As incoming Chairman of Place Conferences, it’s both an honor and a pair of big shoes to fill.  In just its first year, Place has established itself as the premier venue for education, opinion and partnership development. And there’s much more to do.

The Indoor Location market is reaching milestones in 2014. Major retailers are running scores of pilot programs; some large-scale implementations have launched and a few are even chain-wide.  Global technology and solution innovators appear and evolve. Many established vendors are growing larger and healthier. Vendor valuations are up, and more venture money is finding its way into budgets. Every retailer and mall, practically every quick service restaurant (QSR) and C-Store CXO is aware of Indoor Location. And our ecosystem is growing rapidly to include marketers, analytics companies, carriers, handset manufacturers and several mobile, online and e-commerce giants.

But the market’s not mature by any measure. We’re still a nascent industry with sharp growing pains. Market saturation in the form of permanent deployments is still tiny. Sensor technology attributes remain confusing to the market. Privacy concerns are a significant purchase consideration. And retailer budgets are often hijacked by other priorities.

Perhaps most important is that few retailers have yet to reach the point of confidence that they simply can’t do without indoor location solutions. And with all that said, there are few, if any, experts that will suggest this market isn’t going to explode.

Last year our industry saw two among many bellwether events: the creation of the Future Of Privacy Forum coalition and the first industry conference of its kind — Place Conference held in San Francisco. This year, the second Place Conference was held in New York in July and it sold out. 

For this market to mature a single, central sharing of ideas remains critical. But we can do more. Our retail, mall, airport and other customers desperately need expert perspective on what can be done, and vendors need a central place to engage them. Solutions providers can bring the most pressing challenges to the table and hack away at their edges. And we need to be truly global.  Not just for the few non-U.S. companies that can make the trip here, but to support the growing number of important providers and distributors that hail from the U.K. and Europe, Asia Pacific region and Latin America. 

To that end, Opus Research is proud to announce Place London, to be held November 17, 2014 at The Tower Hotel in London.

Big shoes. More to come.

As with everyone at Opus Research, I truly welcome your ideas on how Place can be a catalyst for growth. 

Categories: Articles, Mobile + Location

Tags: Opus Research, indoor location, Place London