Navigation new 3G killer app, In-Stat says

location based services

MUNICH, Germany — Market researcher In-Stat sees a surprising new killer application for 3G wireless to emerge: Mapping and navigation services.
While almost all industry pundits and applications experts for many years - and in vain - spread the gospel of imaging and video applications being the 3G killer application to come, In-Stat now bets on navigation and graphical display of location based services as the real killer application. However, wireless carriers willing to secure a piece of the market will have to expand the availability of compatible handsets, the market researchers point out.
"Expanding the number of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) or Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) handsets from today's levels will be an important step for 3G carriers to provide the applications their customers really want," explains In-Stat analyst David Chamberlain. "Unfortunately, technology choices left over from the 1990s make this difficult but carriers and handset vendors are starting to provide an increasing flow of products that better meet the 3G customers' needs."

In a survey of more than 1,000 mobile users in North America, Europe, and Asia, the market researchers also found that presently the customer awareness of 3G is not very strong. More than 50 percent of the respondents did not even know if their carrier offers 3G services. But, on the other hand, almost 50 percent said they would consider changing their carrier in order to have access to 3G services.