OYSTER BAY, N.Y. -Jan. 31, 2005--Location based services that enable pinpointing of a mobile phone's position may be showing up in the West before too long. But with rare exceptions, they're not here just yet.
"I'd like to say that 2005 would be the year of LBS," says Ken Hyers, principal analyst in the wireless group at ABI Research, "but most operators have continued to lag. We now see some offerings from Nextel. Sprint and Verizon are potentially ready in many markets. We're nearly there, but I don't think you're going to see any commercialized services in the U.S. before 2006, apart from Nextel and a handful of others. It's early days yet."
Why that lag? "The operators have a lot on their plates," Hyers notes, "and location technology is not a priority for them. There are technical issues to be overcome, and privacy issues as well."
Over in the East, however, things are different. LBS exist in both Japan and Korea and they are expanding. It will, says Hyers, take another year or so for the technology to get a foothold in North America, although when it does, "the ability to link LBS to other commercial services means that we will start to see a number of actual money-making opportunities."
ABI Research's study, "Location Based Services" examines handset-based LBS in detail and highlights similar vehicle-based, telematics offerings. It includes forecasts for subscribers, service revenue and device shipments to 2009.
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations that support annual research programs, quarterly intelligence services and market reports in wireless, automotive, semiconductors, broadband, and energy. Their market research products can be found on the Web at www.abiresearch.com, or by calling 516.624.2500.
Contacts ABI Research Beth Schechner, 516-624-2542
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