Business News Holding

Tag: gps-enabled

Handset Vendors Eye Russian Smartphone-based Navigation Market

More than a third of Russian consumers are interested in a smartphone-based navigation device – while nearly 63 per cent are willing to pay more than euro 4 per month for a vehicle tracking service based on a GPS-enabled smartphone.

These are among the findings of research by Frost & Sullivan which also showed that global positioning system (GPS)-enabled smartphone technology is gaining ground over traditional portable navigation devices (PND) in the Russian navigation and telematics market.

So much so that in 2009, the smartphone-based navigation market has already exceeded 350,000 units sold in Russia, while the PND market has failed to register even half that amount.

The analysts conclude that the results indicate that firms must define a clear strategy – positioning products, services and business models around the ever-converging GPS-enabled mobile handsets market in order to expand telematics and navigation into the Russian market.

The report says that Russian consumers’ desirability and willingness to pay for connected navigation, location-based services and features, finds that the Russian navigation market saw unit sales of 0.45 million in 2008, and will likely reach 2.0 million in 2012.

This shift is attributable to exponential growth in the GPS-enabled, smartphone-based navigation market and to steady growth in the PND market.

Praveen Chandrasekar, Frost & Sullivan programme manager, said: "Handset vendors like HTC, Nokia, and Apple are propelling the navigation market in a new direction by pushing more GPS-enabled smartphones into the Russian market.

"In 2008 the balance shifted more towards the handsets-enabled navigation market rather than PNDs."

Chandrasekar said this trend clearly shows that this market needs to be addressed with a smartphone-based portfolio in order to succeed.

Eight out of ten current owners of navigation systems in Russia want to purchase another navigation system within six months.

Of these, 49 per cent still prefer a PND, but a growing 30 per cent favour a smartphone-based navigation system.

Russian consumers are willing to pay upwards of euro 100 for a smartphone-based navigation solution.

In light of the current recession, this solution could clearly prove to be the low-cost killer alternative.

The economic crisis has put a damper in consumer spending habits in Russia. Although Russian consumers indicate that they are willing to pay upwards of euro 300 for a navigation device, they might not necessarily be ready to do so in this economic climate.

Chandrasekar said the recession has come at the "wrong time".

"The navigation market, driven by GPS- enabled smartphones and PND, was on an upswing.

"However, consumers are increasingly cautious and this might slowdown market development."

July 22, 2009
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Rising Mobile Social Networking Star Mobiluck

Simple Model Helps Location-Based Friend Finder To Add 3-4,000 New Members Daily

The idea that it’s not necessary to know someone’s exact location for mobile social networking to work successfully might seem a little bizarre.

Yet Mobiluck’s Patrick Lord believes just that. The marketing director for the Paris-based start-up insists a GPS-enabled smartphone isn’t needed for location-based networking to succeed.

Based on Mobiluck’s growth rates he might have a point.

Since being launched in September 2007, it has been adding users at an impressive rate: just two months ago it was gaining 2,000 new members a day and that has now climbed to between 3-4,000 daily.

This led to membership soaring past the 500,000 mark earlier this month, with users drawn from around the world.

So what’s the appeal?

Olivier Chouraki, founder and CEO of Mobiluck, told smartphone.biz-news that they were offering a simple to use, location-based mobile social networking service – and one that doesn’t require software downloads.

Users simply need a mobile phone with a browser through which they can manually enter their location.

While GPS isn’t necessary to use the Friend Finder service, GPS-enabled handsets can be used to provide location details.
The service than gives the real-time location of friends, business contacts and fellow users.

Members can communicate using IM or voice, identify their location, tag, share and rate their favorite locations, as well as search for nearby people and places.

Lord said part of its success was that Mobiluck works on any mobile phone, in any country and on any network.

What’s more, knowing someone’s precise location isn’t a requirement.

"It is sufficient just to know you are in the same city or just a few kilometres away," he said.

"It’s a fallacy that you need GPS to make location-based networking work.

"I do not believe that’s true. You don’t need that level of accuracy – to say 20 metres."

GPS in the Future

While Mobiluck has kept its offering simple to date, Lord said they had developed a GPS-based iPhone app and that was an aspect of the service they would push in the future.

"Every phone will eventually have that capabilty. It’s then a question of how we use that to provide value-added services," he said.

"From a wider perspective, location will add another layer of context to the services that can be provided."

Not that there seems to be any great need for it just yet.

"If we look at our competitors offering LBS, we do not see them having nearly as many members as we do for our services," said Lord.

"That’s because Mobiluck works on any phone and doesn’t require a download to use it."

What is required though, according to Lord, is a mixture of platforms – from GPS through to manual location entry – whatever was appropriate.

Community Networks

Local businesses and brands are also on Mobiluck’s radar.

Lord said the service would enable communities of local users to develop.

So, for example, a place saved as a favorite by one member can be shared with friends who may also add it to their favorites.

"Then places like restaurants or cinemas can send out an SMS giving special offers, upcoming events or other activities," said Lord.

Mobiluck’s financial projections have them on course to break even in the first half of 2009, when membership is expected to have risen to 1 million users.

Lord said revenue is already being generated from mobile advertising and that is to be joined shortly by income from premium services – such as B2B services offered to local businesses.

"Our growth strategy is targeting those countries where we generate lots of users and where we can monetize them," he said.

"The prime reason why there are lots of users in Asia, the US and France is because we have got monetization arrangements to build our user base there."

Global Appeal

Mobiluck is also attracting a lot of interest in countries such as India, South Africa and Kenya, where many people’s first experience of the internet is through the mobile phone.

Mobiluck’s users range from the minimum age of 14 up to members in their 50s. Lord said the average age varied by country but fell within the 23-27 age group.

He said the service’s privacy features were rigorous and users can choose if they want to share their location at all, just with friends or be visible to all.

Surprisingly, users appear as interested in meeting new people as they do about keeping in hooking up with with friends.

"The prime interest is to meet new people rather than keep in touch with friends – at least in terms of the volume of messages sent out and usage of services," said Lord.

The service’s global appeal is also reflected in the language options available.

While English is the main language, a range of others can be selected, including Russian, Arabic Spanish, French and Chinese.

Although Mobiluck has yet to build up membership in China, Lord said it is seen as a major market.

The company is currently talking with contacts in China to get a feel for the market and mobile culture.

"We think we will find plenty of people interested in our service in China," he said.

If he’s right, Mobiluck’s growth curve is certain to keep rising sharply.

We’d be interested in hearing your views on mobile social networking and its potential applications.

January 28, 2009
Will GPS-enabled Smartphones Avoid Handset Slowdown?

Demand for GPS-enabled mobile phones will slow in 2009 but will avoid the fall in shipments expected to affect handsets generally.

At least that’s what ABI Research is predicting. It forecasts that feature-rich smartphones will post year-to-year unit growth through the current economic downturn.

For 2009 that translates into a climb in shipments GPS-enabled phones to 240 million units, an increase of 6.4 per cent over 2008.

This contrasts with a drop of 4—5 per cent for global handset shipments generally in 2009, according to a study by the researchers.

For the period through to 2014, the analysts suggest demand for smartphones will increase at an average annual unit shipment rate of 19 per cent.

ABI says this "surprising performance" will be driven by the ongoing demand for feature-rich smartphones, including the Apple iPhone 3G, RIM’s BlackBerry devices and Nokia N series phones among a growing list.

During the period, the report says GPS chipsets will continue to penetrate this segment; nine of every ten smartphones will contain GPS ICs in 2014, compared with one in three in 2008.

George Perros, senior analyst with ABI Research, said that falling component prices and increasing consumer awareness of handset locationcapabilities will keep demand for GPS-enabled phones healthy, in spite of the slumping global economic picture.

Other factors that will continue the trend toward the inclusion of GPS functionality in handsets include the spread of open source operating systems such as Google’s Android.

It provides application specific interfaces (APIs) that allow software developers to create location-based content for mobile devices.
The report also highlights the continuing emergence of navigation and map-based applications for handsets.

"As the quality of positioning technology in handsets improves and the cost of including it declines, GPS location technology will approach the status of a standard device feature," said Perros.

"We are approaching the point where location awareness will be synonymous with smart devices, a point where personal navigation, social spatial knowledge, and location-specific contextual information will be assumed handset capabilities."

If accurate, the report’s predictions will certainly be welcomed by smartphone manufacturers.

We’d be interested in hearing your view on the figures.

January 21, 2009