The mobile channel has vaulted itself into position to become the dominant way in which consumers search, share and shop; transforming the mobile and retail landscapes into a single entity. The rapidly growing smartphone penetration and capability has really begun turning marketing heads, fundamentally altering the power and scope of digital marketing. As marketers look toward 2012, high global penetration rates, ever increasing speed and demand have become the winning customer engagement trifecta for the retail sector.

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In this report, we provide insight on the states of the LBS and Mobile Marketing/Advertising markets in the United States. We explore the evolution from subscription-based LBS towards free LBS and what is needed to make an ad-funded business model work. We discuss the benefits of bringing together the world of LBS and that of mobile marketing/advertising to create LBA. We further explain what the stakeholders in the market — consumers, advertisers, and the ―enabling companies (providers of LBS content, applications, and platforms) — stand to gain from LBA.

Finally, in the conclusion, we discuss what combination of technologies, business models, and strategies, need to align to unleash LBA’s market potential and why LBA is the path to creating more value in both the LBS and mobile advertising segments. We have also included the profiles and perspectives of several key market players that we interviewed in the first half of 2009, in an appendix.