Lars breaks off from work to discover his mobile phone has received a text message. Judging by his reaction, it is not a friendly greeting. One of his opponents in a game called Botfighter has located him, is just a couple of kilometres away and is poised to send a missile via SMS.
Lars desperately fiddles with his handset to try to return fire - but the damage is done. Once again, the SMS missile has damaged his imaginary robot. Time to take a trip to the Botfighter website to upgrade his armoury. It might seem unlikely, but the game Botfighter is one of the most popular uses of location-based services for mobile phones.
Launched in Sweden by the Telia network, it has become a cult among young professionals, some of whom have driven across towns in the middle of the night to be close enough to fire a lethal SMS at their opponent. It's a tad crude, and its skill factor is on the low side, yet Botfighter is a classic example of how European networks are taking the ability to pinpoint where a mobile phone user is, and using the information to develop an array of location-based services. European legislation to be enacted in July means all networks have to be able to locate a person's mobile phone handset, by working out which cell it is nearest to, so they can pass this information on to emergency services.
In theory, this should open the UK to services such as Botfighter, yet the jury is still out on location-based offerings. Almost all UK phone networks offer some kind of service, usually a find-a-cinema type service with the address delivered via SMS or Wap. There appears little evidence that handset owners are using these services.
"That should change this year," predicts Jeremy Green, principal analyst, wireless, at Ovum, "for many of the barriers to people accessing services have gone now we have larger colour screen and faster data rates. The networks now need to offer some imaginative services."
Courtesy of a deal signed last year with platform provider Webraska, Orange will re-invent its location-based services in Europe this summer to harness the faster GPRS and 3G phones. "We intend to take advantage of the big colour screens of phones like the Orange SPV to enable the user to view interactive map displays," says an Orange spokesman. Finder Applications (nearest pubs, cinema, etc) and Navigation applications (offering driving and walking directions) are core features. Hutchison's 3G network 3 has also been demonstrating its location-based services.
It offers a digital map, provided by the Ordnance Survey, or in towns via Tele Atlas, streamed to show directions to hotels and restaurants in real time as the person moves. Unlike other systems that work by locating the nearest cell or the owner inputting an address, 3's systems can use GPS (global positioning system) which is integrated into some of its handsets. This should deliver a faster and more accurate service. Other networks have also launched imaginative location-based services.
France Telecom recently ran a successful virtual pet game. As a person neared a cell where the pet "lived", they could send an SMS to feed it or stroke it. Telia, in collaboration with Openwave Systems, offers a service called FriendFinder. Launched in November 2001, it enables friends to keep tabs on each other via the handset. Users send an SMS and are told a rough location of where their friends are via a return text message.
There are safeguards. Users can dictate which of their friends sees their position and can also choose to be invisible or simply switch the phone off. Telia has even built a TV programme around the FriendFinder service. Orange also has plans for chat and dating services. Location-sensitive games, which operate in a similar way to Botfighter, are also on the agenda. While both Orange's and 3's services take location-based services to a new dimension, there remains a question mark over whether anyone will use them.
Many people still find using Wap phones difficult. The networks have yet to offer competitive pricing structures for the services. Worst of all, roaming agreements are not in place. So when people will most want to use the "find a restaurant/cinema" type services -when they are in a foreign city - there's a good chance they won't work.
