Friday, September 29, 2006

Local Search Stats

-----------------------------
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060928/cgth027.html?.v=76
Approximately 109 million people (63% percent of U.S. Internet users)
performed a local search online last July, a 43% increase over July
2005, according to comScore research:

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

(LBS) Subscribers Will Total 315 Million

GPS-Enabled Location-Based Services (LBS) Subscribers Will Total 315
Million in Five Years, According to ABI Research

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In 2011, the total population of GPS-enabled
location-based services (LBS) subscribers will reach 315 million, up
from 12 million in 2006, according to a new study from ABI Research. Put
another way, that represents a rise from less than 0.5% of total
wireless subscribers today to more than 9% worldwide at the end of the
study’s 5-year forecast period.

“Regions of greatest growth will be North America and Western Europe,”
says senior analyst Ken Hyers. “The Asia-Pacific region will have strong
growth as well, but it will vary by market. Leaders South Korea and
Japan will continue to be engines of LBS growth, but North America,
which has seen strong business use for several years, is expected to see
significant consumer uptake in 2007 and beyond.”

The LBS market took off first in South Korea and Japan, driven by
personal navigation and some family- and people-finder services. In the
United States, Nextel and Sprint initially drove LBS adoption with a
focus on fleet applications. In 2006 Verizon Wireless also entered the
market and has three applications available currently, with as many as
five more planned for rollout over the coming months.

Market growth in Western Europe has been limited by the fact that very
few GSM/WCDMA handsets have GPS, but ABI Research expects that beginning
in 2007 and increasing in 2008, many more WCDMA 3G phones will contain
GPS chipsets, allowing operators to offer LBS. Anticipating this, at
least one additional operator will be offering GPS-enabled LBS in Europe
starting late in 2006. ABI Research expects that in 2007 at least four
major operators in Western Europe will follow suit.

“GPS services will drive the adoption of UMTS 3G handsets,” says Hyers.
“3G growth has been limited by customers’ low uptake of many 3G
services, making it uneconomical for operators to subsidize these
handsets heavily. GPS-enabled LBS is expected to lead subscribers to use
more 3G data services, and thereby to drive overall 3G handset sales.”

ABI Research’s new study, Location-Based Services
(http://www.abiresearch.com/products/market_research/LBS),

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Dash navigation pricing $600-800, $10-15/month

http://reviews.cnet.com/4532-10921_7-0.html?keywords=DemoFall2006

Dash did not make any official announcements as to pricing or
partnerships with carriers and search engines. However, the company did
say the Dash Express will cost around the $600 to $800, while the Dash
service will be similar to satellite radio subscription rates ($10 to
$15 per month). California drivers will be able to get the product first
as it hits select retailers in early 2007, while a national release is
expected in summer 2007. Stay tuned as we get more details and take one
out for a test-drive.

Dash Pricing

Monday, September 11, 2006

Compal Communications lands second GPS PND order from ViaMichelin

Printer friendly

Related stories

Hot systems
Ruby Huang, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DigiTimes.com [Friday 4 August 2006]

Compal Communications, a major handset maker in Taiwan, has obtained a
second order for in-car GPS (global positioning system) portable
navigation devices (PNDs) from ViaMichelin following on a previous order
for ViaMichelin's X-950T, according to industry sources. Compal declined
to comment on the report.

Founded by the Michelin Group at the end of 2000, ViaMichelin is a
provider of GPS navigation solutions and products in the European market
and launched its first in-car PND model, the X-950T, in March of this
year, the sources indicated.

As ViaMichelin's second PND model is equipped with Bluetooth to connect
with communication devices and has an entry to medium level in price
range, Compal's experience in making GSM, CDMA, 3G handsets, Smartphone
and PDAs as well as its strength in procuring components, allowed the
company to win the bid, the sources indicated.

Thales Navigation Sells Magellan

San Dimas, Calif. — Thales Navigation, which markets the Magellan GPS
brand, and which is a division of Thales, has been purchase by an
investment group led by Shah Capital Partners for at least $170 million.

The new company will be known as Magellan.Henri Gaillard will remain CEO.

The purchase will help give Magellan more entrepreneurial freedom and
allow it to respond to market trends more quickly, said Gerald Hwasta,
operating partner of Shah Capital, noting that former owner Thales was a
defense conglomerate.

“Seven to ten years ago, Thales was a good owner for the business as it
sold more to professional markets,” said Hwasta.“As the GPS segment has
evolved, there’s been incredible growth in the consumer devices.” Shah
plans to “bring flexibility into the organization” and “put into place
consumer electronics best practices,” said Hwang.

Private equity investors in the group include Tudor Group, Galleon
Group, Consolidated Press Holdings, AIG Sun America and Eli Broad.

While NPD ranks Magellan as the third leading GPS brand in the US, with
14.2 percent of the market compared to Garmin’s 47.8 percent and
TomTom’s 25.2 percent share (from March through May 2006 in sales to
consumers), Magellan claims it is the number two brand with about 29
percent market share.It notes that NPD does not track sales in Radio
Shack, Wal-Mart and warehouse clubs. “Some of our biggest accounts are
those that NPD does not track,” said GaillardThales Navigation Sells
Magellan

Thales Taiwan GPS makers eye ODM orders from Thales Navigation

Thales Navigation, a leading provider, worldwide, of GPS (global
positioning system) navigation solutions and products, will be sold this
quarter to an investment group led by Shah Capital Partners (SCP), and
this may cause a change in the former's outsourced production
strategies, with several Taiwan makers interested in its new ODM orders,
according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Thales Navigation, headquartered in California, is a subsidiary of the
France-based electronics firm Thales, which focuses on aerospace and
defense technology. Thales Navigation will be renamed Magellan
Navigation following the acquisition by SCP, the sources indicated.
Thales Navigation has two GPS consumer-level lines under its brand
Magellan, the RoadMate series of in-car portable navigation devices
(PNDs) and the eXplorist series of outdoor handheld navigation devices,
the sources noted.

Kinpo Electronics, in Taiwan, has undertaken OEM production and assembly
of the RoadMate and eXplorist products for Thales Navigation. When
Thales Navigation reduced its R&D staff and outsourced product design,
in 2005, in an effort to minimize costs, Mitac International, another
Taiwan electronics manufacturer, received ODM orders for the RoadMate
800 series models, the sources indicated.

Unlike the RoadMate, the eXplorist product line has to be shockproof and
waterproof, to meet the needs of outdoor activities. Since Taiwan makers
have, to date, no substantial experience in developing products with
these features, Thales Navigation's eXplorist ODM orders will pose a
challenge to their design capability, the sources pointed out. However,
Kinpo, Mitac and other Taiwan makers, such as Lite-On Technology and
Jabil Circuit, are poised to compete for such ODM orders, the sources
added.

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Americans get texting as SMS catches on

By Paul Taylor in New York

Published: August 29 2006 23:56 | Last updated: August 29 2006 23:56

After years of lagging behind Europe and Japan in the adoption of mobile
text messaging, US subscribers have finally caught the SMS (short
messaging service) bug.

A total of 48.7bn SMS messages were sent in the last six months of 2005,
up 50 per cent from 32.5bn in the first six months of last year,
according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA).

About 40 per cent of the more than 200m mobile phone subscribers in the
US now use text messaging, up from 25 per cent in 2003 but still far
behind the 60 per cent plus penetration rates in Europe.

“The US has been slow to adopt SMS,” admits Jim Ryan, vice-president in
charge of consumer data services at Cingular Wireless, the largest US
mobile carrier. Nevertheless, he believes that is changing.

Recent growth in mobile text messaging volumes reflects the success of
the leading US mobile carriers including the big three – Cingular,
Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel – in boosting subscriber awareness of
the service, which allows almost any mobile phone user to send a text
message of up to 160 characters almost instantly. Cingular has seen its
lucrative SMS traffic surge, boosted in part by SMS voting for
contestants on American Idol, the TV talent show.

Over the past year Cingular, a joint venture between AT&T and BellSouth,
recorded 64.5m SMS votes for American Idol, up 52 per cent from the
previous season. “American Idol was big and started people messaging,”
said Mr Ryan.

Overall Cingular had 26.5m active data customers and delivered 8.7bn
text messages and 131m multi-media messages – mostly camera phone images
– in the latest quarter.

Mr Ryan believes text messaging has been slower to take off in the US in
part because the economics of texting were not so compelling in the US
as elsewhere, and because early adopters – typically business
professionals and youth – had greater access to mobile e-mail devices.

Mobile carriers in the US have begun to address the first issue by
offering subscribers bundles of lower-cost SMS messages that start at $5
a month for 200 messages and make text messaging more financially
attractive. At the same time US carriers are actively seeking to educate
their subscribers about SMS.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Mobile advertising $900 mil market

Analysts acknowledge that forecasts for the growth of mobile marketing
and advertising are just educated guesses, but Jupiter Research sees a
€700 million, or $895 million, market in Western Europe by 2010, up from
less than €100 million now. Ovum, a telecommunications consultancy,
forecasts a $1.3 billion U.S. market by 2010.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/27/business/ad28.php

Sunday, August 27, 2006

*** 411 great stats Local Search by mobile users

One can probably assume the same items will apply to Mobile Search
through a in-car mobile appliance

New 411 User Survey Points To Mobile Local Search Demand

Many Internet companies, especially some of the much-hyped Web 2.0
startups, are busy building tools and applications for which no
mainstream consumer demand actually exists. In my view that's what
killed many of early Internet companies after the first bubble burst –
there was no existing use case to sustain them.

But the opposite is true of nascent "mobile local search," a set of
half-baked tools and embryonic applications that seek to deliver local
content to wireless users. People are eager for local information on the
go; and when wireless data services become fast, easy to use and more
affordable, you'll see adoption ramp quickly. Remarkably, the user
demand for local content on mobile devices is much more developed than
the carriers' and wireless content providers' current mobile offerings.

It's in this larger context that I write about a new study released this
week from Tellme, an automated voice services provider and directory
assistance (411) wholesaler. The company engaged Harris Interactive and
surveyed 1,425 adult Americans about directory assistance usage. The
study was conducted between March 31 and June 7 of this year.

At the highest level, the survey revealed that the majority (55%) of
people calling 411 these days are doing so from wireless phones. (That
makes sense because the Internet/local search is often a 411
substitute.) The study also revealed demographic differences in behavior
and attitudes toward directory assistance. The findings showed, in
addition, that mobile 411 callers are most interested in entertainment
(restaurants, bars, movies), shopping and travel-related information.
And reading a little deeper you also get a fascinating sense of the
immediacy and intensity of user interest in local content in the mobile
context.

Directory assistance is a mature, multi-billion dollar industry in the
U.S. and Europe (although the industry structure in Europe is
different). It is based on a consumer pay-per-use model, although a
number of providers in the U.S., such as 1-800 Free-411 and
1-800-411-Metro, are now offering free, ad-supported 411 to consumers.

But as I lay out some the Tellme survey findings don't think about
"directory assistance" (i.e., "What city, what listing?") per se, think
about mobile local search with a voice interface. That's where directory
assistance is headed anyway: category search with a voice front end.

From a user-experience perspective the wireless industry must address
some of the more challenging usability issues before mobile data becomes
mainstream in the U.S. Imperfect though it is, voice is one of the
potential responses to some of those wireless usability questions.

On to the survey . . . First, the demographic findings:

As mentioned, 55% of all U.S. adults used 411 in a mobile context. That
number was even higher for 18 to 28 year olds (63%). According to the
findings only 26% said they used directory assistance most frequently at
home. Almost half of women use 411 one or more times a month as compared
with 37% of men.

The survey segmented the data by gender and according to three
demographic groups: Boomers (41-60), GenXers (29-40) and Millennials
(18-28). You can read the segmentation breakdowns by content category
usage in the release. In the aggregate, however, when users called 411
they were typically looking for the following information:

• Restaurants & Bars: 43%
• Retail Stores: 36%
• Hotels/Lodging: 24%
• Movie Theaters, Amusement & Recreation: 20%
• Transportation: Taxis & Airlines: 10%

Another interesting cluster of findings surrounded use of 411
"alternatives." In other words, what did people do when they didn't call
411? (I for example pay Sprint $1.25 every time I dial 411, so I don't.)
Again, there are differences by age and gender. But here are the overall
data:

• Called a family member: 58%
• Called a friend: 46%
• Stopped at a phone booth: 29%
• Called a colleague: 27%
• Torn page from phone book: 7%
• Booted up computer in the car: 7%
• Driven to wireless “Hot Spot”: 5%

These creative alternatives – we've all done some version of this –
reflect both the determination and the immediate need of mobile users to
get information en route to their destinations. I believe these
alternative behaviors also show a pent up desire for mobile applications
that are more flexible and versatile than today's 411 (i.e., "What city,
what listing?"). In other words, it reflects the demand for true "mobile
local search" capabilities. Friends at home, for example, can also look
up reviews, menus, store hours and so on.

According to mobile analytics firm Telephia 34.6 million U.S. wireless
subscribers accessed the Internet from their mobile phones in June of
this year. However, none of the top 10 mobile sites had a reach of more
than 3%. Here are Telephia's top 10 sites:

1. Yahoo! Mail
2. The Weather Channel (Weather.com)
3. ESPN
4. Google Search
5. MSN Hotmail
6. MapQuest
7. AOL Mail
8. CNN
9. Yahoo! Weather
10. Yahoo! Search

Last September, Telephia reported on the top mobile content categories:

1. Email
2. Weather
3. Search
4. Sports
5. News/Politics
6. Entertainment
7. City Guides/Maps
8. Games
9. Portals
10. Business/Finance

Earlier this year AOL released the results of its own mobile user
survey. Among the findings of that survey were that maps were the number
one "must-have" new feature. And last July TNS found that local content
(driving directions, restaurant reservations, and weather and traffic
alerts) topped the list of services that users wanted on their mobile
devices.

These myriad data points show the demand among wireless users for local
content is strong and that they'll go to some lengths to get it. And
unlike some of the startups online -- that will be waiting for a long
time for consumers to show up -- users already have an expressed desire
for mobile local search. It's now a question of the carriers and content
providers getting all their "ducks in a row" and making wireless data
services more affordable and more usable.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Lower Prices Boosting 10-GigE

Lower Prices Boosting 10-GigE
JULY 31, 2006

The 10-Gbit/s Ethernet market could be poised for a growth spurt, as
prices are getting down to the critical level to kick up some serious
demand, according to the latest Heavy Reading report.

That's the conclusion of "10-Gbit/s Ethernet Components: A Heavy Reading
Competitive Analysis," which was published last week. The report breaks
down the 10-Gbit/s market, looking at transceivers, transponders, and
chips, covering 225 devices from 38 vendors. (See Cheaper Chips Drive
Sales.)

Chip vendors "shipped as many 10-Gbit/s Ethernet devices in 2005 as they
did in the preceding three to four years combined," analyst Simon
Stanley writes in the report. "This activity at the components level
means significant growth in 10-Gbit/s Ethernet port shipments will
accelerate, as the cost reductions work through the supply chain."

That's good news to some, because while volumes have been enough to fuel
some cost reductions, they've been too low for some suppliers' tastes.

The ultimate demand for 10-Gbit/s Ethernet has never been in doubt,
particularly when it comes to short-reach environments such as data
centers or carrier hotels. The problem is that pricing has stayed high
enough to keep some customers from diving in wholeheartedly.

"Its deployment has lagged behind the forecasts because the prices were
higher than people expected, or higher than the value proposition,"
Finisar Corp. (Nasdaq: FNSR - message board) CEO Jerry Rawls tells Light
Reading.

Of course, 10-Gbit/s Ethernet isn't completely stalled -- otherwise
Force10 Networks Inc. wouldn't still be around. And transceiver modules
for 10 Gbit/s are fueling the IPO filing of Optium Corp. , although that
company sells to the Sonet market in addition to Ethernet. (See Optium
Files for $100M IPO.)

For each generation of Ethernet, the magic number has been between 3 and
4 -- that is, the next speed grade starts to take off when its price
falls to three or four times the previous generation's.

By some metrics, 10-Gbit/s Ethernet is finally getting there. Prices for
10-Gbit/s ports have only recently dropped to less than $10,000 per
uplink -- which, with 48-port switches on the market, translates to less
than $200 per user. That's finally an acceptable premium over the $50 to
$100 per port for Gigabit Ethernet.

Suppliers, likewise, are reporting a bounty of shipments. "We expect to
see 10-Gbit/s Ethernet shipments nearly triple this year from last
year," Mitch Kahn, Quake Technologies Inc. VP of marketing, tells Light
Reading.

If volumes didn't drive those prices down, what did? It's the chip
technology -- PHY prices are one-tenth what they were in the first
generation of 10-Gbit/s Ethernet, Stanley notes.

Modules are lowering systems prices, too, by getting smaller. The
industry started with the 300-pin multisource agreement (MSA) and has
been moving through smaller module generations since -- to Xenpak, then
X2, and eventually XFP.

And vendors are already working on the next step beyond the XFP
transceiver, called SFP+. It's even smaller -- Stanley reports it's
one-third the size of an XFP -- and pluggable. It's expected to bring
prices down even further by lowering power consumption while increasing
the potential port density of equipment. (See XFP Module Gets a Shrink.)

Quake has declared itself an SFP+ frontrunner, having recently announced
the necessary PHY chip for such a module. Not surprisingly, the company
now sees a bigger future for SFP+ than for the long anticipated XFP MSA.
"It looks like that's going to be displaced in favor of SFP+," Kahn
says. (See Quake Intros SFP+ PHY.)

That may be a bit hyperbolic, given SFP+ is only starting. Stanley notes
50 XFP modules are available from 13 vendors. XFP "is already being used
by OEMs across the industry for a wide range of applications," he writes.

The report compares the offerings of 38 vendors, noting that Finisar and
Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM - message board) offer the broadest range
in transponders and PHY chips, respectively.

— Craig Matsumoto, Senior Editor, Light Reading

Monday, July 10, 2006

MapQuest Mobile is Top Mobile Application

MapQuest Mobile was the top revenue-generating downloadable mobile
application in the first quarter of this year, according to Telephia.
The Weather Channel came in second, with 5.7 percent of the total
revenue share, while Verizon Superpages 2.0 came in third posting a 5.3
percent share. Two music applications, Music Choice and Sirius Music,
rounded out the top five with revenue shares of five and 4.8 percent,
respectively.

"Local maps/directions and up-to-date weather are well-suited to
delivery via mobile phones because they are information needs
characterized by immediacy, location-specificity, and time-sensitivity,"
said Kanishka Agarwal, Vice President of New Products, Telephia.
"Downloadable mobile applications present a significant opportunity for
higher ARPU, with more than 3.3 million mobile consumers downloading
these applications during the first quarter of the year."

Top 10 Downloadable Mobile Applications by Total Revenue Share (U.S.)
Application Publisher Share of Revenue
MapQuest Mobile Zingy 21.9%
The Weather Channel Weather Channel 5.7%
Verizon Superpages 2.0 Verizon Directories 5.3%

Top Downloadable Mobile Applications by Repeat Purchase Revenue Share (U.S.)
Category Repeat Purchase Revenue Share (%) First-Time Purchase Revenue
Share (%)

Maps/Directions 39.5% 16.8%
Weather 18.9% 8.7%
Entertainment 12.0% 29.9%

Garmin Mobile Expands $9.99/month Content 10-Jul-2006 [Source: Garmin]

Posted: 10-Jul-2006 [Source: Garmin]

[Phones equipped with Garmin Mobile can now receive new content
including fuel prices, weather, and traffic information.]

When launching the powerful Garmin Mobile application, subscribers will
be greeted with the intuitive "Where to?" and "View Map" icons, which
are also found on other Garmin automotive navigators. They can then
navigate to an address in the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico; or
search millions of points of interest (POI's) such as restaurants,
hotels, ATMs, shopping and tourist attractions. Garmin Mobile maps are
server-based and give consumers the most recent mapping available.

Consumers have unlimited access to all Garmin Mobile content -- which
includes fuel prices, weather conditions and forecasts, and traffic
content -- for just $9.99 per month.

http://www.mobiletechnews.com/info/2006/07/10/122539.html

Friday, July 07, 2006

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Where in the world am I? Your phone might know

http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=USATODAY.com+-+Where+in+the+world+am+I%3F+Your+phone+might+know&expire=&urlID=18437310&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Ftech%2Fproducts%2Fservices%2F2006-06-01-location_x.htm&partnerID=1660

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Where in the world am I? Your phone might know
Posted 6/1/2006 9:41 PM ET
By Edward C. Baig, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Jacqui Fahrnow used to worry when she couldn't reach her
teenage boys on the cellphone.

"My oldest son wouldn't answer because he was playing basketball and
left the phone in his duffle bag," says Fahrnow, a single mom in
Shawnee, Kan. "It was a point of contention."

Now, Fahrnow has signed up for Sprint Family Locator by WaveMarket, a
wireless location-based service — or LBS — launched in April by Sprint
Nextel. From her own cellphone or the Web, Fahrnow can track the
whereabouts of her kids' cellphone in real time on an interactive map,
without them having to take a call.

The $10-a-month Sprint service, and most other emerging LBS technologies
that work on wireless phones, use the same Global Positioning System
satellites that keep car navigation systems on course. Fahrnow says
Family Locator has been accurate within 11 yards.

Since the late '90s, LBS has been linked to a host of intriguing, yet
somehow not-quite-ready-for prime time, mobile scenarios involving local
search and advertising, gaming, dating and perhaps most promising,
safety and security.

Yet, despite mounds of hype, few companies rolled out services, and LBS
has mostly been lost on regular consumers. LBS is the killer application
"that got killed on the way to mainstream," says Joe Astroth, vice
president of the Location-Based Services division at Autodesk, which
provides the technology to wireless phone carriers.

Now, there's evidence that LBS might have a pulse with the masses, after
all. Market researcher Frost & Sullivan forecasts the total LBS market
in the USA to exceed $600 million in 2008, up from about $90 million at
the end of 2005. "There seems to be a fair level of commitment to the
technology now, giving a big sigh of relief that it is finally
happening," says Ken Hyers, an analyst at ABI Research.

Several services recently made their debut or are coming soon. A sampling:

•When it arrives this month, Disney Mobile-branded phone service will
include a family finder capability akin to what Sprint is offering.
Verizon Wireless is about to launch a service called Chaperone. For $20
a month, parents can establish a virtual fence around a child's school
during set hours and receive a text message when a kid goes outside the
boundary. Similarly, Wherify Wireless is planning to peddle a locator
phone in the back-to-school timeframe.

•Verizon's Networks in Motion VZ Navigator service transforms certain LG
or Motorola phones into portable navigation systems for $10 a month, or
$3 for a day. The phone tells you where you are and which restaurants,
hotels and shops are nearby, and provides turn-by-turn directions to get
you to those destinations. Sprint offers a similar navigation service
through TeleNav.

•Sprint and InfoSpace recently launched a $3-a-month subscription-based
LBS search engine, InfoSpace FindIt, that lets you find local businesses
and services, and click to call them without dialing the number.

There are a raft of other offerings, from friend and pet finders to
lifestyle applications. In business, LBS has been used for managing
fleets and tracking mobile workers. Researcher In-Stat predicts growth
on the business side from 582,000 to 1.1 million subscribed devices by
the end of 2010.

Tech tools in place

Why now? For one thing, the technological infrastructure is largely in
place. Wireless carrier networks are faster and more robust. More phones
have decent color screens and extra horsepower to run LBS applications.

What's more, many cellphones, mostly those that work with Sprint Nextel
and Verizon networks, now incorporate GPS chips, partly as a response by
carriers to a government-mandated Enhanced 911 program that was phased
in at the end of last year. Uncle Sam wanted emergency workers to find
folks who dial 911 from their cells.

(Other companies met the E911 mandate through "triangulation" methods
that measure the time it takes signals to bounce off cell towers, or the
angle of those signals.)

Brent Iadarola, industry research manager at Frost & Sullivan, expects
the LBS market to get an additional boost in a couple of years when
carriers such as Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile add GPS capabilities.

Once companies know where a handset is, they can construct applications
that build on that knowledge. "If you're traveling on the interstate,
you don't (necessarily) want to find the nearest gas station if it's by
the exit you just passed," says Mike Gerling, president of map provider
TeleAtlas North America. "You want to find the next one."

Having the proper technology in place is only half the battle. Reaching
consumers and getting them to pay for services might be a bigger
roadblock. "I don't think the average consumer knows what location-based
services means," Gerling says.

The good news for the industry is that people are increasingly familiar
with in-vehicle and portable navigation systems. Based on its monthly
online survey of 50,000 U.S. households, market researcher Synovate says
about 20% more Americans bought a GPS system in 2005 than 2004.

Many people are comfortable using Google Maps and MapQuest. Israel's
Telmap and MapQuest introduced MapQuest Navigator, a cellphone service
coming this summer. Carriers have not been announced.

In a survey of more than 4,000 consumers 18 and older, the C.J. Driscoll
& Associates market research firm found that about one-third of U.S.
cellular subscribers expressed a strong interest in cellphone-based
navigation assistance services. That was greater than their interest in
cellphone-based e-mail, photos, video-downloads or live TV viewing.

More than 80% said they'd pay either a monthly fee for the service or on
a per-transaction basis for driving directions. Social applications such
as locating nearby friends and finding close bars and clubs tested well
with survey participants under 35.

A Starbucks sniffer?

But LBS can also smack of Big Brother. Marketers banking on LBS have to
step gingerly. "LBS is technically feasible today. It's more a matter of
trust and privacy (among consumers)," says Deep Nishar, director of
product management at Google, which has yet to provide a mobile LBS
offering.

One scenario bandied about for years involves consumers getting text
alerts on their cellphones for discounted coffee as they wander near a
Starbucks. "Having a pop-up every time you pass by a store may be what
advertisers want, but it's not what users want," says Dan Gilmartin, who
runs consumer LBS marketing for Sprint.

Verizon Wireless COO Lowell McAdam agrees: "It would annoy me to no end
if every time I passed by a Starbucks, (the phone says) I got 20 cents off."

AstroLeap has developed a location-based couponing system called Eureka
Mobile that would require consumers to actively opt in, then expressly
seek out coffee (or whatever). Only then would they be notified of
nearby coffeehouses and possible discounts. The San Diego company hopes
to launch with major carriers in the next three to six months, says
co-founder Dan Bailey.

"I do think there's a mass-market opportunity for (location-based)
advertising," says Astroth. "But it has to be personalized,
permission-based and in the context of the activity you're participating
in."

Consumers attending a baseball game might not mind receiving a
downloaded ring tone of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. In another context,
they'd the find the sudden arrival of such a ring tone intrusive.

For now, navigation and local search seem to be the furthest along with
additional services such as traffic monitoring starting to emerge.
TeleNav in Santa Clara, Calif., helps subscribers find nearby gas
stations with the cheapest fuel prices.

"The big applications we expect to drive LBS adoption are those services
that have already succeeded in some capacity but are enhanced and become
more compelling by integrating location," says Iadarola of Frost & Sullivan.

Rod Diefendorf, a vice president at mobile search provider InfoSpace,
says that eventually, consumers will be able to search beyond general
categories — such as finding a seafood restaurant — to satisfy
particular cravings for lobster or other menu items.

Photography is another emerging area. Digital snapshots typically
capture information, including the time and date an image was taken, and
the kind of camera used. Now, companies are starting to add "location
stamps."

Otherwise, "one year down the road, you have no idea where those
pictures were taken," says Kanwar Chadha, founder of LBS chipmaker SIRF
Technology. Location-stamped pictures might also help you resolve
insurance disputes, or locate all the vacation pictures you took by the
Eiffel Tower.

Disney's presence and the peace of mind that comes with making sure
loved ones are safe would seem to be a big driver toward ensuring LBS'
success. But Allyn Hall, the director of the wireless practice at the
In-Stat research firm remains skeptical: "When I call my wife and want
to know where she is, I ask her," he says.

Still, Ben Starkey uses TeleNav on his Nextel cellphone to keep on top
of his pregnant financée's whereabouts. "It's a comfort thing," says
Starkey, a data technician in Roanoke, Va., who jokes that the phone
best not be turned off or he'll be in the doghouse.

"We've been saying LBS is coming since 1999," says Sal Dhanani, senior
marketing director of TeleNav. "This time, it feels a little more real."

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/services/2006-06-01-location_x.htm

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Excellent white paper on Web 2.0 concepts

What Is Web 2.0
Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software

http://www.oreillynet.com/lpt/a/6228

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Cell Phones Take 30 Percent Slice of 88 Million Navigation Market

Cell Phones Take 30 Percent Slice of 88 Million Navigation Market by 2010, Strategic Analytics

Boston, MA - May 24, 2006 --
The Q4-05 Strategy Analytics survey of new car buyers across the US and Europe indicates that at least 18 percent of drivers require maps or directions more than 20 percent of the time. The vast majority of consumers, however, over 60 percent, only spend five percent of their travel time going beyond familiar destinations

http://www.strategyanalytics.net/default.aspx?mod=PressReleaseViewer&a0=2932

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

pay per call advertising avg $7

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123705,00.asp

New Model, New Profits

The acknowledgment by search giants Google and Yahoo that they are
dipping their toes into pay-per-call is significant news for the new
online ad model, said Greg Sterling, a Kelsey Group analyst. It is also
good news for companies that would rather generate calls than Web site
clicks from their online ads, Sterling said.

If Google were to fully embrace pay-per-call, the benefits would include
getting a higher revenue rate than from pay-per-click, because
pay-per-call ads in general tend to be more expensive, he said.
Typically they start at around $2 per call, average about $7, and can
cost more than $30, Sterling said.

Advertisers are generally willing to pay more for a call than for a
click because a prospective client who calls is presumably closer to
making a buying decision than one who visits a Web site, he said.

Friday, May 05, 2006

TomTom financial results Q1 2006.pdf (application/pdf Object)

http://www.tomtom.com/lib/doc/inv/TomTom%20Press%20release%20Q1%202006.pdf

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

tomTom 2nd quarter 2006

TomTom said the average selling price (ASP) fell to 305 euros from 337

euros in the fourth quarter, but it held above an average expectation of
290 euros in a Reuters poll of 11 analysts as the company sold more
high-end models than in the fourth quarter.

TomTom sold 762,000 devices,

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) slipped to 50 million euros
($61.9 million) from 67 million in the fourth quarter,

TomTom's EBIT margin fell to 20 percent from 23 percent in the fourth
quarter, and it maintained its full-year EBIT target of 20 percent as
well as its ASP forecast of around 300 euros.

TomTom raised its forecast for the European market for portable

navigation devices to 8 mllion units. It expects to sell between 3.6
million and 3.9 million units for revenue of 1.1 billion to 1.3 billion
euros this year.
; trade at
about 26 times estimated 2006 earnings.