Business News Holding

Tag: gps

  • 7 Start-ups To Watch From Mobile World Congress 2009


    The big names of the mobile world occupied vast stands at MWC in Barcelona – but some of the most interesting and innovative products, applications and technologies came from start-ups.
    Smartphone.biz-news has pulled together some of the enterprising newbies that are likely to make a big impact in the future, including video interviews and photos.

    Irish start-up Dial2Do created quite a stir at this year’s Mobile World Congress.
    The Dublin-based company lets you do various tasks on your mobile simply by calling a number and speaking.
    So you can send email or text messages, record reminders, post updates to Twitter or Jaiku stream or even listen to internet content – all while driving your car.

    The Lisbon, Portugal-based start-up wizi has developed an instant location sharing application, with the focus firmly on on individual networks.
    The free mobile app allows you to share your location instantly by e-mail or SMS.

    TuneWiki is a the music playback app that shows Karaoke-like lyrics and album art on almost all  the music on a phone. It has features like searching YouTube for videos of tracks, plus searching its database for certain song lyrics if users only remember part of a song.
    Watch below a short video demo.

    ART has developed interference cancellation technology with the potential to dramatically improve 3G call connectivity and mobile broadband download rates. Crucially, the Texas-based company says the solution doesn’t require additional network investment but will allow twice as many users to connect in the same 3G coverage area.

    MEEPASS has a developed cutting edge mobile identification solution with a secure ID tag. It works on any mobile phone and uses a 2D barcode that verifies a user’s identity without the need for the handset to be network connected. Watch below a short video demonstration

    French start-up Kapsys has developed a voice-activated GPS for city dwellers that can be used to walk, bike, roller blade, scoot or take public transport. It is also a an MP3 player, a radio and a mobile phone receiver via Bluetooth.
    See below a short video demonstration of the Kapsys device.

    Modu has designed a potentially-groundbreaking sleek and light mobile device that slips into a variety of so-called "jackets" – music players, other cellphones, car stereos, digital cameras, etc.
    See below a short video demonstration.

  • Location Sharing Start-up Wizi Sees Google Latitude As Challenge


    For a start-up like Wizi having Google launch a competing product might seem like the kiss of death.

    Not so with the Lisbon, Portugal-based developers who have welcomed the launch of Google’s Latitude as a way of bringing attention to their instant location sharing application.

    The free mobile application allows you to share your location instantly by e-mail or SMS.

    André Gonçalves, Wizi’s marketing manager told smartphone.biz-news that they saw Latitude’s launch as a challenge and an opportunity to let consumers find out about their product.

    He said Wizi’s focus was on individual networks rather than social networks and the app is typically used to tell friends your location or where you are going to meet.

    "We are something like Latitude but a bit different," he said. "Our focus is on instant location sharing.

    "We cannot compete with Latitude but it is a challenge to tell people how our app is useful to them."

    Locations can be shared between Wizi users or with an email or SMS.

    Privacy is a key feature and visibility is totally controlled by the user: with the option to become invisible to friends or disable the link to a location map.

    Wizi works on Windows Mobile or J2ME compatible devices but versions are in the pipeline for Blackberry, Android and the iPhone.

    Wizi for the Apple handset has already been used by a restricted community of early adopters who volunteered to be part of the Beta Testing Program.

    Another feature of Wizi is recommending the best routes when driving in the city using traffic data collected in real time by its community, helping to save time and the environment.

    Gonçalves said they are currently talking to handset manufacturers and operators. The former were interested because Wizi was a useful add-on to show the potential of the latest phones.

    He said the latter saw Wizi as an opportunity to increase ARPU.

    Wizi will be launching Brazil this year and the start-up is in discussions with operators in Spain and the US.

  • Nokia, Vodafone and Adobe Help Kick-off Mobile World Congress 2009

    Nokia, Vodafone and Adobe Help Kick-off Mobile World Congress 2009


    This year’s Mobile World Congress is now underway and already there has been a flurry of announcements and launches from some of the big names lining up in Barcelona.

    Vodafone has unveiled a raft of new mobiles, including its first own-branded consumer GPS phone – the Vodafone 835.

    The 3G candybar handset is to be available across Europe from spring on contract.

    Other newcomers to the 3G range include the Vodafone 735 and Vodafone 736 – a candybar and slider version respectively of the phone.

    Hot on Vodafone’s heels comes Nokia, with the news that it is launching its own online app and media portal – the Ovi Store.

    The Finnish telecoms giant has made its N97 smartphone the first device to be "pre-integrated" with Ovi Store, but existing S40 and S60 customers will be able to download the service from May.

    Not surprisingly, a developer site has been launched offering a 70 per cent revenue share.

    Adobe announced this morning that Flash Player 10 – the full version of Flash that runs on PCs – is to be available on smartphones running Windows Mobile, Google’s Android, Nokia S60/Symbian, and the new Palm operating systems.

    Devices with Flash Player 10 are expected to hit the market starting in early 2010.

    Obviously, the glaring exception to the list of applicable devices is the iPhone – though Adobe executives do promise that it’s coming.

    Earlier, Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO and president of Ericsson, told delegates at MWC that 2008 had been a year of establishing mobile broadband.

    He talked about the impact investment in telecom infrastructure can have on societies and their prosperity – even in the current economic climate.

    "Mobile phones have had a profound impact on peoples’ lives all over the world," he said.

    "The mobile industry is now on the verge of another significant wave of investment, which will bring affordable mobile broadband services to all."

    Svanberg finished by stressing that the fundamentals of the telecoms industry were sound, as was demand.

    "The operators are generally in good shape and the networks are fairly loaded," he said.

    "As we move further into a financially turbulent 2009 our focus will be to manage our company for value creation. In this market environment there will be opportunities to strengthen our position and I am convinced that we are uniquely positioned to capture them."

  • Is The Glofiish DX900 Really Acer's First Smartphone?


    With anticipation growing about Acer’s entry into the smartphone market later this month, there are suggestions its first offering might simply be a rebranded Glofiish DX900.

    The Taiwanese computer giant acquired E-Ten in mid-2008 – maker of the DX900 – a handset that includes dual-SIM support, a 3-megapixel camera, a 2.8-inch VGA quality touchscreen display, GPS, Wi-Fi and runs Windows Mobile 6.1.

    Reports have also suggested that the new Acer smartphone will in fact be a totally new design and come with a rotating swivelling hinge for the keyboard.

    Whether this is the case or Acer is simply going to unveil the Glofiish smartphone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with its own badge remains to be seen.

    If the latter were the case, it would be a little disappointing.

    But the MWC invite did specify there would be a "launch" – so hopefully that’s what we are going to get.

  • EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Eric Mergy, CEO of navigation software company ZorroGPS

    Zorro Confident Free GPS Software Download Will Capture Market Share

    Giving potential paying customers 48 hours to try out your product is a smart move – especially when you’re an unknown GPS navigation software company trying to break into new territory.

    That’s just what ZorroGPS is doing in an attempt to capture a chunk of the European and North American GPS markets.

    The company provides "on-board" navigation software that’s compatible with Windows Mobile devices – PNDs, smartphones and GPS mobile phones.
    It is already firmly established in China, where it launched a year ago and has its headquarters.

    Eric Mergy, CEO of ZorroGPS, told smartphone.biz-news that as a result of a partnership with Ritu Information Systems – which he described as the Chinese equivalent of TomTom – his company would be the leading GPS navigation software provider in China in 2009.

    Ritu supports more than 100 device brands and Mergy said it was gradually migrating ZorroGPS’s software to its product range.

    "Now we are launching into the European and North American markets, with Navteq as our partner," he said.

    "We have a special business model, which is mainly based on Internet downloads for mobile phones."

    Free software trial

    Mergy said since ZorroGPS is a newcomer and unknown to western consumers, users can download the software for a free 48-hour trial period from 19 January.

    He said they were aiming at the mass market and, for that reason, were offering easy-to-use software that was "very cute and attractive".

    "People do not know our software, but if they download it we are confident that they will be very happy with it," he said.

    Low Price Adds To Product’s Appeal


    Mergy, who trained as an engineer, said they are initially offering 28 country packages, with each solution containing detailed regional maps.

    ZorroGPS runs NAVTEQ MAPS for Europe, North America and Mexico and Ritu maps for China.

    The Frenchman believes their products are bringing something new to what are already fairly mature markets.

    "The most obvious thing is price – we are quite low compared to other products," he said.

    Key to ZorroGPS’s strategy in these new markets are those customers who buy 3G contract-free handsets.

    "There are those who are not interested in paying a high monthly charge with a telecom operator," said Mergy.

    "We are targetting customers who buy 3G mobile phones with unlocked SIM cards. In this case they have no navigation software.

    "Normally if they want to buy it, it will cost USD $100 for a whole country. We are selling that for USD $20."

    ZorroGPS expects to be able to offer its software to RIM handsets within the next six months and then to Symbian-based phones.

    Unique Features

    Clearly enthusiastic about his company’s potential, Mergy is refreshingly candid about the product.

    "We are not saying we are better than anybody else. But ZorroGPS functions very well and at a fifth of the price," he said.

    "Based on that we hope to attract people by offering some very attractive and unique features.

    "We truly believe we have some very new and interesting functions."

    These include being able to using your finger to map scroll during navigation, cartoon navigation, and day-time calculation.

    Other features include:

    • Calculation speed: 2,000km in 5 secs
    • Different user interfaces
    • Screen rotation
    • POI and text search
    • Radar and camera alerts: TTS
    • Highway and City guidance

    ZorroGPS software is available to download from 19 January, initially for France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal and the UK.
    Over the next few weeks it will be rolling out a total of 28 countries, including the US.

  • Vodafone To Buy Swedish LBS Firm


    UK-based Vodafone is to acquire Swedish firm Wayfinder for USD $29.4 million.

    The move is being seen as a bid by Vodafone to boost its location-based services (LBS) offering and drive mobile data growth.

    Wayfinder’s services are available in 19 languages to a global user base of more than 2 million.

    Its software enables mobile phones to display user-friendly maps as well as deliver voice directions to drivers in the same way as dedicated navigation devices.

    Vodafone has said that Wayfinder’s board is recommending the bid and Wayfinder shareholders, controlling 45 per cent of shares, have agreed to accept the offer.

    The acquisition is the latest in Vodafone’s acquisition strategy in new mobile Internet services.

    In May it purchased European social networking company ZYB for €31.5 million.

    Vodafone’s latest deal will be seen as its response to Nokia’s moves into the navigation and LBS space.

    The wireless and location industries have seen a fair degree of activity recently, with TomTom and Nokia acquiring digital map providers.

  • Sagem Embeds GPS Receiver into SIM Cards


    Smartcard vendor, Sagem Orga has formed a partnership with BlueSky Positioning to integrate its A-GPS positioning technology onto conventional SIM cards.

    A GPS receiver and proprietary antenna are integrated into the SIM card, which the companies say then enables mobile operators to deploy applications without the need for software or hardware changes.

    The A-GPS provides accurate positioning information for the phone to emergency services in case of an emergency call as required by E112 and E911 legislation in the EU and the US respectively.

    It can also support generic location-based services such as navigation, "find a place or person" services, location-aware games, and many more.

    Navigations solutions are increasingly availabile on smartphones and mobile phones.

    Sagem Orga and BlueSky Positioning say the two broad technical approaches that can deliver the accuracy required for these services demand either significant investment in networks by the mobile operator or the purchase of new handsets by the end user.

    In a statement, they said the A-GPS SIM would allow mobile operators to significantly increase the cost effectiveness of their services and size of their marketing target when launching new LBS.

    François Blanchard, global account marketing manager at Sagem Orga, said the technology would help the mobile industry overcome the "key stumbling block" to the success of location-based services – affordable, accurate positioning technology.

    "The SIM is entering a new era where it can now be considered as a real service platform and a valuable device; the A-GPS enabled SIM card will reshape the way SIM card are perceived by MNOs and end-users," he said.

  • Will Smartphones Be The Death of PNDs?

    With the market for personal navigation devices (PNDs) getting tougher and many smartphones now equipped with GPS, what does the future hold for the likes of TomTom and Garmin?


    Smartphone.biz-news.com asked Chris Jones, VP and principal analyst with Canalys, what direction mobile navigation was taking.

    Blackberry makers RIM recently predicted that GPS navigation solutions on smartphones meant death for sat-nav devices.

    The argument was that there is no need for specific devices for navigation when your mobile can do it for you.

    This received further credence from research by Strategy Analytics showing mobile navigation to be the primary service for which consumers in the US and Western Europe would be willing to pay a relatively high fee per month compared to other mobile services.

    With third quarter results out from both TomTom and Garmin this week – and forecasts being downgraded – the future is looking far from rosy.

    Chris Jones, VP and principal analyst with Canalys, said despite continued growth the PND market was tough and profitability was being squeezed as margins became increasingly tight.

    Both TomTom and Garmin are expected to benefit from aggressive price promotions to hold – and even increase – their market share at the expense of smaller competitors.

    But he said the trend was towards more sales at the lower end of the market than was the case 12 months ago.

    Chris Jones, VP and principal analyst, Canalys

    This was going to force down margins as big volume sales slipped to lower tier devices.

    As well as reducing profitability, Jones said the downside to this was that consumer perception becomes accustomed to GPS prices being lower.

    Buyers then become unwilling to pay extra for higher end products.

    "The big threat is to the margins and profitability of the PND market," he said. "Some vendors have exited the market and we will see others leave in the future."

    Smartphones Challenge PNDs

    To add to the PND industry’s woes there was increasing availability of navigation solutions on smartphones and mobile phones.

    Apple and Nokia have both done much to promote navigation services, with the Finnish giant leading the charge in Europe.

    Nokia expects to sell an estimated 35 million GPS smartphones this year, all equipped with maps and the upgrade option of navigation.

    Jones said the challenge for Nokia was to increase the activation rate.

    "Nokia has the ability to try and accelerate these rates by making it easier to do," he said. "Prices will come down and the free periods offered will lengthen."

    Hope Remains For PNDs

    However, Jones said despite the rise of smartphone navigation options, PNDs still had a future.

    He believes form is still likely to favor PND’s as the navigation device of choice in cars.

    "With smartphones you are looking at a small screen, you can’t touch the device, in many cases there’s no touchscreen or voice activation," he said. "The user interface is not ideal when you are driving.

    "The PND is better in the car but the smartphone is one device that is always with you."

    Work To Be Done With Smartphones

    Out of the car, Jones said more had to be done to inform users about when best to use GPS on smartphones.

    He said there wasn’t any great additional cost to add the technology but it had to be well implemented.

    "People need to understand when GPS will work and where they are not likely to get a fix," he said. "I think that has a lot to do with education and integrating technology into handsets – more sensitive GPS devices that work deeper indoors because invariably the fix is too long."

    Taking five minutes to get a fix – as was the case with some handsets – would do nothing to endear consumers to the technology.

    "It’s not good enough to just put GPS in a handset," he said. "It has to work well in small spaces, with the components that are in there."

    Jones said he expected all smartphones to come with GPS within three years and it would also begin to appear in more lower spec cell phones.

    Whether this, and the continued evolution of smartphone technology, will signal the death of PNDs remains to be seen.

    Please let us know your comments on where the mobile navigation market is going.

  • New Blaupunkt GPS Device Supports VoIP


    Blaupunkt’s new Travel Pilot 700 GPS navigation devices can be used to make VoIP calls.

    The GPS device is powered by ARM9 500MHz processor, and a 266MHz DSP processor. There is also 8GB of internal memory.

    For VoIP, the Travel Pilot 700 also supports WiFi 802.11b/g.

    Other than ordinary GPS functions, it comes with a video camera on the back for capturing live footage of the road ahead.

    But the Travel Pilot 700 also offers multimedia functionalities, with an integrated DVB-T digital TV tuner, integrated media player supporting DivX, H.264, MPEG-2, QuickTime, WMV, XviD video and AAC, MP2, MP3, OGG and WMA audio files.

    It also has Bluetooth for handsfree.

  • AT&T extends Navigator GPS coverage

    Navigator coverage now almost on a par with many standalone GPS units

    AT&T Navigator is now available in 20 countries after the service was extended to offer international coverage.

    It means that Navigator, which can be used on any AT&T smartphone with a built-in GPS chip, now operates in many countries in western Europe, North American, the US Caribbean, and six Chinese cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang, Tianjin and Qinhuangdao.

    Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, mobility marketing and operations for AT&T’s wireless operation, said the operator now gave customers the ability to use their mobile phones in more countries than any other US carrier.

    “They now can use our robust GPS-based navigation offering whether at home or abroad to easily get from point A to point B or to find and get directed to a local business or service,” he said.

    The AT&T Navigator Global Edition comes with voice turn-by-turn directions, or text turn-by-turn directions. Both of these come in different language settings including English, German, Italian, or Spanish.

    The service provides a level of coverage which almost on a par with many standalone GPS units.
    The Navigator Global Edition sports a business finder that searches business matches in the US and overseas countries from among more than19 million business and service database.

    Handsets capable of this service, which costs US$19.98, include AT&T Tilt, BlackBerry 8800, BlackBerry 8820, BlackBerry Curve 8310, BlackBerry Pearl 8110, BlackJack II and MOTO Q9h.