Mobile location Services will lead the new revolution in mobile phones (transferred)

Over the years, people ask each other when they call: "Can you hear me now?" "Soon after, people's problems will become:" Can you find me now? ”。

Over the past few years, the mobile phone sector is quietly undergoing a change, known as the "Mobile location Services", the industry location-based it is lbs. The new generation of smartphones can use Global Positioning systems (GPS) or wireless networks to pinpoint the location of users, and this has spawned a wave of innovation.

The explosive growth of mobile location services is the result of a combination of trends. First, the rapid popularity of smartphones, especially the iphone, has become the most compelling trend in this area. Second, the speed of wireless networks is also accelerated. Finally, mobile phone software development also began to surge.

For months I have tried many applications with my own BlackBerry curve and Apple to lend my iphone. Many of the same applications can also be installed on other mobile platforms, including Microsoft Windows Mobile and the Nokia Symbian operating system. Also, the Palm Pre phone, which will be released this June, is designed specifically for mobile location services.

The boundary between the fuzzy virtual and the reality

Before buying BlackBerry a year ago, I never had much interest in GPS. But now, I find that mobile location services are essential. And, I believe, these devices that provide location services will become one of the most exciting areas of innovation in this era.

"It will fundamentally change our way of life," said Anssi Vanjoki, executive vice president of Nokia, Wanyoki. It integrates virtualization into our daily lives. ”

Let's think about it a little bit. Until now, our real life and virtual life are still distinct. Our internet life is very rich, but once we leave the computer, we can only throw away the virtual life and re-enter into the real life.

But as more and more people begin to carry devices that provide mobile location services, the boundaries between reality and the virtual world will be blurred. With these devices, our real world will be shrouded in a layer of virtual data.

The iphone has obvious advantages

Earlier this month, a report released by Frost & Sullivan, a US market research firm, showed that the value of location services for 2008 years was $480 million. By 2013, the figure is expected to reach $3 billion.

To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, I downloaded a location-search app called "where". The program first marks your location on the map and then helps you find the nearest movie theater and draws you a map of the surrounding events. In addition, it contains a feature called "What Is that (Heywhat ' Sthat)", which allows you to see the names of the mountains that you can view around you. The SkyMap feature will help you determine the names of the stars and galaxies you can see above your head.

It goes without saying that the iphone has become a very good platform for such applications. You can use the iphone's rich display to get location information just by gently tapping your finger.

But the iphone's advantage is another aspect: it has three ways to locate it. First, the iphone has a built-in GPS chip, but it's not perfect because it doesn't perform well indoors. In this case, the user can use the mobile phone base station to triangulate. If possible, the iphone can also use a Wi-Fi base station to triangulate.

"We believe that location is a very important message," said Bob Borchers, director of the iphone's senior product marketing. Buches says one of his favorite iphone locator apps is "Sit and squat", which can help users find the nearest public bath.

Although I still love my blackberry, it does have some shortcomings in mobile targeting, largely because the BlackBerry App Store has just opened. However, over the past year, I have been using the Telenav application almost continuously. Wherever you are, the app can provide you with a navigation service.

The Telenav app can also help me search restaurants, gas stations and other storefronts and generate a list of recent storefronts. Thanks to Telenav, I found a "Drive-through" Starbucks on the way to work. However, BlackBerry's Telenav service does not provide me with information such as comments, rankings, and menus, and the iphone's Yelp can provide such information.

A "generation gap" exists in mobile social networks

The only mobile location service I can't accept is mobile social networking. This seems to be due to the generation gap. I've installed loopt on my iphone and BlackBerry, and I've almost invited everyone I know, most of whom are like me, over 35 years old. Loopt allows you to share your location with your friends. So, in theory, I can open a map on the loopt and it will help me pinpoint the location of my friends.

The problem is that most of my friends think the service is creepy. Privacy is a chasm that they cannot surmount. Loopt founder Sam Altmann (Sam Altman), whose average age is 20, is no wonder my friends have reacted so much.

Brian Levin, chief executive of Useful Networks company in Denver, said he believes the mobile network will soon spark interest, as many older people are starting to join Facebook. Useful networks has taken a different approach to creating mobile location applications that target people and objects through mobile messaging and wireless networks.

The advantage of this approach, Levin says, is that it can be compatible with more mobile phones and carriers. For example, useful networks created a social network service called "Sniff" that allows users to send SMS messages to get a friend's geographic location.

Although useful networks has created several applications, its main product is to provide people with tools to create services and applications. The company's newest product is used to create mobile advertising services. While advertising is an unavoidable trend, businesses need to be cautious about it.

On the one hand, I want information that is useful and needs to be met. But I don't want this kind of information to interfere with me.

Apple's Buches said: "How do you make your information fascinating and highly relevant but not seen as spam?" This is the biggest challenge. As a user, neither you nor I want to be a victim of spam just because a product has been purchased from a store. "(compilation/Long song)

Mobile location Services will lead the new revolution in mobile phones (transferred)