BARCELONA -I was at the Forum Nokia Camp in Barcelona today and attended the presentation by Tom Tierney, Developer Alliance Manager at Navteq, based in Chicago.
Here are some tidbits from his presentation:
- Referring to the difference between PNDs (Personal Navigational Devices) and mobiles, Tom described the mobile device as being the 'navigational ringtone' for the user and sees the PNDs and mobiles to be complimentary instead of competing for the same audience
- Some new technologies not everyone has heard of yet were discussed -namely P-Cell Technology (developed in Korea) and TV-GPS Hybrid Positioning...I will investigate and report back if there are interesting developments in these areas
- According to Tom, the use of audio, touch screens and voice interactivity will eliminate the need for banner ads in the future
- Unsurprisingly perhaps, Tom stated that LBS's will be ubiqitous in the future. Also, according to Navteq's own research, consumers principally want 3 things from them -for them to be cheap, accurate and easy-to-use
- According to Navteq, consumers will pay for navigation and gaming applications but not for social networks and search (in line with internet trends)
- To put figures to the growth opportunity we are talking about here, in Q1 2008, 43% of all downloads on mobile phones globally were for Location Based Services..accounting for 62% of total revenues...a sizeable pie which is clearly growing as we see LBS being demanded for Resource Management or Asset Tracking, Entertainment (including Location based dating) and Security (Child Finder features etc.)
