Location-Based Services: Market Forecast, 2011-2015

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Although mobile operators continue to lose control over location information with the increased adoption of GPS, the strong growth in global location-based services presents some potentially significant revenue opportunities for them if they focus on the right areas, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (http://www.pyr.com/).
Location-Based Services: Market Forecast, 2011-2015 provides a detailed overview of the current status and size of the location-based services market. It takes a specific look at the positioning of the mobile operators within the value chain and how they can leverage their assets to take a stake in this growing opportunity. Several services are analyzed, but the biggest focus is on navigation, the largest in terms of revenue where various business models are establishing themselves and a range of different players are focusing their efforts, creating a dynamic and fast-changing market segment. Other services such as people finding and local search are also covered. Case studies are provided of operators in all geographic regions to provide a range of different examples and market approaches.
Download an excerpt, or purchase the report here: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/store/Report-Location-Based-Services.htm?sc=PRN060111_RPLBS
"Following many years of high expectations, the location-based services market is finally coming of age. Revenue is expected to reach US$10.3 billion in 2015, up from $2.8 billion in 2010," according to Jan ten Sythoff, Analyst at Large for Pyramid. "There are a number of different factors driving market growth, including increasing GPS and smartphone adoption, success of new business models, continued growth of mobile advertising and the wider coverage and higher speeds of mobile networks," adds ten Sythoff.
Growing adoption of GPS devices is the key driver, helping a whole host of different applications and services to grow. "For mobile operators, this is an opportunity to drive new revenue streams, but it is also a threat because it means access to location information is no longer their monopoly. In 2008 operators gained around 80 percent of all location-based service revenue. This has fallen to around half, but the total market has grown more than fivefold," he says.
Navigation, local search and people-locating services are the key areas for operators to target because this is where we believe they are best positioned. "There are important regional differences in the location-based services market that mobile operators needs to pay attention to," notes ten Sythoff. "Developed markets in APAC with very high GPS penetration, such as Japan and South Korea, are progressive in offering location-based services, people finding and advertising in particular while emerging regions such as Africa & the Middle East and Latin America have much lower GPS and smartphone penetration, and consequently there are fewer opportunities for location-based services," he indicates. Regulatory factors are driving investment into some markets while some operators are launching location-based services to differentiate in competitive markets such as Nigeria.
Location-Based Services: Market Forecast, 2011-2015 is part of Pyramid's research report series, and is priced at $3,495. Download an excerpt, or purchase the report here: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/store/Report-Location-Based-Services.htm?sc=PRN060111_RPLBS.
Contact:
Jennifer Baker, +1-617-871-1910, jbaker@pyr.com

SOURCE Pyramid Research

Facebook to offer location-based discounts to users

Grab Your Discount Coupon



Facebook users will now be able to get discounts and special deals in shops, cafes and restaurants thanks to a new mobile phone feature.

Launched in the US last November, Facebook is expected to announce today the roll out of ‘Places Deals’ in the UK and Europe, a new service which rewards users for visits to different locations by logging their whereabouts on the site via their mobile phones.

According to source close to Facebook: “Places Deals is launching today in Europe. There are lots of retail and food partners on board, and the service is set to be really popular as increasing amount of people use the site via their mobile.”

The move is part of a growing trend which will see consumers increasingly use their mobile phones instead of credit cards. Last week it emerged that Apple’s forthcoming iPad and iPhone are expected to include a mobile payments feature that the firm hopes will replace cash and cards for millions of users.

Last year Facebook launched its Places service, which allows users to share their location with their friends by ‘checking in’ to bars, restaurants and shops via the social network’s mobile phone application.

However, until now, UK users have not been able to use the service to find out which good deals or offers available near them. Now with the ‘Deals’ service, Facebook users will be able see what offers are nearest to them at any time and share those deals with their friends.

Facebook is hosting a large event in London today, at which it is expected announce the launch of the ‘deals’ service across Europe.
When the discount service launched in the US, a developer writing on the company’s blog said: “You'll see a few different types of Deals: individual deals for a discount, free merchandise or other reward; friend deals where you and your friends claim an offer together; loyalty deals for being a frequent visitor to a place; and charity deals where businesses pledge to donate to a cause when you check in.”
It is not yet known which retailers and restaurants are on the board for the UK launch. When Places Deals launched in the US, some of the initial partners included Macys, Gap and Starbucks.
Facebook was unavailable for comment.
Ian Maude, head of Internet at Enders Analysis, said: “This move is a no brainer for Facebook. Places Deals is a combination of Foursquare meets Groupon (the popular daily discount site). It is the company’s first major move into mobile, discounts and location based advertising. I think this has the potential to be a smash hit for them.” source

How 3G will be of use to common man

You can understand 3g or be confused by it but the fact remains that you just cannot ignore it. The layman's world has grown too fast. Every day technical jargon keeps getting dumped into our routine lives and we are not sure if we really have gotten the hang of it all. Yet, the progress is palpable. It is there all around us and we embrace it and move on, sometimes with almost zero comprehension. we have been hearing the words 2G, 3G and even 4G, now that we all know about iPhones. So what are these Gs? What do they stand for and what exactly do they do? How does it reach the layman and of what use is it? Well, dear reader, that is exactly what this post will try to lend clarity on.

So for the most elementary question, What do the Gs stand for? Well, G means Generation. The world of telecom administrators have named the connections available as First, Second and Third Generations. An obvious illation here would be that each progressing generation is better equipped to connect the world than the previous one. Now when the mobile phones first came into existence 1G networks were used to transmit these signals. The signals used in 1G were analog. Meaning they were prone to many distortions, interference, cross calls im-practical in a few areas and lots of losses. This also meant the handsets had to bigger in size to facilitate proper usage. Then came 2G, where in the major difference/*improvement from 1G was, these signals were digital. The transmitted messages were coded digitally and this eventually improved all the disadvantages of the 1G connection.

Presently we are in the midst of a revolution(Late in India). The 3G standards have come into the nation and along it brings a fresh crisp and faster life. 3G technology enables faster internet access speed, owing to the fact that the channel available for internet access is larger than the one available in 2G. In 3G one can expect speed close to around 200 Kbit/s and more. Refer the Wiki page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G. Now the 2G networks suffered due to lack of bandwidth and so it couldn't offer many services. But now that the 3G is here it offers,, by virtue of its bandwidth availability a host of mouth watering features like :

• Mobile TV – a provider redirects a TV channel directly to the subscriber's phone where it can be watched.
• Video on demand – a provider sends a movie to the subscriber's phone.
• Video conferencing – subscribers can see as well as talk to each other.
• Tele-medicine – a medical provider monitors or provides advice to the potentially isolated subscriber.
• Location-based services – a provider sends localized weather or traffic conditions to the phone, or the phone allows the subscriber to find nearby businesses or friends.
So keeping away all technical terms and speaking strictly as a normal common man, 3G stands for the following :
1. Faster speed for internet 2. More features like TV and media streaming 3. Video calling facility (needs more bandwidth hence not available in 2G ) 4. More security over 2G 5. Truly, the power of the world will come into the palm of our hands... So long then dear readers, hope this post did, if not completely at least partly, shed some clarity on the happening 3G phenomenon. Cheers source