The big promise of wireless is mobile commerce (m-commerce). But to make this happen, wireless must
become location-based. For example, your phone may be able to locate the nearest Starbucks if you need a
caffeine break.
Location-based wireless is the focus of @Road . The company’s flagship technology is called LocationSmart. The technology hits four key areas:
Mobile Resource Management (MRM): This allows for location-based information services for
companies involved in transportation and distribution. With it, companies can do such things as scheduling,
dispatching and messaging.
Mobile Commerce Exchange: With this, companies can create hubs for shippers and carriers so as to
manage load logics and inventory.
Mobile Content Delivery (MCD): This a technology for the business-to-employee (B2E) marketplace, especially for mobile professionals. In fact, mobile professionals account for 60 percent of wireless
revenues. MCD is a secure wide area network built upon an XML/WML framework.
Mobile Business Intelligence (MBI): This allows for wireless performance tracking, as well as
personalization.
The company is showing traction. In the past quarter, the company generated revenues of $3.1 million,
which was up from $225,000 last year. The sequential increase was 41 percent. In all, the company showed a
loss of $10.4 million.
The company did its IPO in late September. As a result, it has a healthy cash position: $58.6 million.
@Road has been striking significant deals. The latest was with Nextel Communications. In the deal, @Road
will provide LocationSmart services for the Nextel Internet-ready “plus” phone. There was similar deal
with Hitachi.
The market for location-based wireless technologies should see strong growth in the next few years.
However, the industry is nascent and will likely be volatile. Although, the stock price is already
somewhat depressed – selling at $6 – and could potentially be a long-term winner.
