Computer manufactuer Dell is investing in location-based services, adding GPS and WiFi positioning to its Mini 10 netbooks in the first step in its mobile strategy that may include a smartphone.

Starting next week in the United States, Dell is offering the Dell Wireless 700 location service for our Mini 10 netbook that is a combination of hardware -- an internal GPS card with built-in Wi-Fi positioning -- and software. The Dell Wireless 700 is powered by Broadcom's A-GPS and Skyhook Wireless' Wi-Fi positioning platforms.

"Dell is a customer of ours, which is a pretty big deal, because they are one of the bigger players in the whole device market," said Ted Morgan, founder/CEO of Skyhook Wireless, Boston, MA. "Dell is a leader in Netbooks, they are rumored to be going into phones, and they are making a big push into mobile.

"Netbooks are run out of the mobile group, not out of the traditional laptop group, because Dell sees different use cases and applications for it," he said. "Location is important for local search, social networking and providing driving directions.

"Thet think location is going to be a big part of consumers' lifestyle, and adding location to Netbooks and to make it work inside and out is a big step for these guys."

These two technologies -- GPS and WiFi positioning -- work in tandem, which means the technology works both indoors and outdoors. In other words, it can calculate your position using WiFi access points or using GPS satellites.

The Dell Wireless 700 uses Wi-Fi access points and Long Term Orbit-based Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) technology to determine location information.

It provides a location source to applications and services by leveraging the strength of each underlying position technology.

The WiFi Positioning System (WPS) can determine the location of WiFi enabled devices.

All Wi-Fi Access Points broadcast a signal beacon known as a MAC address, notifying nearby devices of their presence.

WPS refers to the mapped locations of millions of WiFi MAC addresses to pinpoint the device location.

WPS is complementary to GPS. It works best indoors and in urban areas, while GPS is limited by physical obstructions of ceilings and tall buildings.

On the software side, the Dell Wireless 700 location system features CoPilot navigation software to provide turn-by-turn directions.

It offers 2D and 3D map views, lets users save up to 50 addresses for one trip, offers trip optimization to provide the most efficient route, provides instant detour information when users encounter expected delays and provides continuously updated information about the trip.

Another piece of the location-based services that Dell is bringing to market is a location-aware portal.
For it, we've partnered with Skyhook Wireless and Loki.

Loki is a browser plug-in that comes preconfigured for Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Firefox.

It works with Loki-supported sites to improve local search functionality by providing consumers details from nearby restaurants, store locations and friends' location information from supported social media sites like Flickr, Loopt and BrightKite.

Initially, the Dell Mini 10 will support the Windows XP OS. Vista and Windows 7 support will come later

The Mini 10, which will retail for around $300, is the first system that Dell will offer with the optional Dell 700 Wireless location platform.

Dell projects 20 million Netbook sales in 2009. It believes Netbook sales will surpass 50 million in 2010.

"Dell is looking to broaden this out into laptops and any other new device they add," Mr. Morgan said. "There is a whole new set of apps that will emerge and Dell's going to try to cultivate that community."

While Dell has yet to announce a smartphone roll-out, rumors that the company is developing one have been circulating for some time now.

"Dell hasn't been public about their plans for a smartphone, although it certainly has been rumored," Mr. Morgan said. "They look at the mobile space as a great new area for Dell, in addition to traditional desktops and laptops."

Dell turned to mobile to promote its Vostro models, targeting the entry-level laptop market in India to generate qualified sales leads (see story).

Dell has hired people from Motorola and hired a music company call Zing that made an iPod-like device.

"If you think about the whole device world, is everyone coming together around new mobile devices," Mr. Morgan said. "There are whole lot more players converging on the smartphones space, which is an amazing new market coming out of nowhere."