The School of Mobile Vol. 2 - The Detail Chapter 3 - Mobile Technology and Solu�ons
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To keep your finger on the pulse in terms of developments within European Privacy Law and
regulatory developments please visit the website of Viviane Reding; Commissioner of Informa�on
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Something to bear in mind when thinking of a global LBS offering:
Clearly one of the big problems with fully embracing loca�on based services as part of a mobile
strategy is the fact that, even apart from roaming data rates, if you are a tour operator that wants to
deliver a loca�on-enabled applica�on to your customers that are travelling outside Western Europe,
the US and parts of Asia-Pacific, then you are going to face issues such as patchy or nonexistent
networks, incomplete geospa�al databases and so on. Even within the more developed regions, it
will be up to operators to ensure that it is possible to roam across partnered territories to ensure
effec�veness in terms of u�lity and cost of LBS across borders (Source: Cwirko Consul�ng). In
terms of the operators though, there are workarounds. Clearly then there are limita�ons and it is
important to understand what you can and cannot do with LBS in the short term.
In terms of solu�ons that are being developed to allow app developers to bypass operators, and
improves one’s ability to offer an LBS solu�on globally, there are some exci�ng things occurring
in this area. An example is a company called X�fy which derives the loca�on of the phone from
the device itself. This involves downloading a client to a number of different pla�orms, and once
installed, the client app pushes the user’s loca�on up to X�fy’s servers where it can be accessed by
LBS app developers via an API, for incorpora�on into an LBS applica�on so as to provide an offering
that will func�on across borders. This therefore is one possible way for loca�on enabling your apps
to create a loca�on-aware solu�on that can poten�ally be rolled out globally and work around
operator restric�ons. Focusing on the carriers with respect to LBS is the wrong approach and is
becoming less and less necessary.
A sobering thought that gets to the heart of the issue of LBS in Travel:
“It is ge�ng increasingly easy to bypass the operator and developers should be prepared to do so
- par�cularly focusing on cross pla�orm and device companies. There are plenty of alterna�ves for
cellular-based loca�on - even some of the GPS chip guys are looking to offer it. However, there is no
ge�ng away from the far bigger problem of connec�vity and the costs therein. Even before the credit
crunch, people were s�ll not prepared to pay for mobile internet, par�cularly when they are travelling
- which is where dynamic travel apps will really suffer in the short term. On the plus side, the credit
crunch may force operators to swallow some bi�er pills on this front but we are s�ll along way from
the point where I could seriously consider doing find-a-friend even with a ubiquitous app like Google
La�tude now available.”
“Aside from this, it is spot on to say that a ubiquitous technology is required for a really good travel
app. In line with this and unlike mobile internet, I think mapping companies now have the content
to seriously make the leap into pedestrian naviga�on, last metre direc�ons, 3D images and point
and find applica�ons. This should really open up the market for urban tourism applica�ons around
this type of detailed informa�on, when it is combined with very specific informa�on about a certain
topic or building, etc. The best applica�ons are the ones that are designed to the limita�ons of the
underlying technology.”
(Source: Patrick Connolly, Research Director, IMS Research)
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