Location based
social networking
Alex Housley
@ahousley
Navigation & Location Europe, Amsterdam - 11th June 2009

Total Hotspots
• Global Wirefree Community - impartial
helping people find Wi-Fi connectivity
• Founded by Alex Housley in 2004 to “scratch
an itch” whilst studying Business Computing
at City University
• Experienced management team (ex-
Microsoft, D&B, PWC)
• Clients include leading service providers,
venue owners and technology companies
• iPhone app recently launched in partnership
with Rummble

Rummble
• Easy way to share the places you love
• Aiming to become #1 location based
social discovery platform
• Developed a unique trust algorithm -
enabling relevance & speed of discovery
• Founded by Andrew Scott: 9 years mobile
experience; 4 startups; successful exit of
web development company
• World class board, advisors backed by
leading academic research

LBS in 2004
• Higher Cost - location lookup, data usage,
international roll-out
• Lower Usability - small screen size, UI flexibility
• Less Awareness
• of social software
• of location based services

2009...

Travel Guides

Travel Guides Websites

Travel Guides Websites Mobile Socnets

Travel Guides Websites Mobile Socnets
Search Engines

Travel Guides Websites Mobile Socnets
Search Engines Mobile Services

Social Explodes
• > 200 million Facebook users.
• 700k new users each week
• > 30m accessing via their mobile
device.
• Twitter is “going nuclear”.
• Growth across all demographics.

Context
Location + Time + Usage History + Social Graph
via @EdParsons, Google

Relevance
• Information overload.
• Limited time and screen real estate.
• We need filters!
• We have unique trust networks.

Browser vs App
• Arms race to build apps for each platform
• Objective C takes approx 5x code to
comparable web app!
• 30s to compile and launch
• 5x longer than web apps - via @JofArnold

Browser vs App
• UI responsiveness
• JSON vs XHTML
• Currently no access to camera or compass
• Google believe mobile web is the future...

Next Generation
Mobile Mapping
• Dots on mobile maps clutter easily.
• Rummble takes maps beyond “what’s
where” and “A to B” routing.
• Mobile maps and lists of results have
relative pros and cons. What happens
when combined?

Neighbourhood View
• Won TeleAtlas’s Global
Award 2009 -
“Disruptive Innovator”
• Helps users decide
which direction to
physically go
• Quicker than clicking
individual map items

Platform War

iPhone 3G S
• Google Map Views (Mapkit)
• Dynamic Map Markers
• Safari - geolocation API and offline support (Google Gears)
• In-App Purchases
• Compass
• Peer-to-Peer (Gamekit) - talk over bluetooth, share geocontent.
Not so convinced about bluetooth...
• Graphics - 3D support
• Find (and wipe!) my iPhone
• Push Notifications

Android
• Unrestrictive platform
• Background apps
• Strong location APIs
• Further announcement coming soon...

Windows Mobile
• Microsoft are taking location seriously
• Live ID - open ID provider since Oct
2008
• Windows Mobile 6.5 SDK
• Excellent Handsets Coming Soon...
• Device variation - resolution, input, etc
• Fluid.net Controls - touch gestures
compatible with WM 5+
• Total Hotspots / Rummble winners of
most improved app at Mobile
Incubation Week

Windows Mobile
• Microsoft are taking location seriously
• Live ID - open ID provider since Oct
2008
• Windows Mobile 6.5 SDK
• Excellent Handsets Coming Soon...
• Device variation - resolution, input, etc
• Fluid.net Controls - touch gestures
compatible with WM 5+
• Total Hotspots / Rummble winners of
most improved app at Mobile
Incubation Week

Mobile Local Information
Browser SMS App
50.00
37.50
25.00
12.50
Source: comScore Mobile 0
2008 2009

What a mess...

So, where’s the money?
• The location based services
opportunity is huge!
“The (User Location Market) …
• Location is a commodity. will nearly triple in revenue this
year, to $1.3 billion from $485
million in 2007, and will reach
• Lower barriers to entry.
$8 billion in 2011.”
Gartner Research

So, where’s the money?
• Location is now a commodity
• Premium Model
• Subscription / Micro-payments
• Advertising / Commission
• By-products - API, data, business process

Privacy
• Lack of understanding?
• Opt-in
• Granularity: who? location accuracy? time?
• Prompts: app or system level?

Dank je!
• alex@totalhotspots.com
• @ahousley on Twitter
• Download Total Hotspots or Rummble for
iPhone.
• Register and stay in touch for news about
other platforms!