GSM Mobile World Congress, Barcelona:
Trends in Location Based Services

February 2008

There are two really big (and important) tradeshows in the U.S. wireless industry: the spring and fall tradeshows produced by the CTIA. But there's even a larger wireless show in Barcelona each February called the GSMA Mobile World Congress. This year's mega-event was held Feb. 11-14.

The conference organizers asked me to moderate a panel on the future of location based services (LBS), which has become a very hot topic. I had two presentations, followed by a panel with five panelists to help discuss the future of LBS:

Session: Location, Location, Location (Hall 5, 4:15 pm, Wed, Feb. 13, 2008)

Session Presentations:

Presentation: "Navigating Your Way Through LBS Experiences" Michael Halbherr, Vice President, Nokia LBS

• Dr. Halbherr discussed now Nokia is going heavily into navigation and will likely become the leading mobile navigation company within a few years.

• He discussed Nokia Maps - designed to help you drive, as well as walk, and share content about the current location with others. He wants your cell phone to answer questions like, "Where I am?" and "Where are you"? And he said Nokia is planning City Guides to help people walk around public places and parks, as well as provide voice-guided walking tours.

• See the slides in the photo link below.

Presentation: "Location's Place in the Mobile Internet Revolution" Gummi Hafstinsson, Google

• Gummi related that Google's objective is to organize the world's information, and part of that is to make it useful - and making it useful means to provide full support for users, whether they are using a PC or a mobile phone.

• He related that Google feels location is very important because it makes the results of searches more relevant.

• He related that Google has a number of mobile initiatives in the mobile space including Android, mobile search, mobile maps, and others.

Panel: "Which Way to Go - the Right Technology for the Right Application"

Panelists:

• Ronen, CTO, Telmap

• Mark White, Founder & CEO, Locatrix Communications

• Stephen Stuut, Chief Executive Officer, TruPosition

• Tom Babin, Knowledge Management & Discovery, Motolabs

• Kanwar Chadha, Co-founder and VP of Marketing, SiRF Technologies

Comments by the panelists included:

• Accuracy - it's good enough for personal applications, but watch out for multi-path problems where signals bounce off tall buildings and cause confusion in the algorithms. Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) with server support helps prevent and manage the multi-path problem.

• Hybrid - hybrid GPS with multiple solutions will win out in the long run. Example: A-GPS plus Wi-Fi positioning and S5 for indoor coverage might be an excellent long-term solution.

• Pervasive - with low cost (under $5/unit), we're going to finally find location just about in every device and everywhere - within the next few years. And e911 initiatives (particularly in the US) will continue to help drive adoption.

• Personal Navigation Devices (PND) - the high end of the market with larger screens is still happening, but most of the panelists felt like the cell phone will slowly replace most PNDs over the next 5-7 years.

• Privacy - this was a very big issue by the panel: trying to balance privacy of the individual with need to access by legitimate law enforcement agencies. The "golf option" is still desired by most users (being able to turn it off). But parents want to know "where are the kids"? and law enforcement agencies want to have the ability to track people with proper approvals (court orders). There's challenge to balance individual privacy with things like preventing terrorism.

• Overall - operators coming around to supporting it and cost low enough in the devices that it will be pervasive before too long.

Gerry Purdy (Moderator), Ronen Soffer (CTO, Telmap), Mark White (CEO, Locatrix),
Stephen Stuut (CEO, TruPosition), Tom Babin (MotoLabs),
Kanwar Chadha (SiRF), Gummi Hafstinsson (Google) and
Dr. Michael Halbherr (Nokia LBS)

I am not sure if it's more difficult being a vendor representative or an industry analyst at a large tradeshow like the GSM Mobile World Congress. Everyone spends long hours and meets lots of people. I had a very demanding three days with more than 25 meetings, plus my panel session, in the three days I was there. I told my fiance'e, Alicia, that I hated the grind of having 7-8 meetings a day, rushing from one place to another, and then going out late for dinner (restaurants don't open up until 8:30 or 9 pm in Spain). But there were some golden meetings that seemed to make the entire trip worth it, such as:

• Bango - talked with CEO Ray Anderson about their plan to get real analytics on the wireless market, both to support advertising, as well as network behavior, without invading anyone's privacy. This is challenging but will provide much needed quantification of actually what's happening on wireless networks.

• SNAPin - very clever company that's (initially) handling the most typical customer service inquiries onboard the handset. They have recently added tutorials to reduce the call load, and are going to turn tutorials into revenue generation for new services.

• Cellmania - quietly have created a very profitable company working with wireless operators to deliver content to subscribers. I have always liked their CEO, Ronjon Nag, who went over their recent acquisition of MSX Corp.

• Visto - surprised to see my old friend, Doug Brackbill, the original CEO, has returned to become EVP of Sales & Marketing. This gives them a strong resource that's well liked in the analyst community.

• Dinner - attended a private dinner with a few wireless industry leaders, venture capitalists, and investment bankers at the fabulous Via Venveto restaurant.

• VeriSign - Surpirsed to learn from Chirag Bakshi (VP of Wireless) that VeriSign is spinning out their successful and profitable business.

• RealNetorks - enjoyed very lively interaction with Analisa Roberts at RealNetworks. We discussed their mobile assets including ringtones, mobile music, and what can be done to offer Rhapsody streaming channels on the iPhone and iPod, as well as through the entire wireless ecosystem.

I am grateful to be invited by GSM Association to lead a session at their Mobile World Conference. There are many analysts and press and industry executives who would like to be selected to moderate a session. I am also fortunate to know how to lead a good panel through experience and being proactive. Over the years, I have observed what makes a good panel: good panelists, but also good knowledge to set up the flow, ask the right questions and, most importantly, make sure the panel provides both good information and entertainment for those attending.

I have fortunately developed an ability to create a natural flow during my panel sessions, nudging, challenging, and offering some insights, but making sure that I don't compete with the panelists who I position as the heroes for the session. I "tee up" the session and challenge the attendees to think about how they can use what they have learned. And I asked the audience to show appreciation for the panelists for sharing their insights. Occasionally, someone comes up to me like they did in Barcelona and says, "I've attend the entire conference and this was by for the best led panel session." That is my most treasured reward.

Here's a link to some of the photos I took during the conference. Enjoy!

Written by:

J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D.
VP & Chief Analyst
Mobile & Wireless
Frost & Sullivan