I believe the security & privacy patent of NUNCHI makes it the biggest winner in the field of Context Awareness platform. JMHO

-------------------------------------------------------------

Contextual marketing on smartphones is improving all the time, and that's making it a minefield of potential privacy gaffs.

Quite real, though, and available for use right now is a Qualcomm software development kit (SDK), called Gimbal, designed to pull data from the growing array of sensors in mobile devices using Android or iOS. The SDK enables mobile apps to grab "live" data from a phone's camera, accelerometer, compass, GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth. A Gimbal-based application could, in theory, determine where you are (via GPS and/or WiFi), whether you're on foot or in a car (via the accelerometer), and what in the world you're photographing. Gimbal includes geo-fencing capabilities so that advertisements and marketing materials can be transmitted only to phones in selected locations.

Gimbal can be used by apps to create individual user profiles that help to predict a user's needs, which has potential use in proactively transmitting ads and coupons. As the Gimbal video shows, a phone might receive a coupon for a new pizza restaurant based on the user's previous pizza purchases and location.

Qualcomm isn't the only company pushing predictive apps. A Google service called "Google now" is designed to display information based on such inputs as phone user's search history, calendar, location, and other criteria. If you always search for New York Mets scores, for instance, Google now would, given permission, display those scores on Android devices without your requesting them.

Based on a calendar appointment, Google now can proactively display a map showing a route to the appointment's location -- based on whether you typically drive or take public transportation -- and it can alert you when to leave based on current traffic conditions. Google could no doubt use the same data and algorithms to target advertisements based on anticipated needs.

Based on such software and analytic services in the cloud, plus the growing computing power of smartphones, it's quite possible that advertisers and marketers will eventually be able to figure out all sorts of things about a person's life. For CMOs, of course, this is a dream come true with regard to fine-grained, real-time targeting. But it could cause tremendous security and privacy nightmares. Qualcomm, for one, is extremely aware of these concerns, and highlights Gimbal's privacy features. Users, the company says, can decide which data, if any, should be transmitted up into the cloud, opt out of some or all Gimbal-enabled apps, and even delete data stored on their phone and remote servers.

Mobile, location-based contextual marketing looks like it will provide unprecedented opportunities for targeted marketing, but CMOs are going to have to stay on guard and evaluate the potential intrusiveness of their real-time promotions more thoroughly than ever.

Excerpt From : Contextual Marketing & Its Potential Pitfalls