Subject: [NEXTEL-1] The Sky Has Eyes

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 08:52:19 -0500

The Sky Has Eyes
Arik Hesseldahl, 03.04.03, 10:00 AM ET

Picture this situation if you will: You're out and about on company business, perhaps
making in-person sales calls. With some time between
appointments, you break for lunch a half-hour early. No one, it seems, is watching over
your shoulder--and the company-issued mobile phone
you're carrying has been blessedly silent all day.

You pull up to a restaurant thinking of an extended lunch. Before your feet cross the
threshold of the entry, the phone starts to chirp. The boss
wants to know why you're parked in front of a restaurant and not on your way to a sales
call.

It seems for a minute they have eyes in the sky. In a manner of speaking they do.

Sound a little disconcerting? It's not terribly far from reality.

The combination of wireless networks, such as those used for mobile phones and pagers,
with the 24-satellite constellation that makes up the
Global Positioning System is what makes the above scenario possible. Small devices that
can receive location data from the GPS system and
then transmit their location over the Internet via wireless networks have been available
for a few years now. They come in handy for companies
managing a fleet of field personnel or repair crews.

It helps for a dispatcher watching a computer screen with a map updated in real time to
know if a high-priority repair job suddenly needs
attention--as well as which repair truck is nearby and can drop what they're doing to rush
right to the scene. But these devices have more often
than not been attached to a vehicle, not a person.

One company that has built a profitable business selling such products is @Road (nasdaq:
ARDI - news - people )--pronounced "AtRoad." Last
year it did almost $44 million in sales tracking mobile services workers for companies
like Verizon (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and the city of
Oakland, Calif. It has yet to turn a profit--it reported a $14 million loss for 2002, but
year-on-year sales were up almost 62%.

This week it will announce a service that will be available on mobile phones from Nextel
(nasdaq: NXTL - news - people ) that also support
GPS technology. The service will be called Pocket Edition, and will work on Nextel's i88s
and i58sr phones, both of which are manufactured by
Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ).

The phones can read location data from the GPS system and transmit that data over the
wireless networks to the Internet, where each phone's
location can be monitored live using a PC and Web browser.

@Road's service works with several wireless phone networks, including those run by Verizon
Wireless--a joint venture of Verizon and
Vodafone (nyse: VOD - news - people )--as well as AT&T Wirless (nyse: AWE - news - people
) and Southern LINC, a wireless outfit run by
energy giant Southern Company ( nyse SO) . It also works on the network run by Telus
Mobility (nyse: TU - news - people ) in Canada.

It's a perfect example of what the wireless industry calls "location-based services."
GPS-ready phones have been available for some time. But
wireless carriers have as yet shrugged their shoulders in trying to think up ways to make
location services generate revenue. One idea floating
around has been to send text-message ads to phones advertising businesses nearby where the
user happens to be--though many have
complained that would amount to sending wireless junk mail.

Most consumers won't want to be trackable in real time using a service like @Road's Pocket
Edition, though parents of wireless-crazy teens
might appreciate the service--much to the chagrin of their kids.

The FCC has said that, by 2005, it will require all new mobile phones to be locatable
either by GPS or some other method when the phone's
user dials 911. But wireless companies have had trouble deploying the technology--and
missed their first deadline in 2001.

The main complaint from the carriers has been that the technology doesn't exist for them
to carry out what the FCC wants. Meanwhile,
cash-strapped local emergency-service agencies have found it hard to find the money to pay
for the gear they need to find phones of people in
distress.

For now it seems that the best use of location-based services is tracking people in the
course of doing their job. It may seem a bit creepy and
intrusive at first. We've heard a few reports of micromanaging bosses using similar
services that call workers using company cars to ask why
they're driving faster than the speed limit.

From an employee's point of view, it may be intrusive. But it's the kind of tool that
management will love. They'll see it as a way to boost
productivity, manage costs and streamline efficiency. Public safety agencies will like
being able to track police officers and paramedics for
safety reasons once they leave their vehicles.

The fact is that people in certain professions will likely have to learn to live with the
fact that when they're tempted to goof off, the sky has eyes.

http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/04/cx_ah_0304tentech.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=

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