Description

Following many years of high expectations, the location-based services market is finally coming of age. Growing adoption of GPS devices is the key driver, helping a whole host of different applications and services to grow. For mobile operators, this is an opportunity to drive new revenue streams, but it is also a threat because it means access to location information is no longer their monopoly. Operators need to become more active in the location space by driving their own-branded navigation and local search applications on devices they distribute, maximizing smartphone sales and bundling people-finding services with packages targeting specific segments. In other segments — including social networking, in-app advertising and advertising-based messaging — the opportunity is more limited, although there are some interesting opportunities here, as well.

The report provides a detailed overview of the current status and size of the location-based services market. It takes a specific look at the positioning of the mobile operators within the value chain and how they can leverage their assets to take a stake in this growing opportunity. A number of services are analyzed, but the biggest focus is on navigation, the largest in terms of revenue where various business models are establishing themselves and a range of different players are focusing their efforts, creating a dynamic and fast-changing market segment. Other services such as people finding and local search are also covered. We do not include fleet tracking services or location-based voice billing.

Key Findings

• The global location-based services market is enjoying strong growth. Revenue is expected to reach US$10.3bn in 2015, up from $2.8bn in 2010. There are a number of different factors driving market growth, including increasing GPS and smartphone adoption, success of new business models, continued growth of mobile advertising, and the wider coverage and higher speeds of mobile networks.
• Although operators are continuing to lose control over location information with the growth of GPS, this is also creating important growth opportunities. In 2008 operators gained around 80% of all location-based service revenue. This has fallen to around half, but the total market has grown more than fivefold. Navigation, local search and people-locating services are the key areas for operators to target because this is where we believe they are best positioned.
• Navigation applications are the largest location-based service revenue generators. Competition is intensifying among operators, handset vendors and operating system developers to capture users. While applications have cost advantages over stand-alone personal navigation devices (PNDs), Google and Nokia are shifting the business model from payment to advertising-funded.

118000
3Sweden
ADAC
Airtelv
Alltel

Appello
Apple
Asus
AT&T
AutoNavi

Bharti
Blyk
Boost Mobile
Carphone Warehouse
Cellcom