ABI RESEARCH: 82 MILLION MOBILE LOCATION BASED SOCIAL NETWORKING SUBSCRIPTIONS BY 2013

ABI Research predicts that there will be over 82 million mobile location-based social networking subscriptions by 2013. According to ABI Research, licensing agreements with carriers and handsets manufacturers will be a crucial success factor for location-enabled social networking. Ad-based models are expected to prevail in the long run. The emergence of location-enabled instant messaging with applications such as Palringo Local and Nokia Chat are also enriching mobile communication with location context. "While growth will be mainly driven by the availability of multimedia-centric GPS handsets, other mobile form factors will also become important," said ABI Research director Dominique Bonte. "Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) with built-in GPS receivers have been announced, with location-based social networking site GyPSii supporting Moblin-based Intel Atom processor-powered MIDs. Connected PNDs and outdoor GPS solutions are other obvious candidates for location-based networking. Nissan Carwings' in-car telematics solution allows the sharing and ranking of fuel consumption in Japan." -Smarajit Dasgupta