(keitai-l) Re: Location Based Services ?

From: Chas Sweeting <charlie_at_skinnyhippo.com>
Date: 08/28/03
Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20030828094346.01045d60@mail.skinnyhippo.com>
Thanks for the reply, Mark, 

>It seems to me that so many people are unaware of what anyone outside DoCoMo
>has been up to - well, that is probably normal when one company controls 60%
>of the market.

Yes, you're right.  It's probably due to NTT being the "hoover"
or "kleenex" of Japanese mobile services - plus, they do seem 
to do more PR outside of Japan than other companies... or perhaps
newsdesks just don't pick up on the other stuff.

>Anyway, KDDI has had a GPS service for about 1 1/3 years now on its au
>service for 3G phones... And J-Phone has something too (though I think its
>an LBS workaround)

That's nice - the market being able to dictate GPS chips for
the phones. Do all phones now come GPS-enabled ? or when purchasing
a phone, is it pointed out to the customer as a value-added feature,
or do people simply not care about it yet ?


>Popular?  I think there are quite a few popular applications other than
>mapping - games, shopping, things like that.
>
>APIs?  I am sure that KDDI has something.

Don't suppose anybody on the list has a contact at KDDI or 
JPhone, which they'd be willing to share ? Am contemplating
the feasibility of an article that takes a fresh look at 
location based services (since they were overhyped a few years back).

Thank you very much,

chas
Received on Thu Aug 28 04:43:30 2003