Patent ID: 7636574

Claim:
A method of providing location-based services, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining profile information for users associated with respective mobile user devices associated with a wireless network; establishing an auction for one or more interested parties to bid on available opportunities for delivery of messages to said mobile user devices, wherein establishing the auction comprises the steps of: determining a number of messages that can be delivered to said mobile user devices for a corresponding message delivery opportunity; and receiving at least one bid from the one or more interested parties, the at least one bid being at least in part based on the determined number of messages for the message delivery opportunity; and controlling delivery of at least one message to a given one of the mobile user devices based on the profile information and the at least one received bid for the corresponding message delivery opportunity; wherein the obtaining, establishing and controlling steps are implemented in a location-based services system comprising at least one processing device having a processor coupled to a memory.