Verizon Wireless? decision to open its network by making available 20 different location-, messaging- and network-based application programming interfaces to developers will also create opportunities for marketers.

Verizon is hoping that its network APIs will foster development of new, innovative applications by giving third-party developers access to the Verizon Wireless network. Messaging APIs will let developers create applications and services that send, receive and request receipt of text and multimedia messages for Verizon Wireless customers.

?Everyone sings the praises of the cool: Apple, Google and Facebook,? said Rip Gerber, president and CEO of LOC-AID Technologies Inc., San Francisco. ?They make money and brands the new fashioned way: give something to the consumers for free, and monetize on the back-end by selling all that customer information to companies.

?Wireless carriers make money the old fashioned way: charge the consumer for premium service and protect those customers,? he said. ?With today's announcement with LOC-AID as the Verizon Location gateway, carriers can now do both. Better.?

Verizon Wireless is the No. 1 carrier in the United States, serving more than 92 million customers.

All about location
Location APIs will allow developers to request and incorporate location information in applications and services on most Verizon Wireless smartphones, providing customers with specific offers or improved targeting of offers, leading to more valuable and useful applications.

There are two versions of location APIs: coarse location, which has an average range of one to two miles and works with all Verizon Wireless phones; and refined, which offers more granular location information and works on a select number of Verizon Wireless phones.

Verizon Wireless requires the user to opt-in and consent to provide location information to the requestor per industry best practices and Mobile Marketing Association guidelines. 

?LOC-AID and Verizon are now doing for location what Charles Schwab did for the securities trading industry,? Mr. Gerber said. ?Now mobile developers large and small can transact on the country's largest wireless network for location data, all through a simple, single LOC-AID API.?

Verizon Wireless began distributing these APIs to members of the VDC this week, but some entities have been integrating and testing the APIs already for months.         

Now thousands of developers can incorporate the power of location into their mobile applications, customer engagements and business processes, all through one simple API from LOC-AID and Verizon Wireless.

Mr. Gerber said that this new capability will usher in a new era of location-based services?from location-based authentication to fraud management applications and mobile marketing.

Brands are retailers are increasingly leveraging location-based services of all kinds, including location-aware applications, to reach consumers while they are out and about.

Location is one way to increase the relevance and actionability of advertising.

Messaging APIs can let developers offer features such as ?link-to-buy? a product or to allow users to get discounts or more information about a product or service. 

Third-party network API applications can be brought to market in as few as 14 days.

Information on how to register for the Verizon Developer Community for access to these APIs is available at http://developer.verizon.com.

Verizon Ventures recently participated in Geodelic?s Series B financing round to facilitate the development of the location-based mobile platform.

Geodelic?s mobile-media platform enables brands to create smartphone guides to engage with consumers at specific locations.

The Geodelic application?which runs on Android, iPhone and soon BlackBerry?lets consumers connect in new ways with nearby businesses and destinations.

Urban Airship taking off
In addition to its partnership with LOC-AID, Verizon Wireless announced partnership with Urban Airship to be the provider of choice for push notifications for mobile applications across all handsets on the Verizon network.

Mobile Marketer's Dan Butcher interviewed Scott Kveton, CEO of Urban Airship, Portland, OR. Here is what he had to say:

What is the significance of Verizon opening up these APIs to developers?
Verizon Wireless recognizes?and validates? push notifications as an important feature that all businesses going into mobile should consider implementing.

The business benefits are many, including user engagement, monetization, the ability to scale and data on user behavior.

Finally, this partnership helps developers by not only increasing awareness of Push, our service, and the direction apps are heading?it allows the developers the freedom to focus on their apps and have the confidence that they are using the right tools that will work seamlessly on the Verizon network.

What is the significance of mobile push notifications?
This helps developers, who really want to reach the Verizon subscriber base. Getting to 100 million U.S. mobile users is extremely compelling.

Urban Airship is a strong proponent of push as a means of mobile messaging and we are thrilled to be able to help developers broaden and strengthen their apps.

Verizon chose Urban Airship as its preferred partner because Urban Airship is the leader in the field. We are not only a trusted partner, but the service to use when implementing Push.
 
It's always better to have a standard set of tools available to developers so they can be successful in their implementations of push.