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Angels shine the light on socialight

Socialight has added an additional $500,000 to their coffers in a angel round that was recently announced.  This adds to a previous round of $200,000.  Socialight is a mobile and web social platform for place-based content and conversation.  You can create virtual sticky notes with text, pictures, sound, and video in the real world - and you decide who sees them.

Dan Melinger, CEO and co-founder of Socialight says that the funds will be used to "to continue developing its service, expand into European and worldwide markets, as well as ramp up its efforts to establish third-party content partnerships".

The service is dark right now, but they are going to be taking the covers off a new version in the next few months.

For more on Socialight, check out this video clip on YouTube which was ran on Discovery Channel and the Science Channel.   

Cingular locates Telenav

Looks like a busy week for the guys at TeleNav.  As noted in an earlier post today, TeleNav last week launched the GPS Navigator service on SouthernLINC.  Today they announced a launch on Cingular. It looks like the service is limited to a number of smart phones, some with embedded GPS, and others that will require bluetooth GPS receivers. The feature sets looks the same as you would find on Sprint Nextel and other carriers.  The TeleNav site (select Cingular as your carrier) lists the service as being available on the Moto SLVR and RAZR, however these devices were not mentioned in the press release.

Looks like good news for the LBS industry that Cingular is getting into the mix.  Maybe they are sick of seeing all of the VZ Navigator ads on TV.

Congrats to HP and the rest of the guys at TeleNav.

Dan

TeleNav navigates for Southernlinc

Last week, TeleNav and SouthernLINC announced a partnership to offer SouthernLINC subscribers access to TeleNav's GPS Navigator.  For sale at $9.99 per month, the app features:

Voice and on-screen directions – As you drive, you will get up-to-the minute guidance from an easily understood human voice.  Receive automatic re-routing directions if you miss a turn. Users can also preview their routes before they begin driving and specify preferences including highways and streets.

Biz Finder – Find businesses and services, including ATMs, restaurants, hotels, parking lots and shopping malls.  Then easily navigate to them with the click of a button. Biz Finder also allows users to quickly look up and call the phone number for a business, saving money on unnecessary 411 directory calls.

Fuel Finder – Save money by finding the lowest gas prices within a five-mile or wider radius.

Full color maps (available on select phones) – See colorful maps of specific GPS locations and pan and zoom the map to view the surrounding streets.

Easy destination entry – TeleNav GPS Navigator provides three methods for address entry – preplan your trips on www.telenav.com, type in your destinations directly into your phone using the keypad, or dictate your destination using TeleNav’s unique voice recognition address input system.

Automatic map updates – Never worry about updating new map information or having to pay for updates – TeleNav provides this to its customers automatically and at no additional charge.

Spot Marker – Easily find your car wherever you park it, such as in a large parking lot or on an unfamiliar downtown street.

My Favorites – Save as many addresses as you want for easy access.

Language preference – Choose English, Spanish, Mandarin, Russian, Cantonese, Vietnamese, French or Portuguese.

24x7 Customer Service – Get live help from TeleNav’s trained support staff - on any day and at any time.

Your TV knows where you are, and I am not talking about the couch.

Yesterday, Rosum Corp announced the release of a new TV/GPS hybrid location technology. Dubbed The Rosum TV+GPS Hybrid Positioning Module (HPM), the module "integrates TV and A-GPS ranging information so that any combination of three or more TV towers and GPS satellites can be used for positioning...Further, the HPM provides altitude information to enable reliable indoor and outdoor 3D positioning."

Sounds like this could solve alot of the problems that we face with mobile GPS units in urban canyon environments. 

Microsoft slams mobile social networking

I have long thought that mobile social networking could be a killer app.  it can be killer for a number of different reasons, 1. it will increase text and data usage making the carriers happy, 2. it will keep individuals connected - that why you buy a phone, right?, 3. it will use good technology in a great way.  I am not sure if there are formal criteria for "killer apps", but these may be a start.

Recently Microsoft launched a beta app called SLAM which stands for Social Location Annotation Mobile.  Don't bother checking the Microsoft site for more info, you will only find info on driver and debugging programs. I was able to find the SLAM site by digging through the MS research site.

So what is SLAM? According to the SLAM site, it "enables real-time communication, location awareness and photo-sharing."  Information Week has this to say, SLAM "lets people blast messages and photos to fellow members in a group. For people with the SLAM client installed, their smart phones will buzz, and an indicator on the phone's home screen will show that there's a new message. The application supports any Windows Mobile smart phone."

Generally it seems that this product is built for users that want to create a group and send SMSs to each other.  Aren't there other apps out there that allow this?  The app also allows for the instantaneous sending of pictures from your camera phone. 

On the LBS side, SLAM allows you to see the location of other users in your group on a map using Virtual Earth.  From the SLAM site - "Slam users can also see where other people in their groups are on a map. The Slam client will periodically let the server know where it is, then, when someone in a group requests it, the server generates a map using MSN’s Virtual Earth with everybody’s location marked. Of course, this only works from slam smartphone clients, not SMS users. However, this feature does not require a GPS device, as it attempts to determine location based on the cellular towers your phone detects. " 

They have a use case to illustrating the value of the service - one where user can convene at a restaurant based on location.  Cell tower fixes are good, but if you are in a small city, you may get a fix that could be off by 1,000 yards.  Seems to me that it would be tough to coordinate based on cell tower fixes.

The SLAM site addresses privacy...and in their own words, it is scary. They say that letting your friends and family know where you are "automatically can be scary".   However, they must not have thought that you would be too scared as "location tracking is on by default in Slam, you must opt-out to disable it".  If you were that concerned you would make it opt-in, not on by default.

I know that this is a research project, and location is limited to a few phones, and only works in certain geographic areas, but I have to slam MS for putting this on the market with location on by default.

New Category - Thursdays Thought

Since I started this blog a few months ago, most of the posts have been a regurgitation of info gleamed from press releases from companies in the market.  Since I am man of opinion, and if nugged a little will share lots of opinions of lots of topics.  That being said, I decided to give my self a little nudge and start a new category called "Thursdays Thought".  Why Thursday?  Well, today is Thursday, and today I decided to start this.  Not sure how often I will do this, maybe once a month, or if there is enough to think about, maybe I will do it weekly.  Anyway, the idea here is to focus on news within this industry and pose a question or thought...feel free to reply or comment...or just think about it.  Tomorrow is Friday, so you should have plenty of time to ponder...

Todays Thursday Thought is based on the news that Nokia, after their announcement in late August, has closed their acquisition of Gate 5.  In the press release, Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Multimedia, Nokia, states that  "We see that location based experiences, such as search, mapping and navigation will be a fundamental platform for many applications in Nokia Nseries devices going forward."  Anssi further explains that Nokia's strategy is to deliver "world-leading location based experiences as an integrated offering to our customers". 

In a completely separate release yesterday, Nokia announced the integration of Orb MyCasting in their Nokia N80 device.  This service from Orb Networks allows users to "instantly enjoy your home photos, videos, music, and even TV, where and when you want".

Both announcements sound compelling to me, but the question /thought that I have is this....does an OEM deal with a content owner or application developer matter?  At the end of the day, or when they are getting ready to sign the purchase order, won't the carrier decide what software they want on the device?  Will a carrier that is trying to make a few $$$ on music want their subscribers to be able to easily access their itunes or mp3 collections at home via their wireless device?  Will carriers allow their customers to access their home DVRs rather than use their live TV services?  How about pictures?  Will something like Orb MyCasting change the dynamic of MMS?  Will consumer opt to interact and send pictures from their mobile device, from their PC.   Ultimately this leads to the dumb pipe theory.  OEMs  clearly want to participate in the upside of the digital media space, but will doing so turn their customers into dumb pipes. 

At the beginning of the year, Google announced a deal with Motorola whereby  "Motorola will integrate a Google icon onto select devices so that users can connect directly to Google anytime, anywhere at the click of a button. These mass-market, Internet-optimized handsets will be distributed from early 2006 to select Motorola customers worldwide."  So, will carrier that sell Moto devices just hand over their search business to Google?  Alltel signed on with JumpTap, Verizon with Medio...will those deals be trumped by a Google button on the Moto handsets?

Will OEM deals with content application developers mean anything?  Well, that's the Thursday Thought.  Let me know what you Think.

Dan

eRide and Furuno partner to develop new breed of ultra sensitive and ultra small GPS receivers for Mobile Phones

Ultra High-Sensitive Ultra Small GPS Receiver “GM-83”, the Best GPS Solution for Mobile Phones - the result a new partnership announced between Furuno and eRide. 

The press release (found here) claims that the new receiver will "significantly exceed" USE911 specs.  The release also highlights the low cost, and low poser consumption of the device.  Further, the receiver will extend "positioning coverage to in-door locations and deep urban canyons required of many Location-based services".

Telus launches mobile navigation and kid finding services.

On October 4th, Telus announced the launch of an LBS mobile navigation app and an LBS child finder service.  Dubbed Navigator and Kind Find, Telus states that the services are "easy-to-use GPS services that help increase peace of mind and security by assisting users to navigate to destinations or locate their children in real-time using interactive mobile phone based maps." 

Networks in Motion is the developer behind the two products (NIM also did Verizons Navigator product).  Sounds like the Navigator is your standard fare voice and visual guided turn by turn driving directions app.  It is available on the Samsung a950.  Telus has a free 2 day trial, and subscribers will pay $10 per month for the app in addition to a $0.50 one time download fee.

Telus Kid Find allows parents to locate their children via their phone or via the web.  Privacy and security precautions are in place so that "Only clients who are payment responsible for the account or have been given permission to manage the account can access location information".  The kids phone will receive a one time notification telling them that the service has been activated.  Kids will be notified that they are being located via a "flashing GPS indicator" on the phone screen.  Cost for Kid Find is $5 per month for unlimited usage with a $0.50 one time download fee.  Telus is also offering a free trial allowing users to make 5 locate fixes on the kids phone.    This pricing may put some pressure on Sprint and Verizon for their Family Locator and Chaperone services which are each priced at $10. 

GPS Wireless Conference

GPS-WIRELESS 2007 will be held March 1-2 at the Hilton Embassy Suites, San Francisco Airport.

I attended the GPS Wireless Conference last year.  It was a good show...lots of commercials, but some good content/discussion.  This is not just a mobile conference.

Good networking.

European LBS market to reach revenue of €622 Million

Research firm Berg insight published a report (summary here) last week in which they predict that revenue for LBS services in Europe will hit €622 Million, roughly $793Million USD.  The analysis also states that this revenue will equate to 1.8% of the markets non-voice revenue.  This is a sizable increase from the estimated €144 million in 2005 revenues.  The report claims that 40% of todays revenue comes from LBS applications for business, such as fleet management/tracking.

The report, which I have not read, details some of the growth drivers including improved handset capabilities, and application adoption including navigation.  Much like the E911 initiative in the US, EU E112 is requiring that operators be able to provide location information of emergency calls. The report further explains the lack of broad adoption is due to low consumer awareness and lack of LBS marketing by operators.