|
Verizon's VZ Navigator is a service that in the U.S. offers voice directions to more than 14 million destinations. Verizon declines to verify a rumor that the service has more than half a million users. Location-based services (LBS) are a segment that has large investments, but did not deliver on its initial promise. However, its time is almost here. People now are accustomed to a global positioning system (GPS) in their cars, so they would probably like it on their cellphones. Developing a successful mobile application is not that straightforward, but the market for social networking will be valued at $13.1 billion by 2011, while it was at less than $3.5 billion in 2006. An example of a successful social networking-for-mobile provider, says a spokesman for Ovum, is ShoZu, which has taken what Flickr has done on the Web and made it fit the mobile environment. Because most phones now have browsers, cameras, and media players, MySpace and YouTube, for instance, should be very well positioned for mobile. Network data rates and prices are also coming close to those of the fixed Internet of just a few years ago. Among topics covered are shifting demographics, location-based services, and mobile healthcare (such as that provided by 3G Doctor in the United Kingdom).
|
Information Sources, Inc.
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}