Source: Nokia Tech will Power the Bing Maps Infrastructure

Greg Sterling reports, but did not get official confirmation from either organization, Nokia tech will power the Bing Maps infrastructure. There have been many rumors regarding NAVTEQ in recent weeks from folks outside the industry, but Greg's on the inside, so I think this is worth sharing.

However my lunch companion argued unequivocally that Nokia Maps would effectively replace almost everything that Microsoft had developed over the past several years in terms of the Bing Maps infrastructure. This was shocking because Microsoft has invested hundreds of millions of dollars (if not billions) in creating a viable competitor to Google Maps. Most recently the company has been promoting its roll out of new hi-resolution aerial imagery on a global basis.

I said I couldn’t believe Microsoft would agree to swap in Navteq for the guts of its own system. Yet my lunch guest argued that Microsoft’s role would mostly center on the Bing Maps UI — ironically not unlike Yahoo’s relationship to Microsoft search results — everything else would be powered by Nokia.

And there was another very interesting remark. He asserted that Google’s unwillingness to agree to a co-mingling of Google Maps and Nokia Maps or substitution of Nokia Maps on the back end was one of the sticking points that prevented Nokia and Google from coming to terms.

Search Engine Land via @atanas

The gory details of how Nokia's mapping portfolio would work in the new Microsoft/Nokia deal announced earlier this year was not completely clear (APB coverage).

TomTom and Nokia News

Dutch navigation equipment maker TomTom (TOM2.AS) said sales of its flagship product fell 16 percent in the first quarter and cut its revenue forecast as it sees an even bigger contraction in the global market in 2011.

Reuters reports that the company had expected 10-15% contraction in sales of PNDs worldwide but now revises that to 15-20%.

- Reuters

Nokia is laying off 4000 and sending 3000 to Accenture to work on Symbian. There are rumors (phone scoop) about a reorg and refocus for NAVTEQ but nothing announced yet.

- AP

Location-based Advertising Needs to Scale to Get the Attention of Wireless Carriers #ctiaw2011

A group of industry executives gathered to discuss the prospects for location-based advertising and it truly seemed like they had nothing new to report. Alistar Goodman of Placecast, who was been around this business for a long time, identified both a business model problem for his company and a truism of the industry: scale. The applications are only now reaching enough handsets that it is making a difference to retailers…and carriers. Placecast's ShopAlerts now has 2 million users. That's a lot for some; perhaps a bit under the radar for carriers to take notice. Placecast is launching with AT&T and it’s the first time an operator has offered solutions to their clients. Goodman said that what brands really care about is to be able to do this with millions of users and do it in real time and not intrusive. Currently ShopAlerts is a SMS-based notification, not a true application like we see from Shopkick.

The moderator of the session,  Linda Barabee, Research Director, Connected Intelligence of the  NDP Group asked a very basic question and somewhat obvious question about where the industry stood at this time. Indeed, everyone believes that it's early days but some of the panelists were able to put their finger on how to improve the user experience and consequently drive revenue to the retailer.

Mort Greenberg, Head of Sales, Americas Advertising for NAVTEQ said that, if you can  tell someone how close they are to a location it should improve their ability to click on an ad. You have to provide them an offer and a call to action and when you blend in location, this will improve the click through ratio on the ad. Andrew Osis, Poynt's president and CEO said "It's not just location; its about context." Osis indicated that if you can discern things from individual users and their habits then you can engage them. Goodman said that people will share their data but get concerned when that data is "broadcast" so his service is  double opt-in … you opt into the service and then opt in to share the data.

However, the main take away from this session was that the panel believes that the merchants need to be educated about building their advertising plan and how location-based advertising will help them drive revenue.

CTIA Wireless 2011 - Pre Show Buzz #ctiaw2011

Some of the buzz surrounding the CTIA Conference (aka The Wireless Association; formerly the Cellular Telecommunication and Internet Association...CTIA) surrounds the AT&T/T-Mobile merger and Long Term Evolution (LTE) or the next generation of 3G...that would also be 4G, of course. But regarding location-based services the news is certainly around location-based advertising...aka "nirvana" for the corp of retailers, augmented reality, and LBS app developers vying to win the prize that is the "killer app" that gets consumers to buy-in to using a mobile device that receives contextual and location-aware ads, coupons, etc.

I've issued a report on news from aisle411 and NAVTEQ. These are interesting developments and continues an evolutionary process of integrating indoor navigation with location-based advertising and social networks.

Other news...Nokia will be introducing Nokia Astound, a new smartphone with the latest version of Ovi Maps that includes voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation in 46 languages in 90 countries...this according to the CTIA Show Daily.

Privacy will be another topical area and the Mobile Marketing Association has not yet offered guidelines on protecting consumer privacy. Again, according to the CTIA Show Daily, MMA president Greg Stuart says that, "There's basically two issues - one is transparency...the second is around control, giving consumers control of how they manage their own privacy." See our podcast today on just this subject.

More from the keynotes in a later report...Keynotes include Steve Largent, CTIA president and a roundtable discuss led by CNBC's Jim Cramer with the CEO's of AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon.

Retail LBS & Geolocation Moves Indoors: aisle411 and NAVTEQ Offer Apps, Data for New Era of Location-based Advertising #ctiaw2011

aisle411 and NAVTEQ kicked off ShowStoppers at the CTIA conference and got the LBS juices flowing early at CTIA. ShowStoppers is a "press only" event to introduce some new products but is not limited to location technology.

Mapping the Store Floor

aisle411 literally stopped me in my tracks as they demonstrated a mobile app for navigating the consumer to the specific aisle within a retailer to find a product. aisle411 competes with Shopkick in many ways but I was particularly interested in how the aisle411 app navigated to the specific store aisle (see graphic at right; click for larger image; see additional graphics for check-ins and offers). The company says they are working with several retailers to get each store's planogram to map the store by product categories. So, the consumer is able to navigate to the area of the aisle where they are likely to find the product. According to a company spokeperson with whom I spoke, this level of navigation gets the consumer sufficiently close the specific product for which they are looking without overwhelming them with too much location detail. Individual "big box retailers" (e.g. Lowes, Walmart) may have as many as 130 product categories and upwards of 50,000 SKUs.

aisle411 is reaching out to the "big box" retails currently, such as Shop 'n Save, (See press release) a major grocery chain, to get their store layouts. Otherwise, they will try to map each store on their own, but does so in an "above board" manor so the retail knows they are capturing data.

The aisle411 mobile app allows check-ins, will alert consumers with information on product promotions, and will crowdsource information where there consumer identifies a product that is miss-mapped by the app. This feedback is shared with the retailer and maps may be corrected if the product is indeed incorrectly located.

Another feature of the app is to create a shopping list and then have the app route you to each product location within the store based on a preferred route.

For non-indoor positioning, aisle411 is providing a geofencing application once the consumer is in the vicinity of the store. Some location-based advertising is associated with this geofence where the consumer is likely to receive promotional information from advertisers.

And so, long ago, when we featured articles on "mapping the store floor" this is what I had envisioned because a map of products by aisles is the level of detail required for supporting the customer. And for the retailer, they would have the opportunity to capture data on store traffic, a feature that aisle411 said is coming in the way of "heat maps" where they will identify well-traveled areas...which may, in turn, lead to how CPG manufacturers compete for shelf space.

Indoor Mall Navigation

The news from NAVTEQ takes this street navigation data provider well beyond its roots...or should I say "routes." NAVTEQ announced "Destination Maps." According to the company's press release, "Destination Maps feature a unique set of interior map attributes (e.g., escalators) with detailed place data to enable users to more efficiently navigate and explore interior spaces.  With NAVTEQ Destination Maps, location-based applications can extend beyond streets and sidewalks and into complex interior spaces." When I asked personnel staffing the NAVTEQ booth where they were getting their data the response was a bit vague. They indicated that they are using CAD drawings to model the interior spaces of large malls. So, NAVTEQ is not driving the hallways of malls just yet and simply relying on 3D models. I can envision that more precise positioning will be required; perhaps in the next generation of the product. I might suggest that NAVTEQ get together with aisle411 to look at synergies.

NAVTEQ believes that consumers are ready for indoor navigation and will integrate the application with other NAVTEQ products and data. In the press release, it hints at the possiblity of social networking to locate friends in real-time. This might overlap with other apps already in existence so, again, some venture with an existing social net application is in order.

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