Wednesday, December 6. 2006

Driscoll Study Points Way to High Interest in Cellular LBS Applications

CJ Driscoll & Associates conducted their 2006 LBS, Telematics & Navigation System Study and found some not so surprising results. Sponsors who participated in this study included Toyota, Honda, Sprint Nextel, Cingular, deCarta and other high profile clients. Here is a snapshot of their results:

What is the consumer interest in cell phone-based navigation services?
8% extremely interested
14% very interested
43% somewhat interested
22% not very interested
24% not at all interested

What is the interest in location-based traffic information for route planning?
7% - extremely interested
19% - very interested
31% - somewhat interested
19% - not very interested
25% - not at all interested
Mean interest was 2.6 on a 5 point scale

Of consumers interested in cellular applications other than the obvious voice communication, what are their top choices?
Here is the list that indicated that they were either “extremely interested” or “very interested”

22 cellular applications were included on the survey:

1. Navigation assistance - 33% - the top rated service
2. Traffic conditions for route – 31%
3. Weather Information – 27%
4. Send/Receive Text messages – 24%
5. Find Points of Interest – 23%
6. Monitor location of children – 23%
7. Push to talk – 21%
8. Send/receive emails - 21%
9. Pedestrian directions - 20%

In summary, of the 22 applications listed in the survey, 6 of the top 9 were location-based services.