Unless you’ve been in a gutter somewhere you’ve heard the phrase Location Based Services (LBS) and most likely it’s been regarding some sort of mobile experience, in many cases a smartphone application. Mobile as a channel has various sub channels such as SMS, mobile web, applications, QR codes etc, all of which are evolving so fast that it’s hard to keep up. Due to rapid innovation, I feel many of us may have just missed a pivotal shift in the mobile space; location based services to location aware services. Although location covers more than just smartphone apps, I’m going to focus on the app world as I feel more people will relate. I’ll cover non-app location services in a future post.
As marketers I think it’s important the difference is understood as we’re already seeing smartphone apps shift make this shift. So what’s really the difference? Location based services are those apps with features based on and or rooted in location. Some great examples are Dodgeball, now Foursquare and Brightkite. The main feature/function is letting others know which locations you are traveling to.
So how do location aware services differ and why are we seeing this shift? The desire to check-in to my current location and tell my friends I’ve arrived somewhere is already un-entertaining. At the end of the day, most people are checking in because they want to let the business know that they are there in hopes of receiving some sort of reward or savings. Personally, I don’t care if my friends know I just got to Starbucks. I really just want something in return for going there every day to get my coffee. Here in lies the shift to location aware services.
We already had enough and now crave more. How can developers, brands and marketers create apps that continually engage and deliver value for being in a certain place at a certain time? Will we always just open Foursquare and say “im here” moving forward? What else can the app bring to the table other than labeling me the mayor?
Almost any app you download now and in the future will ask permission to use your location. It’s doing so to enhance its other features. Think about Yelp. Most people use Yelp to find restaurants or stores and see recommendations on those specific places. To help narrow down your results, Yelp leverages your location as context to why you may be searching for such a location. If you’re looking for a good Italian restaurant you’ll be presented with all of your options starting with the closest. It’s merely using location as a layer to make more relevant recommendations.
Matt Galligan, the co-founder of SimpleGeo, a company that provides tools and services making it easy for developers to add location functionality to their apps, sums up many of my beliefs in this video where he discusses this shift. He provides a great example regarding the iPhone camera app many of use every day.
Even, Facebook, the social network most of us are obsessed with has added a location layer with its recent release of Places. Facebook’s primary features are clearly not rooted in location but by incorporating it into features like photos, posts, and more, adds context for our friends and family that are tuning in…as well as those ex-girlfriends or boyfriends that still may stalk you. Come on, we all have been there…
I’m super excited to see how developers continue to take advantage of location data to provide us with more kick ass experiences while on the go. Almost every, if not all applications will use location in some way moving forward. As mobile continues to mature, it’s important to stay up to speed with our “marketing speak” as it can quickly become misused and misinterpreted.
Are your clients begging for location-based services? If they are, I bet they are really asking for location aware services. What are the best apps you’ve seen lately that use location to enhance the experience? How can we use location in more efficient ways?
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Welcome to my site. I am a marketing professional with a strong focus in mobile. I am the co-founder of @thumbfound. We help businesses & brands use SMS to grow their bottom line.