Location-based services (LBS) are services that exploit knowledge about where a user of an information device is located. For example, the user of wireless-connected smartphone could be shown ads specific to the region the user is traveling in. The ability to provide such customized services represents the continuing trend of personalization in the consumer electronics market.

However, despite the obvious technological achievements, LBS has still yet to find a matching business model for wide adoption. Although most industry analysts believe that the market for LBS exists, recent findings from the leading market research firm In-Stat/MDR reveals that it is not the 'killer application' the industry once believed it to be.

Recently, the concept of incorporating location information of a player into a game play, herein referred to as location-based gaming or LBG, has emerged as a new form of entertainment. There are currently a number of games that attempt to offer this new style of game play. However, none of the existing games has achieved mass appeal and most of them lack a coherent approach to revenue capture. In other words, the economics and overall business model had not been part of the game design process.

MARTEC has devised a novel business model based on a value chain analysis of the combined telecommunication and gaming industry such that in a game designed in a proper manner the interests of all stake holders are addressed in a cooperative framework. In particular, in a business process of the present invention, LBS is able to become a revenue generating profit center for the communication carrier. That is, in the MARTEC business model, game design is not treated as an independent activity, but an integral component of a business process that uses the game as a focal point to build consumer base and encourage consumption of all other services and products provided by the telecommunication carrier (mobile operator) and its partners.

MARTEC has developed a concept for the location-based game that can be easily deployed in any implementation of location technology in mobile communication system. The LBG allows the mobile operators to create new profit source with existing services in according to the MARTEC business model.