DENVER-Mobile location services will be an essential element of the mobile Internet revolution, but the industry’s success teeters on its ability to ensure privacy to the end user.
Application service providers and carriers emphasized this and other points during IBC USA Conferences Inc.’s “Mobile Location Services” conference held here last week.
SignalSoft Corp., Cell-Loc Inc., CellPoint Systems AB and CT Motion were among the sponsors of the event, which tossed around privacy, technology and deployment issues, among others.
Foremost in the minds of those ASPs with plans to launch in the United States was the Federal Communication Commission’s E911 mandate, referred to by one speaker as “a dirty word in the carrier business.”
All U.S. carriers are required comply with the E911 mandate by Oct. 1, 2001. The mandate stipulates carriers must be able to locate their subscribers within an accuracy of 125 meters. Carriers have to decide by October whether they will use a handset-based or network-based solution.
Both camps argued their case for each technology, although only a handful of the conference attendees actually represented carriers. When asked which technology Nextel Communications Inc. would use, Bob Ewald, manager of location services for Nextel, said with a grin, “We’ll let you know in October.”
Much anticipation and hype surrounds mobile location technology, but even though the majority of the attending ASPs said they could deploy their services this year, it’s not expected carriers will do so until the October 2001, E911 deadline.
In the ongoing technology debate, handset-based solution provider SnapTrack Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Inc., said its handset-based Wireless Assisted GPS technology can locate a wireless device to within 5-20 meters, but users will have to change out their current handsets for ones that have the embedded global positioning system microchip, probably at a higher cost.
Network-based application service providers like Cambridge Positioning Systems, True Position Inc. and Sigma One used this fact in their argument for their solutions, which use either Angle of Arrival, Time Difference of Arrival or Enhanced Observed Time Difference technology, each with accuracies ranging from 75-300 meters.
Despite the bantering back and forth about which technology is better and will be easiest to deploy, most speakers agreed that no method is best in all environments. Peter Henricsson, chairman and chief executive officer of CellPoint Systems, emphasized the need to get real services up and running as soon as possible, but also to make privacy a high priority.
“The Big Brother syndrome is out there,” Henricsson cautioned.
Whether a user is trying to find a friend in the mall or locate a lost child or pet, Henricsson said, “It is important the user `owns’ their own position.”
He proposed a “triple privacy solution.” Henricsson said a mobile location services provider first must give the subscriber the option of whether they want to subscribe to a location service. Then the subscriber should be allowed to decide who will be able to locate him/her. Finally, a subscriber must always be able to turn off the location function, but still have regular use of the phone.
Nextel’s Ewald warned the mobile location services industry “must self-regulate or else it will be regulated.”
Beyond locating people, mobile location technology has a vast number of other applications. NTT DoCoMo, Webraska Mobile Technologies, AirFlash, ATX Technologies Corp. and Matrix Vehicle Tracking presented solutions including real-time driving directions, gaming, L-411 and concierge services, roadside assistance and vehicle fleet tracking.
Many of these applications-especially the in-vehicle services-already are available, but until Wireless Application Protocol-enabled handsets become available, U.S. consumers will have to wait at least until next year for most of these services.
