Find Your Location Reality

In recent months, m-commerce has been hit with a dose of reality. The Christmas season, whispered to be the beginning of m-commerce adoption, came and went. Those few who bought gifts with their wireless phones probably still are waiting for them to arrive. There’s still plenty of potential for m-commerce to be a pillar in carriers’ future revenue models; it just may not become the foundation formerly touted by wide-eyed predictions.

Location-based services is one area of m-commerce that has received plenty of fanfare. Whether or not they too need a dose of reality depends on which analyst you trust. Allied Business Intelligence (ABI) (www.alliedworld.com) predicts that revenues from location-based services revenues will grow from $5.42 billion in 2002 to more than $40 billion in 2006. Analysys, however, warns that location-based services are unlikely to become the sought-after killer app (www.analysys.com). In 2006, Analysys predicts, location-based services will produce $18.5 billion in revenues, up from a little more than $2 billion in 2002. (See Figure 1.) Although that outlook is not as hopeful as ABI’s, Analysys does forecast that users of location-based services will account for half of the world’s wireless subscribers and 70% of global wireless Internet users.

Fortune-telling aside, American carriers face a stark distinction between m-commerce and location-based services. Whether or not carriers deliver m-commerce applications is strictly their choice. If consumers want to buy books, DVDs, flowers, tickets, or anything else using their phones, then carriers will make it happen. If the m-commerce bubble bursts, carriers can forget the whole idea. With the E-911 mandate, however, carriers must implement the infrastructure that would deliver location-based services. And E-911 isn’t cheap.

CenturyTel, in its Phase II implementation report, estimated that a network-based Phase II solution would cost nearly $41 per subscriber, or approximately $35 million for the carrier’s subscriber base. Given that estimate, powerhouse carriers could face an E-911 expense with ten figures. If carriers have to spend that much money just to meet the mandate, there’s little to lose in delivering location-based services.

Love it or hate it, the E-911 mandate might be the spark that lights the inferno for location-based services. Last November, carriers were required to inform the FCC of their Phase II technology choices. Most of the reports cited location-based services as a factor in the selection of a network-based solution, a handset-based solution or some hybrid of the two. Indeed, the location ball is rolling, as carriers only have a year and a half before they must begin selling ALI-capable handsets.

Expect to frequently hear “location” in the buzz vocabulary at Wireless 2001. In case carriers still need an E-911 Phase II solution, Compaq (visit #2213 or www.compaq.com) has brought its solution to Las Vegas. Based on Compaq’s scaleable Himalaya platform, it satisfies the FCC mandate and delivers 2.5G location information with IN services.

In many cases, location can be the spice added to existing apps to give them extra kick. SmartSMS from AirFlash (visit #8191 or www.airflash.com) allows GSM carriers to deliver location-based information via SMS. AirFlash’s platform for delivering location-based services is used by AT&T Wireless, through the Excite mobile portal, and Orange.

Some aren’t waiting for E-911 solutions to deliver location-based services. GVoice from Gravitate (visit #8291 or www.gravitate-usa.com) lets carriers get their subscribers’ X,Y coordinates through a series of voice prompts. The company’s location platform now includes Webraska’s (visit #8685 or www.webraska.com) personal navigation application programming interface. The combination builds a visual representation of wireless-users’ locations with their proximity to each other and mutual points of interest. Applications then can locate other users or points of interest with directions based on shortest-journey time.

More at the Show:
• A provider of enhanced services for the wireless industry has a new name. Road Rescue Merrimac, the company that provides roadside assistance and handset-insurance programs marketed through wireless carriers, has become Asurion.

Products offered by Asurion are tailored to the wireless industry and include telematics and location-enhanced services, digital migration programs, handset-upgrade plans, affinity programs, lifestyle enhancement products, direct-marketing programs, security payment arrangements and special marketing-enhancement programs.
Visit #5421 or www.asurion.com

• MapInfo MapXtend Java Edition is a developer’s tool for Java that enables companies to create applications for accessing location-based data on PDAs. MapXtend applications deploy in multi-technology, distributed environments.

MapInfo’s MapinHand is a business-to-business solution built on Oracle8i that enables organizations to supply field staff real-time access to location-based data using portable devices.

MapInfo’s PSAP Pro is an E-911 database developed with MapInfo partner Public Safety Associates. With MapInfo PSAP Pro, wireless carriers can route an emergency call based on the caller’s location and the PSAP’s jurisdictional boundary, determining the nearest emergency center, reducing response time and effectively targeting the most appropriate resources.

MapInfo’s Mobile Location Suite consists of three components: the platform miAware and the services miGuide and miConnect. The miAware platform provides a scaleable XML environment for the creation of location-based services.

It enables carriers to differentiate their offerings from other vendors’ pre-packaged services. With miGuide, users can get information based on their current or future locations and set up personal preferences.

The miConnect application enables central dispatchers to enter the address of a job and find the location of workers closest to that address.
Visit #1271 or www.mapinfo.com

• Televigation’s TeleNavigation.voice delivers turn-by-turn directions on a wireless phone, based on the location of the phone. Unlike static driving directions accessible via the wireless Web, TeleNavigation.voice sends spoken driving instructions to the user based on his actual position. Tele-Navigation.voice is able to react promptly if the user misses a turn by immediately recalculating new driving instructions to the final destination.
Visit #7742 or www.televigation.com

• SignalSoft’s BFound is a wireless service-creation platform that enables wireless carriers to offer services that allow subscriber locations to be displayed on a map. BFound tracking services are deployed using a standard mobile phone and an Internet browser.

Features include mapping, privacy controls, group management, QoS controls, history logs and status controls. With BFound, a carrier can customize and brand services to offer its subscribers. When it is used in concert with other carrier applications, or with SignalSoft’s Local.info alliance partners, numerous applications can be custom-created for a carrier.

BFound works in GSM and ANSI network environments and is designed for digital and WAP-enabled handsets. However, since GSM networks will support idle-mode location determination, the carrier will be able to provide location services in a GSM environment. In an ANSI environment, call-triggered location determination will establish the frequency of location updates.
Visit #6301 or www.signalsoft.com