Satellite Technology Feature Article
November 07, 2008
Location-Based Mobile Social Networking Set for Rapid Growth
By Nitya Prashant, TMCnet Contributor
ABI Research has released a new report on the recent emergence of location-based mobile social networking services. Entitled, “Location-Based Mobile Social Networking,” the study states that mobile location-based social networking is likely to become a factor in the increasing use of location-based services (LBS).
Location-based services work across a number of applications such as friend finders, local search and geo-tagging. According to the report, LBS will be the unifying framework across a large number of applications.
LBS applications are expected to allow the sharing of real-time experiences through fixed social networking sites such as Facebook (News - Alert) and MySpace. The ABI report states that mobile location-based social networking sites will continue to expand and forecasts that more than 82 million subscriptions are likely by 2013.
ABI Research (News - Alert) Director, Dominique Bonte, points out that the main factor influencing the growth of LBS will be the availability of multimedia-centric GPS handsets.
Bonte says, “Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) with built-in GPS receivers have been announced, with location-based social networking site GyPSii supporting Moblin-based Intel (News - Alert) Atom processor-powered MIDs. Connected PNDs and outdoor GPS solutions are other obvious candidates for location-based networking. Nissan Carwings’ in-car telematics solution allows the sharing and ranking of fuel consumption in Japan.”
Mobile social networking services offered by providers such as GyPSii, Pelago and Loopt (News - Alert) are pioneering a new concept allows users to share real-life experiences via geo-tagged user-generated multimedia content.
Another important trend that the report studies is the emergence of location-enabled instant messaging with applications such as Palringo Local and Nokia Chat that offer mobile communication with location context.
The report states that licensing agreements with carriers and handsets manufacturers will be crucial to the success of location-enabled social sites. Further, it is expected that the wide range of business models which will coexist in the early stages will give way to advertising-based models, in the long run.
Location-based advertising will fit perfectly with the local search and content-driven social context of the location-based mobile social networking, the report concludes.
ABI’s report addresses key trends, features and types of location-based mobile social networking. It includes detailed descriptions of solutions and market players, with a special focus on business models. The study provides recommendations to all major players and shipment and revenue forecasts per region and per location-based social networking type as well.
Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research is a market research firm focused on the impact of emerging technologies on global consumer and business markets. Utilizing a blend of market intelligence, primary research, and expert assessment from its worldwide team of industry analysts, ABI Research assists clients with their strategic growth initiatives.
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Nitya Prashant is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nitya's articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Michelle Robart
