Survey Reveals Significant Opportunities for Handset Manufacturers
Survey Reveals Significant Opportunities for Handset Manufacturers
19th June , 2009
UK : Sarantel announced the results of a global survey that polled consumers on their views, usage and future expectations in relation to location based services on mobile handsets. Independent marketing agency Ice Blue Sky (http://www.icebluesky.com) carried out the survey in April and analysed the results on behalf of Sarantel. To view or download the full report visit http://sarantel.client-service.net/sarantel/download_form.php.
The findings reveal that major commercial opportunities exist for both handset manufacturers and service providers. An overwhelming majority (85%) of consumers who are aware of LBS would either be prepared to pay more for an LBS-equipped handset (34%) or would choose an LBS-enabled handset over one without (50%). However, manufacturers and service providers need to genuinely deliver services that consumers want and resolve concerns relating to GPS performance, usability and pricing.
Market education emerged as a fundamental issue that the manufacturers and service providers need to address. According to the survey, consumers were unfamiliar with the terms LBS and location based services (36%), but most could name individual services. The survey indicated that today LBS is nearly synonymous with navigation, a well-promoted service that is readily available and easily understood. Beyond navigation, consumers have identified a wish list of additional services that they would consider adopting: locating nearest services, such as cash points (56%), alerting the emergency services to their location (45%), finding their friends (17%) and being notified of events in their area (15%).
Service providers and retailers should note that the least popular choice was receiving promotional information (10%). Another crucial finding is that overall handset performance is average to poor according to 68% of the respondents who had experience with it. On a scale of 1-5, where 1 is poor and 5 is high, 56% rated 'speed (time to first fix)' at 1 or 2. Urban effectiveness fared marginally better with 51% receiving 1 or 2 ratings.
According to Sarantel's CEO David Wither, Network operators and handset manufacturers need to seriously consider the " implications of marginal performance and the negative impact this can have on consumer uptake. Average 'at best' is not good enough performance to enable a broad range of LBS services which require, robust, reliable and near-perfect positional accuracy to flourish commercially. Consumers have high expectations for performance. If their expectations are met, the sky's the limit."