Microsoft & Yahoo - The Sleeping Giants of Location-Based Services?
With all of the noise around Vista and Xbox, we tend to forget that Microsoft is putting a lot of energy into location intelligence, including the sort that sits on wheels. Its MapPoint services and Live Web mapping are no secrets, but less known are its efforts on the mobile front. According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is working with Ford to bring interactive capabilities into the automobile. It also partners with big names in the car business including Alpine, Clarion, Fiat, and Honda. Much of Microsoft’s in-car work is done by the Windows Automotive Division, and includes a Windows operating system (based on Windows CE 5.0) and applications ranging from entertainment to navigation. The Journal says the companies will announce the initiative, called Sync, next week at the Detroit auto show and the Consumer Electronics Show.
Meanwhile, reports indicate that Yahoo and Dash Navigation are combining search, navigation, and the Internet to provide local-mobile capabilities in vehicles. Dash will provide the GPS and Internet connectivity in a yet-to-be-released device called Dash Express, while Yahoo will provide local search technology and data, Yahoo! Local.
While it’s tough to get very excited about Ford, the Sync and Yahoo/Dash initiatives portend things to come in the broader market - integrated, connected in-vehicle systems. Businesses should see this as ongoing opportunity for location-based services as well as marketing.
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2 comments on “Microsoft & Yahoo - The Sleeping Giants of Location-Based Services?”
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What sort of location based services were you thinking of, Ron? I hope not pop up ads while you are trying to drive!
I think the device-agnostic, carrier-agnostic middleware that is coming out this year - the ability to run your own location based widget software on any GPS phone/device independent of the carrier, is a step in the right direction. That way you can track the vehicle’s location over say the past few months, and build your own company databases, along with other devices such as mobiles. No being locked into one telco carrier, one handset and one piece of software. And add other widgets or build additional databases and services as time goes on. Companies such as mobiles2go.com are definitely on the right track.
And anyone who can provide me with a real service, will get my vote. Such as how to find your car in the department store parking lot, using your mobile phone’s WAP maps only you put down the mobile somewhere but can’t remember where, probably next to the keys which have also disappeared. I often have days like that.
No pop-up ads I hope! People already have too many distractions while driving. Probably we’ll have verbal ads and paid search results like those on the Internet now.
I agree with you - help us solve the common problems. Find us parking places, the nearest ATM for my bank (without having to tell the system every time which bank I use), and the best prices for gasoline nearby. There aren’t many open standards yet, and the history of technology shows this will take a while. However, companies are tracking their fleets over time and working to reduce costs by analyzing that data.