With the rapid adoption of smart phones, mobile map applications have become increasingly ubiquitous, and have quickly evolved from a simple utility app into a potential platform for mobile advertising and e-commerce.
The number of mobile map users has seen explosive growth in the past few years as: 1) maps have effectively grown to be a necessity for many mobile Internet users, and 2) most map apps are free of charge. According to iResearch’s latest report, the user base of mobile maps and navigation services increased 62.2%.
Market participants are experimenting with two potential business models around mobile map apps, i.e. mobile ads and e-commerce. Mobile map’s natural embrace of location awareness allows consumers to pull location-based local information while enabling local businesses to push ads to potential customers in adjacent areas. Vpon, a leading mobile advertising agency in China, had already launched a location based brand advertising services through mobile map apps such as NaviDog and AutoNavi in 2012.
Meanwhile, with ever increasing usage, mobile maps could also become a viable channel for mobile ecommerce. The latest versions of the AutoNavi and Baidu Maps products are already equipped with functions such as group-buying deal search.
Google Losing in Mobile Maps War in China
Autonavi firmly led the market with a nearly 30% market share in terms of user accounts according to Analysys International. Google Maps’ share further declined to 9.6%, compared to a 25.3% one year ago. Most of Google’s loss was taken by Baidu Maps, which almost doubled its share to 20.3%
Baidu’s Mobile Map Stratey
Baidu Maps has emerged as a core part of Baidu’s mobile internet strategy. In Oct 2012, Baidu announced that its map platform had reached 77m users. An independent Location Based Service division was established to further explore location based services. In recent updates, Baidu Maps has added several exciting features such as personal data synchronization; and local restaurant, hotel and group-buy search. As most map applications are free, the potential revenue stream from mobile map is likely to be based on advertising dollars or e-commerce.