There are now over 1,900 location apps at the iPhone store, says Skyhook Wireless. It’s about a 25 / 75 split between free and paid apps. Mobile location-based social networking sites are expected to gain momentum with more than 82 million subscriptions expected by 2013, says ABI Research.
Om Malik believe the iPhone will play a vital role, along Skyhook Wireless which collect location data from Wi-Fi, GPS and cell towers, then resells it to everyone.
- Last year, there were only a few dozen apps that incorporated location-based data. This year that number has grown to 2,000 apps. Next year there will be five times as many apps that utilize location-based data.
- There are nearly 200 million geolocation queries on Skyhook’s system. In comparison, Google is searched more than a billion times a day.
Other companies competing with Skyhook for data aggregation include Nokia’s Ovi, which will open their store in May, Useful Networks, with their AdWhere platform and uLocate which partners with carriers, MVNOs and consumer brands.
Ekahau, today announced that its Wi-Fi location tracking software is being integrated into GPS receivers designed by NavSync. With this combination, their new tags can track assets virtually anywhere, via the Ekahau-enabled NavTrac Wi-Fi GPS tag which provide precise tracking capabilities in tough environments, such as urban canyons and complex indoor areas, while transporting information over any Wi-Fi network.
InStat’s, “GPS – Locating’ Its Way into Mobile Devices” says mobile devices will comprise over 100 million units in 2013. Mobile computing holds a lot of promise for GPS with 26 million GPS enabled units shipping in 2013, but there are barriers. In the netbook segment cost and only one mini-card slot will inhibit adoption, says the researcher.
Related Dailywireless articles include; Smartphone Markets Compared, Android Market: Open for Business, Mobile World Congress: Handsets, iPhone: Money Machine, Palm Pre: Looking Good, iPhone Apps May Cost $30K to Develop, iPhone: 10 Million Sold, Apps Store: Red Hot, Mobile World Congress: HSPA, WiMAX & LTE Faceoff, Nvidia: Turbo Boost for Android and WinMobile, Netbooks Embed Broadband, The 8 Megapixel Phone, Handsets: Open, Open, Open, Cisco Beamforms Russia & Kazakhstan, TeleNav Does Turn-By-Turn on Android and 2009 Mobile World Congress.
