New data is showing that many of the industry giants are making location based progress.

According to some of the latest information that has been released by ABI Research, a number of industry giants – including Google, Apple, and eBay – are placing their focus on making considerable moves into the realm of geolocation and its many possibilities.

Though this is not necessarily anything new, it is the fact that they are taking it indoors that is drawing attention.

To start, the estimates by ABI Research have suggested that the geolocation indoor market will be worth more than $4 billion by 2018. This was revealed in the quarterly Location Technologies Market Data which is issued by that agency. It provides a measure of the adoption of indoor geolocation technologies, mapping, as well as businesses that are making their way into this particular space.

By the end of next year, the overall market of geolocation technology installations will be greater than 25,000.

This, according to the ABI Research data that was released in the report. It also pointed out that smartphones that are capable of supporting indoor geolocation technology will have reached the hundreds of millions over the span of the next two years. The result is that virtually every major company will have begun to take considerable steps into this sphere.

Patrick Connolly, an ABI Research senior analyst, stated that “Apple’s new A7 co-processor coupled with the acquisition of WifiSLAM highlights indoor as a priority.” He went on to say that “Both Apple and eBay have announced support for dedicated BLE beacons, a technology that is set for a huge 2014 as major IC and device OEMs make it widely available.”

Connolly also explained that Google is maintaining an expansion of geolocation based indoor mapping and that it has been discussing some of its intentions for this technology quite openly at I/O. He also added that it isn’t just the smartphone manufacturers that are involved in this technology, as there have been four large AP providers (Motorola, Cisco, Ruckus, and Aruba) that have acquired business within this space. He noted that it was interesting to find that Nokia had held its own indoor and mapping capabilities, showing that this was being viewed as a region in which considerable future growth was possible.

Mobile commerce sales make strong progress at Argos

Argos, a leading retailer in the United Kingdom, has been reporting impressive results from the mobile commerce sector. The retailer has been working to become more engaging with mobile consumers in recent years, hoping to offer better services to those tethered to mobile devices. This has become quite common throughout the retail industry. Many companies are eager to engage consumers in new ways, embracing mobile commerce and new marketing initiatives in order to adapt to changes in technology and the shopping habits of consumers.

Sales rise 16% as Argos focuses on the mobile space

Argos has seen its mobile sales more than double during the first half of its fiscal year, rising by 16%. Approximately 43% of the entirety of the retailer’s sales were made online. While the majority of sales were made from traditional computers, sales made through tablets and smartphones grew by 124%. The retailer’s multichannel sales now account for nearly $1 billion, with mobile commerce making up a sizeable portion of that total.

Digital transition makes Argos more relevant with consumers

The retailer is currently undergoing something of a digital transformation. Argos has taken note of the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets among shoppers and has been working to grow more accommodating to the needs of these consumers. In the future, many people are likely to shop from their mobile devices rather than visit physical stores. While this has caused some concern among retailers, companies like Argos are taking a proactive approach to the issue, establishing strong online presences in order to remain relevant with consumers.

Some retailers find mobile commerce to be a challenging problem

Mobile commerce has proven to be beneficial to Argos, but other retailers have not fared as well in their mobile endeavors. One of the greatest challenges currently facing retailers has to do with their websites. Most retail sites are not optimized to be used from a mobile device. This leaves many consumers with a poor experience, making it unlikely for these consumers to participate in any mobile commerce ventures coming from these retailers in the future.