Survey Says Consumers Interested in GPS

location based services

By SmartPhoneToday StaffMay 30, 2007
Carriers will be happy to know that a recent survey conducted by PocketPC Wire found consumers are getting the location-based services (LBS) picture. With LBS, users can receive directions or find out where nearest Starbucks is, among many other applications. It can also personalize traffic information without direct intervention by the user.
39 percent of respondents said their next mobile device would ‘most definitely’ include global positing system (GPS) technology, wile an additional 21 percent answered ‘probably,’ but it depends on the cost. Of the remaining respondents, 14 percent weren’t sure yet, 12 percent said probably not and 14 percent answered no.
A key enabler for the explosion of LBS offerings is the growing number of smartphones and cell phones that integrate global positioning system (GPS) radios: Hence, the importance of the awareness of the technology on the part of consumers.
These receivers gather pulsed signals from as many of the two dozen or so GPS satellites orbiting the earth as it can lock in. Using triangulation, the radio calculates its position within twenty yards or so.
That way LBS applications offered by carriers for supported smartphones and cell phones can get you from point A to B accurately, while helping you avoid traffic jams and the like, for instance.