MSearchGroove

As I prepare to speak at the Location Based Services World Forum 2008, taking place in Amsterdam (January 14-16) and organized by Marcus Evans, it’s natural that location-based companies and technologies that effectively “location-enable” mobile search and mobile advertising schemes are high on my radar. (My personal thanks to Bouchra Chakroune, Producer, IT and Telecoms Division, Marcus Evans Ltd., for reaching out to me; I look forward to connecting with the impressive roster of location-based experts from mobile operators including 3, O2, Orange, Telefonica, Telenor and Vodafone.)

In my view, Web 2.0 was all about the tools and technologies that allow users to freely create, share and connect around content with members of a larger mobile community; the next evolutionary step is Mobile 3.0, which places location and the mobile device at the core of this exchange, empowering users to make their experiences personal, relevant and much more compelling when they’re on the move. And I’m not alone on this one. Portal providers, such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, have placed location at the core of their offers, pairing communication services with maps and local mobile search and mobile advertising. At the other end of the spectrum, individual vendors are using location-based services to turn mobile search services into profitable value propositions.

My research has turned up some newcomer companies in this space that peg my “cool meter,” so check back regularly for podcasts and exclusive interviews with the thinkers sure to leave an indelible mark on this nascent market. (Consider the attention given to GeoSentric’s location-social networking service GyPSii and news that Nokia will deliver the service on its N95 and 6110 handsets. This is no fad.)

One must-watch company is Skyhook Wireless, a Boston-based company whose investors include Intel and Nokia. Skyhook has quietly and cleverly developed a game-changing, software-only positioning system that leverages Wi-Fi technology to deliver precise location data. Because the technology relies on Wi-Fi rather than satellites or cell towers, developers no longer need to ask operator permission to add location to their services and apps.

Users can also location-enable services by downloading Loki, Skyhook’s location-based Internet search and navigation tool, which SearchEngineLand likens to “the Firefox of local search.” In a nutshell, this app (which is currently in beta) removes the need to enter location when performing a local search, and lets users find their exact physical location using Wi-Fi technology and triangulation. Check it out for free at www.loki.com and download the mobile app here.

I caught up with Ted Morgan, Skyhook Wireless CEO, to get an update on Loki and the inside track on the company’s future roadmap. Skyhook, which has been mapping Wi-Fi networks in all of America’s most densely populated areas and is now expanding to Europe, has created a reference point that can help location-based applications orient themselves when GPS won’t work.Ted told me mobile content companies and mobile search companies are lining up now that they “get” the value of this approach. To date, he’s in discussions with all the usual suspects. Predictably, brands and advertisers are just beginning to get their head around contextual advertising, but the scenarios are nonetheless exciting.

BTW, a recent AOL deployment gives us a glimpse of how Skyhook might plug the gap in location-aware services. Back in March, the portal added Skyhook Wireless’s Loki location awareness capabilities to enable desktop AIM instant messaging users to share their current or future location with AIM buddies using Skyhook’s Wi-Fi Positioning System. It’s easy to imagine similar schemes that make use of mobile to deliver local search and location-aware advertising going forward.

Listen to the podcast here [11:32]

Meanwhile, device makers and silicon manufacturers are getting on the location-based bandwagon big-time. Ted has signed with handset makers (and through them mobile operators) - but declined to provide details. We do know that Korea’s ReignCom is set to launch the Wi-Fi enabled iriver W10 portable media player with the Wi-Fi Positioning System from Skyhook Wireless. SiRF Technology Holdings, a provider of GPS-enabled silicon and software location platforms, has also licensed Skyhook’s WPS to create a single positioning system for wireless carriers that combines the best of both GPS and Wi-Fi technologies.

APPS BEYOND MAPS: Skyhook has surveyed every street in its coverage area, amassing “over 20 million access points in our database.” The focus has been North America, but the company will soon have “wrapped up” Europe and Asia. “Our system allows you to add location to any Wi-Fi enabling device, so your laptop, your PDA, your new phone from Nokia that has Wi-Fi built into it. We can turn that into a regular mobile device, into a location-enabled device just by adding our software…. Going forward [I can see] using it for things like social network; so either keeping in touch with your friends and family based on their current location; making new friends based on your location; doing really interesting new applications, like location based gaming; and even doing fun things like geo-stamping the location of your personal photographs.”

LOCATION FOR THE MASSES: “The problem is when you use Google Mobile Maps without the operator, you don’t have location. So you really have to type in where you are by hand. What our system does is, if you download it in conjunction with Google Maps, it will add location and you will have all that capability to find things around you without having to manually type in your location.” Loki, Skyhook’s consumer-focused offer, is a toolbar that users can add to their browser. “You basically location-enable your laptop or your windows mobile device. So that now you can do local search and navigation, and share your location with friends, completely independent of any operator or service provider. Today’s Loki is completely free, and we have had probably half a million people in North America download and use Loki.”

MISSING LINK: “The problem Google, Yahoo, Ask and any main portal has is that they don’t know where you are as a user. And they have no way of getting it. With our Loki technology, any content site can add location to their site simply by adding a couple of lines of java script which is very easy for a web developer to do. Just by embedding some of this code, they can now request the user’s location. And if they are a newspaper site or a portal site, they can tailor the content for that person’s exact location. And then ideally start to drive local advertising to that user.”

ROLL-OUT: “What we do see that is more regional is the European operators are more open and accepting of Wi-Fi enabled phones. So you have got device makers like Nokia, who have rolled some 20 odd devices with Wi-Fi in them, and the operators in Europe are rolling those out. In Asia and the US they are a little bit behind in rolling out these Wi-Fi enabled phones; in the US, for example, each operator has maybe one or two Wi-Fi enabled devices and they are proceeding cautiously. In Europe they are full steam rolling out as many of these services as possible.”

THE NEXT MOVE: Skyhook has its sites set on Europe and Asia. “We have done 70 percent of the U.S. and Canada; 70 percent of the population is now covered by our system and we plan to do the same in Europe. …We have London, Barcelona and Amsterdam covered and now we going to the top 50 cities, 50 metropolitan areas of Europe and we will do the same thing with Asia.” Skyhook also plans to “expand our platform to enable other types of devices, like Symbian phones and BREW (devices), so that anyone can go and download Loki and do local search, navigation and social networking.

• Posted in
• Mobile Social Networking, Web 2.0, Mobile Search, Mobile Advertising, Local Search, Podcasts

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