006), best
social networking application. He launched the world's first
location-based (AGPS) mobile social networking application in the UK
provisioned at events attended by 500,000 people (Oct 2004). He has
been granted several mobile social networking patents including US
#7,310,676, US #7,424,541 and patent pending 12/205,990. Prior to
Proxpro, Julian was Global President of the Specialty Division of
Morgan Crucible Company plc, manufacturing carbon, graphite and ceramic
materials for high tech markets including semiconductor, solar,
aero-space, industrial diamond, clean energy and lithium battery. He
was accountable for plants in USA, Canada, S. Korea, Turkey, South
Africa, Australia, India, Hungary, UK and Luxembourg. While traveling
frequently for business, he recognized the need for mobile
location-based technologies that help executives "connect-the-dots" in
their busy lives. In August 2006, Julian received the 40-under-40
“Rising Stars” award in Boston Business Journal’s list honoring 40
Boston professionals under the age of forty.
Contact Julian: julianbourne "at sign" proxpro dot com
