The Location Based Services (LBS) market has evolved significantly, but failed to reach its full potential that was projected four years ago. There are several reasons for the slow uptake of the market, but carriers must shoulder much of the blame. Even so, carriers still have a role to play versus smartphone OS providers in enterprise services, retail applications, location based analytics, and advertising, but only if they want to.
This report highlights the advantages carriers have including, but not limited to, customer relationships, speed, partnerships, device impact and strong client bases. It also breaks down the six areas of growth for carriers: OSS; BSS and CEM; IoE; big data and analytics; public access small cells, Carrier Wi-Fi, and hetnets in retail; and location based advertising. Finally, the reports offers an overview for the key players including carrier infrastructure providers; LBS platform providers; IT vendors; advertising companies; analytics companies; and retail location, analytics and advertising companies.