Blackline (GPS company)

Blackline GPS introduced a car-tracking device that uses GPS in 2008.[1] Named GPS Snitch, it can be controlled via the internet or by texting to a special phone number.

Not to be confused with Blackline (software company).

The National Insurance Crime Bureau claimed one car theft "every 33 seconds",[2] and this type of device, the New York Times said, will "improve the chances of recovering your wheels once they’ve gone missing."

Another offering from Blackline is named Blip.[3][4]

History

The idea for the initial product originated in 2004,[5][6] but success was limited by the lack of a reliable income stream.[7] Outside funding enabled growth in the consumer market, but by 2010 "the decision was made to leave the consumer GPS market and focus solely on the industrial GPS market".[5]

They've flipped: in 2013 85% of the company's income was from consumer sales; in 2018 85% was from industrial sales.[8]

Income stream

The company requires monthly (or yearly) fees. Success is based on having an ongoing income stream;[9] getting more customers is not enough.[5]

gollark: Have a crash handler which makes the screen go red or something.
gollark: Use a frequency doubler circuit.
gollark: I should check on them.
gollark: GTech™ has had thing-doing drones for ages.
gollark: You should be using a hologram projector instead.

See also

References
  1. John Biggs (June 5, 2008). "Track Down Your Car, With Help From an Electronic Sidekick". The New York Times. p. C7.
  2. John R. Quain (July 9, 2010). "Better Antitheft Technology, but Smarter Car Thieves". The New York Times.
  3. Viktor Mayer-Schönberger (2011). Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age. ISBN 1400838452.
  4. James Allan Brady (March 26, 2008). "BlackLine GPS Blip – Buddy Beacon for your GPS-enabled BlackBerry". do everything you’d normally have to do at a computer with the Snitch, on your BlackBerry
  5. Craig Elias (May 10, 2013). "GPS maker says farewell to fickle customers". The Globe and Mail.
  6. Brendon Cook and Patrick Rousseau
  7. "consumers were fickle, keeping their monthly tracking service contracts active for just five or six months."
  8. the web-version of the original print-edition article has an "Updated April 3, 2018" tag
  9. J. Spronk (1981). Interactive Multiple Goal Programming: Applications to Financial ... ISBN 0898380642. an income stream is positively effected by its level, and negatively by its riskiness
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