Sluggish Asia Wireless Location Services Market on Verge of Taking Off

Instat: Location-based services (LBS) may finally realize its potential in the Asia/Pacific region in the upcoming five years. LBS has been labelled “the next big thing,” and has been the subject of aggressive revenue projections by industry insiders, however, it has yet to materialize in a big way, the high-tech market research firm says. Slower-than-expected implementation of more accurate location determination technologies (LDTs), consumer privacy concerns, and operators focused on the deployment of other proven mobile data services have hampered LBS in the region,” says Bryan Wang, In-Stat analyst. “One factor that is not lacking, however, is consumer interest in LBS.

• In 2004, Asia registered LBS revenue of US$353.0 million, and the market is expected to reach US$771.9 million by 2010.
• 88.5% out of 916 Japanese wireless users, and 99.5% out of 940 South Korea wireless users, are interested in one or more LBS application.
• Japan and South Korea are the most advanced regional markets, with almost all categories of LBS applications available now.

Location-Based Services in Asia/Pacific Publ 20051219