Forecast: LBS revenue growth to $13.3B by 2013

Mobile location-based services will generate annual global revenues of $13.3 billion by 2013, up from $515 million in 2007, according to a new forecast released by market analysis firm ABI Research. Crediting the growth to new WCDMA and GSM handsets incorporating GPS capabilities as well as consumer demand for personal navigation functionality, ABI also anticipates surging popularity for mobile applications including friend finders, local information searches, family tracker apps and enterprise apps. ABI adds the future of LBS hinges on availability of all-inclusive data tariffs and cross-network service interoperability. "The interesting thing about the LBS content-producing sector is that much of the information is already available," said ABI Research analyst Jamie Moss in a prepared statement. "It's a win-win situation for content providers: They already have established markets for their map and POI data (automotive and telematics), and LBS is yet another that could potentially provide them with considerable additional licensing revenue."

For more on the ABI forecast:
- read this release

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