Mobile based location service type applications for smartphones and tablets are about go big time. Get really big. Mobile software developers explain why the future is so bright.
Attempting to harness the full potential of location based mobile services perplexed most developers, as well as the large smartphone manufacturers during the past few years. This is because far too often, this particular mobile technology proclaimed that it has come of age, only to fade away when these companies reached out in an attempt to monetize it. But despite these false hopes, Facebook, Google, and the other major players in the mobile world are still definitely hot on its heels, and for good reason. With new smartphone applications coming out at a rapid rate, there are a lot more users that are willing to share their exact location via their handsets. The true realization of location-based mobile services is on the horizon.
We have witnessed the attitudes of location based services developing at a rapid pace over the last year. Location, location, location… is now one of the key components in social based sites such as Foursquare, Twitter and Google Buzz. This developing technology still however has a long way to go, with the biggest issues being user privacy and other specific social concerns that need to be addressed. There is no doubt however with industry leaders, that this market has limitless potential and just has to grow and adapt with the technology.
Be One Of The Early Adopters
Today, tablet, smartphone and mobile device users can easily choose to share their exact location with any select group of friends or network individuals in return for some type of perceived benefit. Foursquare, for example, is a social forum for users who can share the exact address where they are drinking their latte, reading their book, or what or where their favorite boutique is. As mobile social networks expand and grows in popularity, these mobile users will be able to form new networks and communities instantly, this based on location knowledge.
Potential For Business
The growth of location based applications amongst businesses is being headed by those who are able to gain any type of value from tracking the exact location of their friends, staff or colleagues. There is an app currently being developed, a tracking application called Romex (which is an employee management and a protection service), that will enable any employee to run the app on their smartphone, and be able to tell their employers or others exactly where they are.
This type of application has enormous and significant value for any company that manages huge fleets of say delivery personnel around a city or even country, or mobile workers who are in need of exact ‘up to the minute’ information about their location. The details that is supplied by this platform enables Romex to offer detailed customers solutions that makes their staff more efficient.
As smartphones becomes increasingly more sophisticated, most notably being improved battery life, this enables for 24/7 GPS location type technologies that will become a lot more robust as well as ubiquitous. There are companies such as Penrillian, who has been developing new software technology that will reduce GPS battery usage on existing smartphones. Mobile users will eventually begin to use these location-based services that will rely on sharing their exact location and information with anyone they choose to, as the technology will provide for it.
So at this point, most major brands are looking to target their consumers in a very specific way, and companies such as Google will be on the forefront to capitalize on it. Online mobile marketers can use consumer location information to create campaigns that are targeted at specific segments such as: gender, age, income or lifestyle. As Google indexes practically all available internet content, all online products, location as well as businesses via their Google Maps, the main concern for most is how they use the data that they collect.
Looking Into The Future Of Mobile Based Location Apps
We at this point can only speculate on how location based mobile technology will be used in the future. As long as the consumers are satisfied with the ‘trusted sources’ who know their exact location, the data that is captured can be a huge benefit to the entire industry. Obviously the potential of this technology is absolutely enormous. It can be applied towards say, anything from playing interactive 3D real-world based games where the players on the same block are involved in the game, to arranging online business meetings with employees, clients or colleagues in the same area.
In the short term, mobile location technology can give context to what the user is doing, such as – I am at home right now, or at work, or at a store. Once the demand for this gathers momentum, which most predict eventually will, location-based mobile services will eventually reach true ubiquity, with most consumers taking the service for granted.
In the future, mobile location based services will become an important key tool to assist consumers to get to where they are going, or want to go. This not just through navigating, but more by networking with others, or products and services. The rapid development that we will see in this area over the next few years will spell massive opportunities for innovation and revenue generation in the mobile software industry. We’ll just need to decide exactly where we want to go with it.