According to the latest market research, we classify all the current positioning business into four categories listed in Table 1:

Table1. Classification of positioning business:

From the above classification, we can clearly feel that the two major objectives of mobile positioning business are to provide users with safety guarantee and with individualized and curtailed services.

2. Description of the characteristics of mobile positioning business

It is generally believed that the major characteristics of a type of positioning service should include: privacy, coverage, accuracy and response time.

l         Privacy refers to users’ requirement on the confidentiality of the positioning information.

l         Coverage refers to a geographic area where users can enjoy services with guaranteed quality.

l         Accuracy refers to the difference between the actual position and the estimated position.

l         Response time refers to the time from the acceptance of a positioning application to the provision of positioning services.

Excerpt from Fast Growing Global Mobile Positioning Market, the 2003 Report of Communication Research Office of Communication and Information Research Institute