Monday, January 5. 2009

2009: "GPS as feature"

That's one of the predications from the folks at Buzz Out Loud for 2009. Sorry don't recall who said it...

The intro was on the order of "stand alone GPS" will begin going away, but in device and in-car will thrive. GPS will be like a camera in a cell phone - a "required feature." I think that's right on and highlights a few things:

(1) GPS is short for "locating technologies" - it could be cell tower, wi-fi, whatever. The feature is simply that the device (car, phone, etc.) can automatically know where it is. While not every knows (or needs to know) how location is determined, I think there's a real comfort level, interest and demand for the feature.

(2) That feature is useless without apps that can access it (hopefully with permission of the device owner). Carriers are figuring this part out now. How open should we make our location API? Should we have to "approve" of apps? This the 2009 LBS discussion. 2008 ended with two carriers tending toward "open."

(3) The E-911 emergency response that prompted the need for location determination seems to be overshadowed in the press by the LBS apps. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

(4) Are there any other electronics (or non-electronics) outside mobile devices and cars that will soon have GPS as a feature?

Comments

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The carriers would need to open their APIs and come up with a business model that works. $10/month to navigate I don't think works for the majority of users, not when you can buy a dedicated device for $100-200 flat.
Cell GPS works for once-in-a-while or pedestrian nav, but not for more regular users. The UI and device size are drawbacks, but I would think these can eventually be overcome.

#1 Kevin on 2009-01-05 12:56 (Reply)

Item (4) asks if there are devices that will soon have GPS as a feature. A lot of large industrial/commercial applications are using RFID and/or Wi-Fi triangulation to track assets inside large facilities like airports, factories, rail yards, etc. I once saw an example of a US military facility that could show you where every humvee, truck, generator, even plasma TVs were on the base and if they started to move in an unexpected way (like the plasma out the door) then it would alert the security people.

#2 Louis Dean on 2009-01-06 08:07 (Reply)

Re: Item (4)...Cameras!

#3 Mark on 2009-01-09 15:26 (Reply)

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