China Mobile Phone LBS (Location Based Service) Industry Report, 2007

Location Based Service (or LBS) is also called as positioning service, which confirms the actual geographical location of mobile phone users by the coordination of mobile terminals and mobile network, and thus provides the users with location related information and services. LBS is a form of service integrating mobile communication and navigation. Such service has strong relativity to location.

Technically, LBS can be based on network positioning, terminal positioning, and mix positioning.

1. LBS that is based on network positioning technologies works out the location of a terminal in the network by using such information as time and angles for the arrival of terminal signals at a base station.
2. LBS that is based on terminal positioning technologies mainly makes use of GPS and provides relevant location information by GPS satellite signals received by the terminal.
3. LBS, being based on mix positioning technologies and combining the merits of the above-mentioned two technologies, can make use of the information of handset base station to assort with traditional GPS satellite and make the positioning speed faster. A-GPS and GpsOne are the typical representatives.

Technically, LBS technologies will be led by mix positioning technology in the future and develops towards the state-of-the-art LBS that is characterized by high precision, high usability and high speed.

In 2005, the number of individual LBS users (excluding car LBS users) in China hit 0.966 million. LBS users take less than one percent in total number of mobile phone users. Yet, there are great potential users of handset LBS, therefore the market of handset LBS is big sized.

According to the forecast, the number of individual LBS users will rise to three million in 2007 and the market size will be valued by RMB 750 million. This shows Chinese LBS market is still in the primary stage of development, but the market maintains a fast growing momentum and enjoys a bright prospect. By 2008, the number of GPS handsets with navigation functions will be up to 20 million. In this sense, handset LBS market will witness a broader space of development.