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Last month, Sprint Nextel Corp. quietly announced that it would open its subscriber-location data through a partnership with Boston-based location-based services technology developer uLocate Inc. and California-based WaveMarket Inc.
But according to industry insiders, the deal signifies more than just a partnership between the nation’s third-largest carrier and two developers of location-based mobile technology. By allowing access to subscriber-location data, which has been closely guarded in the past because of the complexity of privacy issues, Sprint has provided a channel for application developers to directly access subscribers, a relationship that could speed the adoption of such services and inspire new applications.
“One of the challenges we (as application developers) were dealing with was that applications sitting on the carrier deck weren’t getting much exposure — only those surfing the deck could find them,” said Dan Gilmartin, VP of marketing for uLocate and former Sprint executive. “This will give application developers access to all subscribers.”
Under the new partnership, users don’t need to have a carrier-provided application installed on their phone, essentially taking the carrier out of individual transactions.
Gilmartin also stresses that the team is still very aware of privacy issues, and any applications using subscriber data will require an “opt-in” feature.
Carl Stjernfeldt, a general partner with Waltham-based VC firm Castile Ventures who focuses on communication technologies, said that while the economics of the deal are still unknown, the partnership could be an indication of things to come. “I think it is a sign that the carriers realize developing applications is not their core business,” he said.
Location-based services are one of the fastest segments of mobile applications, with a projected revenue of $13.3 billion globally by 2013, according to London-based ABI Research.
The deal is also not expected to be uLocate’s last such agreement. Gilmartin said the company is working on similar partnerships with other carriers, but declined to provide details.
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