Market Intelligence Brief:
Location-based Services for the Mobile Market
| The integration of GPS navigation services with social networking applications, rich media, and user-generated content will create a host of easily monetized location-based services (LBS). But the top five U.S. wireless carriers have yet to implement a comprehensive and value-added LBS strategy. Nevertheless, our forecasts suggest that by 1Q 08, the market will witness the widespread use of applications that allow users to locate points of interest based upon customized profiles, as well as track and interact with other like-minded users. This market brief will analyze the current LBS strategies of the top five US mobile carriers, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile, and Alltel; as well as emerging LBS technologies, Mobile Web 2.0 integration, and industry standards. Lastly, this brief will examine prospective LBS service models and provide relevant competitive, revenue, and market analysis.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS/B>
Introduction and Overview
Key Questions
Analysis of LBS Services
Alltel
AT&T Wireless
Sprint Nextel
T-Mobile
Verizon Wireless
Independent and Agnostic LBS Applications and Technology
An LBS Convergence Model
Convergence Model 1: Consumer Retail
Convergence Model 2: Sales and Marketing
Convergence Model 3: Social Networking
Benefits
Condition of Success/Risks
Conclusions
About the Author
TABLE OF FIGURES
Fig. 1: Summary of Pike & Fischer product assessments
Fig. 2: LBS Business Model
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Sprint Sports the Most Robust Location-Based Services Among Wireless Carriers, Report Concludes
SILVER SPRING, MD, September 5, 2007—The use of applications that allow users to get directions, locate points of interest, and pin down the whereabouts of friends and family members will spread rapidly by early 2008, and Sprint Nextel is the carrier best equipped to meet that market demand, a new report from Pike & Fischer concludes.
The Silver Spring, Md.-based market research firm bases its forecast on the recent expansion and availability of GPS-enabled phones. In its new market intelligence report, Location-Based Services for the Mobile Market: Analysis and Outlook, Pike & Fischer ranks the nation’s five top wireless carriers on their ability to exploit the growing consumer interest in GPS-enabled services—such as alerts to users when they are in the vicinity of a restaurant offering their favorite cuisine.
P&F gave Sprint the highest mark—4.5 points out of a possible 5, concluding that Sprint offers the most comprehensive and unique suite of location-based services. The report cites Sprint’s introduction of applications that allow users to get voice-guided driving directions, traffic alerts and alternative routes, and even the location of gas stations with the lowest prices as some of the features that will give Sprint a competitive edge. This will be significant given Sprint’s current struggle to keep customers, says Tim Deal, senior analyst at P&F’s Broadband Advisory Services and author of the report.
“Sprint is well-positioned to tightly integrate its navigation offering with shopping services and thus generate revenue from both advertising sales and service fees,” Deal says.
T-Mobile USA received a ranking of 1.5, the lowest among the carriers studied. T-Mobile currently lacks a clearly defined and conspicuous strategy for delivering location-based services, the report states. The two largest carriers, AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless, each received rankings of 2 based on their limited number of location-based applications compared with Sprint.
Pike & Fischer, a BNA company, offers a host of legal and business products covering the telecommunications industry. For analyst commentary or to request a briefing, contact Tim Deal at 301-576-4096 / tdeal@pf.com.
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Tim Deal
Tim Deal serves as our Senior Analyst, with a special focus on broadband-enabled consumer electronics devices and on emerging mass market applications such as online video sharing and VoIP-optimized e-commerce. Tim has developed SWOT analyses on such products as the iPhone, the Apple TV service, and rich-media applications on such social networking sites as MySpace. Tim has been providing detailed and actionable competitive intelligence analysis to leading technology firms for more than seven years. In that time he has authored more than one hundred comprehensive syndicated reports and an equal number of custom financial models covering the computing, consumer electronics, digital media, and storage industries. Prior to his career in competitive intelligence, Tim served as a counterintelligence/human intelligence and force protection analyst with the United States Army. Tim lives in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire. Contact Tim at tdeal@pf.com.
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