2009 is the year of the mobile, says VeriSign

06 Apr 2009

Predicting increasing use of mobile LBS and social networking, VeriSign's Messaging & Mobile Media division assigns growth opportunities for carriers and social networking destination, and mobile LBS will grow to 20% adoption in 2011.

In 2009 carriers and social networking destinations will finally work together to meet users needs, whilst addressing the issues and concerns that have held back the growth of mobile social networking to this point. By integrating user-friendly interfaces into smartphones and breaking down the siloed environment between social networking sites, users will finally have opportunities for ubiquitous interaction with all of their favourite social networking destinations. Utilizing the unique nature of mobile environment, social networking also provides real-time relevance to the messages shared between the users and their social network.

LBS adoption currently stands at 7%. All major US carriers launched on-deck, user initiated ‘pull' services such as navigation or search in the past twelve months and as the parties involved in this ecosystem work together to resolve issues such as consumer privacy, spam protection and service monetisation, there will be an increase in both innovative new applications and consumer adoption. Carriers will launch new on- and off-deck "push" LBS services communicating relevant information to end-users based on their location and preferences. These services will spur new messaging opportunities in a client-less environment (WAP, SMS and MMS) for push-based applications, such as mobile advertisement / coupon / promotion services, which are better targeted based on a consumer's location and his inclination to purchase at that moment.