Value of Location-Based Services

In a new report, ABI Research finds that the value of location-based services (LBS) is the enabling of applications, "delivering value greater than the sum of their parts."

According to Kenneth Hyers at ABI, "It's not just a technology in your mobile phone that says ‘you are here.' It can also pass that information to many other applications."

Hyers added, "Mobile operators don't want to sell ‘location technologies' — that's too esoteric. But they believe that if you tell an end-user, ‘call us to check movie times and we'll route you to the theater', consumers will be willing to pay for that service."

In the U.S., Hyers believes that "the combination of Sprint and Nextel could lead to some really interesting synergies where lessons learned on the corporate side at Nextel can be translated to Sprint's good consumer base." Overseas, Hyers cited Japan's KDDI and South Korea's SK Telecom as pioneering LBS, while Hutchison is tops in Europe's.

Other than discussing the potential for LBS, there is not much new here as Russell at MobHappy most eloquently posts...