The Promise of LBS, a Current Business View

A techno/marketing push article in Red Herring about The Promise of LBS that explains the current market situation of LBS in the US, Europe and Asia. Stunning and depressing analysis. Depressing because these people are blind of the main issues of LBS. The user should be in the center of concerns, not the customer nor the technology.

It describes Asia as the eldorado “where cellular subscribers depend on location in their daily lives” and pin-points the elements why no revenues are emerging from the US and European markets:

• Consumers just need more education on the benefits of location, and—of course—a little more time before they’ll start paying for the services
• Bad technology used and poor positioning accuracy
• Lack of cash to implement the right technologies with the right timing
• Privacy issues

Kenneth Hyers, of ABI Research is the freakiest of all:

‘If I could have a magic ability to know where my kids are at all times, I would pay almost any amount. Most American parents would.’

Russel Buckley has probably the best answer to it in a post about Worst Technology for Girls started by Nicolas.

Wanting to keep an eye on your kids and protect them is deeply ingrained parental behaviour. But spying like this actually can cause more damage, by breaking down trust between the parent and child.