A new survey from telecoms research firm Berg Insight forecasts that by 2012, there'll be more than 100 million European mobile subscribers using location-based services. Mapping, navigation and search will be the top services, followed by social networking and tracking, the market researcher said.

According to Berg Insight telecom analyst Andre Malm, GPS will become a standard feature in advanced mass-market phones, but high adoption rates won't necessarily translate into high revenue. "First there must be a critical mass of active users to work with, then someone must create a successful model for reaching out to these individuals via their handsets and after that the mobile media must be embraced by the top spenders in the advertising industry," he warned.