ABI: Future of Location-Aware Services Deployments in Europe, Asia
May 27, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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Given the prevalence of mobile phones with integrated global positioning system (GPS)- code division multiple access (CDMA) chipsets in the U.S. market, it is no surprise that North America got a head start in deployment of location-based services (LBS).
According to ABI Research, of all publicly announced commercial carrier deployments during the preceding 30 months, more than 50% took place in that region.
User plane-based, location-aware capabilities that leverage GPS - applications under the active control of users rather than simple transmission of location information to emergency services - started appearing on CDMA cellular networks in the second half of 2005, analysts said.
As third generation (3G) service adoption gathers pace worldwide, however, that balance will start to shift, due in large part to the bigger addressable markets to be found in Europe, and in particular Asia.
Analysts said there will be a 15% increase in wireless subscriber numbers for Europe (including Eastern Europe and Russia), and a 70% increase for Asia-Pacific by the end of 2013. LBS will experience correspondingly strong market growth in those regions, subject to the local popularity of particular services.
"The scarcity of GPS-enabled handsets in GSM [ global system for mobile communication]-dominated Europe meant that early LBS deployments there were largely based on Cell-ID location, plus some niche markets addressed by GPS-enabled Bluetooth peripherals," said ABI Research industry analyst Jamie Moss.
"High accuracy location-based services [LBS] were first targeted at enterprise users, but are becoming increasingly available to all as GPS chipsets are being added to W-CDMA [wideband-CDMA] devices in Europe and Asia."
ABI Research analysts said up to 38% of all handsets shipped annually will feature integrated GPS by the end of 2013.
Moss said ABI Research classifies location-based applications into five categories: personal navigation, enterprise (workforce management/fleet tracking), family tracking, information/point-of-interest services and friend-finder/social networking.
"Many application developers are trying to build products that will work not just with CDMA, but with W-CDMA and GSM, enabling them to tap all the world's markets," Moss said. "These don't even have to reside on a carrier's network, but can be remotely hosted by handset manufacturers and third-party application service providers."
Source: ABI Research.