22 companies, including Samsung, Sony Mobile, Qualcomm, and Nokia, have partnered to found the In-Location Alliance, intended to drive the development and market adoption of high-accuracy indoor positioning services.

The Alliance will work on pilot solutions in 2012 – which, it promises, will increase accuracy and reduce power consumption of the services – with an eye to deploying handset-based implementations in 2013.

The spread of indoor positioning technology could provide consumers with real-time navigation within buildings, which could be used to direct them to other people or products – and could help improve customer identification and product placement for brands.

“Our aim is to act as a pioneer opening up new business streams for indoor environments,” says a representative for the In-Location Alliance. “Indoor positioning is the next frontier of mobile services, offering great opportunities to enhance consumer experiences. For the benefit of enterprises, the Alliance will drive a world-wide indoor positioning system for use in major venues. Our pilots, along with technical evaluations, are paramount for driving rapid market adoption.”