Not sure about you, but I’m typically wary of letting apps on my smartphone track my location. According to a new study, though, turns out I’m in the minority.
Urban Airship, a Portland-based mobile analytics and push messaging startup, analyzed more than 70 apps that ask users to share location and found that 62 percent of people typically allow themselves to be tracked. Meanwhile, 51 percent opt-in to receive push notifications.
In a statement, Urban Airship CEO Scott Kveton said that the assumptions that people don’t want to share their location are “false and massively short-sell mobile’s unique opportunity.”
Urban Airship, which raised a big $25 million funding round in February 2013, noted that companies who use location-targeting with their apps are seeing up to quadruple the response from customers than a non-targeted message.
Notifications that appear on smartphones based on user location seem to be gaining in popularity. Apple’s new iOS 8 software takes advantage of your location to allow for quick access to relevant apps. Smartphone apps can also take advantage of beacons, an off-the-shelf, Bluetooth-enabled device that connects wirelessly to phones. For example, Major League Baseball is deploying Apple’s iBeacon technology at its stadiums to help iPhone owners receive notifications depending on where they are at the ballpark. And just last week, we detailed how Seattle startup Artifact Technologies is using beacons to unlock interactive content for people using their smartphones at a museum exhibit.
