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LBS: No Longer Just For The Enterprise

The enterprise benefits of location-based services are clear when you consider things like recovery of stolen vehicles. But enterprises aren't the only ones interested in knowing where things are. More and more parents are ready to turn on LBS in their kids' cell phones. And 20-somethings want LBS-enabled social networking apps.

That's the word from JupiterResearch, anyway. In its latest report, it details how carriers can take advantage of the relatively untapped LBS potential. While GPS and LBS have been a boon to enterprises, turns out only about 3% of cell phone users have actually made regular use of mobile phone-based mapping and direction services. Given that many phones are capable of using these services, that's pretty low.

There is interest, though. Parents of kids younger than 13 think child-tracking services are a good idea, and 42% would be willing to pay to keep tabs on their kids. Forgetting the Big Brother implications, a few dollars a month can ease parents' peace of mind, as well as provide a a valuable service for finding children who become lost or abducted. Police already are making use of cell phone signatures to track missing peoples' whereabouts. Adding LBS can speed up the process and possibly help save lives. Most of the carriers already offer these family finder applications. Getting parents to sign up seems to be the tricky part.

"Regardless of the fact that a small number of children under the age of 13 actually have mobile phones, the number of parents who are willing to pay for tracking services is significant," said Julie Ask, VP and research director at JupiterResearch in a prepared statement. "It provides a prime opportunity for mobile service providers to perfect the service, prompting parents to add their children to existing plans."

Parents aren't the only ones interested in finding things. Turns out the MySpace generation (26% of 18- to 24-year-olds) wants to be able to use cell phones to find their friends via social networking applications. Just two weeks ago, Sprint launched a new service that allows subscribers to do just that.

If the interest is there, what is preventing more people from signing up? I think it's the cost. While $1.99 or $2.99 a month may seem like a nominal fee for most of these services, all those nominal fees add up. Depending on which services you lump together (friend finder, music services, data plans, etc), all those extra monthly charges can become not so nominal anymore.

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