Location! Location! Location!

The whole industry has already been talking about location-based services (LBS) for years. But it is only since GPS and other means allow having a permanent and exact enough positioning that location based services actually work.

As users, we are now all accustomed to finding the nearest shops or restaurants on our smartphone, or checking which of our friends are in the neighborhood, without a thought for the complexity of location-based services (LBS). So far, applications only revolved about social interests, social networks, or advertising and marketing.

Now, payments are embracing LBS, as they are seen as bringing an additional layer of security. Already a few months ago, Square launched “Pay with Square” application that allowed a customer, with prior enrolment, to pay in a given shop, just by having the merchant verifying the customer’s face. The application controls that the customer is actually at the merchant premises, using location based services.

The LBS arena is getting more crowded…. In contrast with the “top-of-wallet” discussions we have all had for years, the recently announced Apple Passbook will bring up the most probable card, boarding pass, cinema ticket, according to location. If, or when, Apple Passbook includes NFC-based payment functions, the choice of payment means will be based on LBS, and a part of its security will rely on the combination of location data of the merchant and the consumer. Alos Google next Android Version, dubbed Jelly Bean, will include Google Now, which uses a person's location, search history and calendar entries to offer more pertinent search results, and potentially, in the future, an interaction with Google Wallet.

Now, Smart Insights Weekly will be off-location for a few weeks…. We will be back to bring you location-consistent, up to date information on September 13.

Enjoy your summer!

Thierry Spanjaard

Chief Editor

Smart Insights