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Tag: gps

  • Google Enters Navigation Market

    It is now official and will completely change the mobile and PND navigation market. Google announced Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0 devices.

    It comes with 3D views, turn-by-turn voice guidance and automatic rerouting, but unlike most navigation systems, the Navigation was built from the ground up to take advantage of the phone’s internet connection, as Google claims.

    The features possible because Google Navigation is connected to the internet are:
    • recent map and business data: phone automatically gets the most up-to-date maps and business listings from Google Maps — there is no need to buy map upgrades or update the device;
    • search by voice: searching destinations using google voice search (speak your destination instead of typing);
    • traffic view: live traffic data over the internet (a traffic indicator light in the corner of the screen glows green, yellow or red, depending on the current traffic conditions along the route);
    • search along route: searching for a specific business along the route (you can also turn on popular layers, such as gas stations, restaurants or parking);
    • satellite view: the same satellite imagery as Google Maps on the desktop;
    • Street View: shows the turn as you’ll see it, with the route overlaid (Navigation automatically switches to Street View as you approach your destination).

    There is also car dock mode available for certain devices – placing a phone in a car dock activates a special mode (new user interface with, e.g. much larger iconography) that makes it easy to use the device at arm’s length.

    The first phone to have Google Maps Navigation is Motorola’s Droid. It hits the U.S. market next week (Nov. 6th) for $199 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate) and will be available from Verizon with voice plan starting at $39 and a web and email plan for $29 per month.

    Like other Google Maps features, Navigation is free.

    Here is the official Google video

  • Application Stores as a Great Opportunity for Mobile Navigation


    Application stores are presenting a new, significant channel for the promotion and distribution of mobile applications in EMEA. In recent report Canalys analyzes how important will this channel become for navigation applications, and what opportunities does it present.

    “Turn-by-turn navigation is one of the few types of mobile application that consumers have shown a willingness to pay a valuable premium for. In part, this is because these solutions replicate the dedicated, portable navigation device (PND) proposition that consumers are used to associating with a price tag of up to €250 – and even more for some specialist niche products,” says Canalys.

    But, encouraged by existing application stores, there is an expectation that the applications found in app stores are cheap or even free: certainly Apple has seen mostly free applications downloaded from its store.

    Navigation offerings therefore need to be priced competitively to succeed, while preserving sufficient margins for developers.

    Canalys anticipates that as perpetual solution prices inevitably fall, vendors will look to subscription business models, at least for additional premium content, to deliver higher returns from their customers.

    “Vendors must also watch closely how free or very cheap basic navigation applications, such as Nav4All, AndNav2 and Roadee, perform. Though lacking brand recognition and usually based on community-generated maps of questionable and varying quality, such as those from the OpenStreetMap project, consumer expectations of these solutions are low and relatively simple to exceed,” analytics say.

    Canalys claims if these applications can give a user experience good enough for basic use cases, reviews and ratings and viral promotion could see them taking customers away from established vendors.

    App Marketplace

    Application stores, meanwhile, are already establishing themselves as consumers’ first port of call when looking for mobile applications or device personalisation and enhancement options.

    According to the report, technological and optimisation barriers to mass-market uptake of phone-based navigation in EMEA are continually being eroded. Of the 26.1 million smart phones that shipped in EMEA in H1 2009, 22.6 million (86.7%) had application-accessible integrated GPS chipsets, compared with just 36.0% for the same period in 2008.

    In H1 2009, 42.3% of GPS-integrated smart phones that shipped in EMEA used a touch-screen as the primary input method. Meanwhile, Nokia continues to bundle free periods of turn-by-turn navigation with the vast majority of its S60 smart phones and to offer navigation-focused devices or SKUs, such as the 6710 Navigator and the 5800 Navigation edition, respectively.

    Other handset vendors, such as HTC and Samsung, as well as some operators, have also now finally started to not just pre-install, but actively promote navigation solutions, usually powered by third-party software.

    “All this has helped create a market environment, certainly in the developed markets of Europe, where consumers are now well aware that they can use mobile phones for satellite navigation,” says Canalys.

    Combined with growth in mobile application marketplaces and the accompanying consumer interest in browsing and discovering applications, the EMEA market for phonebased navigation offers exciting growth potential.

    Canalys forecasts that the user base for phone-based navigation in EMEA will grow by 40% year-on-year to 6.3 million in 2009, and by 54% to 9.7 million in 2010.

    How to exploit the new opportunity?

    With June’s iPhone OS 3.0 launch, Apple allowed turn-by-turn navigation applications to be developed for the iPhone and sold via the App Store. Navigon quickly got its MobileNavigator application into the store, beating TomTom, which had already shown its application at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, analyzes Canalys.

    Navigon evidently saw a first-mover advantage and quickly became a leading application on the German and UK stores, where its brand is established, priced at €99.99 for European map coverage, or €50 to €70 for a single country or group of countries.

    The Navigon application, and the similarly priced TomTom solution that followed just over a month later, were positioned as premium applications at price points comparable to entry-level PNDs.

    “ALK, however, took a different approach, quickly placing its perpetually licensed CoPilot Live applications in the store at the much more competitive, affordable prices of €33.99 for specific groups of European countries (eg, the German-speaking DACH countries or Benelux), or €79.99 for Europe-wide coverage.”

    The research says ALK, with a considerably less well-known brand than TomTom, has managed to become a strong contender among turn-by-turn apps on the App Store through being competitive, and now has the highest grossing paid-for application in the UK.

    TomTom’s approach, meanwhile, has been less hurried, for better or worse, and has relied on its brand strength to deliver results and elevate it above a need to enter into a price war. It is also focused on delivering a PNDlike experience as far as possible.

  • Mobile Navigation Users Increased to 28 Million

    According to a new research report by Berg Insight, the number of mobile subscribers downloading navigation routes and turn-by-turn navigation instructions using their mobile handsets increased twofold from H1-2008 to H1-2009 and reached 28 million.

    Until 2015, the subscriber base is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33.7 percent to reach 160 million users worldwide.

    The growing adoption will primarily be driven by the broader availability of GPS-enabled handsets and bundling of navigation applications with mobile devices and service plans.

    The report says in countries such as the USA and Japan where mass market GPS handsets are already available, adoption of mobile navigation services have already surpassed 3 and 4 percent of the total mobile subscriber base respectively.

    More recently, increasing volumes of GPS handsets have also started to pave the way for adoption of mobile navigation services in Europe where Personal Navigation Devices have been the prevailing navigation solution for some years.

    In other regions of the world, better availability of low-cost GPS handsets and improving map coverage will enable rapid uptake of navigation services in the coming years.

    “Mobile operators and handset vendors are now starting to experience the business opportunity of a growing installed base of GPS handsets and customers trying navigation services”, said André Malm, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight.

    He adds that since relatively few subscribers need turn-by-turn navigation services on a daily basis, the mobile industry should integrate navigation services with other location-based services to improve the total user experience and ensure that customers continue to subscribe.

  • IFA 2009: Menq Presents Mini GPS/GSM Tracker with GPRS

    VIDEO INTERVIEW: Biz-News.com interviewed Ann Meng, Marketing & Sales Manager of Menq International. She presented the company’s star product – mini GPS/GSM tracker with GPRS.

    This tiny device shows directly map location on any mobile without installing any software and transmits the SMS message of longitude, latitude and location link to cell phone. It supports indoor orientation, single location reporting and continuous tracking. In case of emergency, help message with location is send to all preset phone numbers.

    Menq’s products, include GPS/GPRS/GSM Trackers, Portable Navigation Device and GPS Mobile Phones, are sold to importers and ODM / OEM manufacturers in America, Asia, Europe and Middle East. In order to expand their overseas markets, the company have installed sales representatives in Germany and USA and is now actively seeking overseas partners to build up long term relationships.

  • Nokia Launches X6 ‘Comes With Music’ Device

    NOKIA WORLD 09. Nokia announced the launch of the new Nokia X6, the latest edition to the company’s Xseries touch-screen device portfolio.

    Nokia calls X6 a ‘Comes With Music’ device, as it provides unlimited access to the Nokia Music Store, 35 hours of music playback, comes with built-in FM radio, 3D stereo ringing tones, a new Bluetooth headset, that looks like a cool, sporty headband and dedicated pocket-size battery-powered mini speaker.

    This very slim (14mm) handset features stroke-sensitive, 3.2 inch 16:9 widescreen nHD, that enables to fit 20 shortcuts onto a home screen, 32GB internal memory, 5 megapixels with Carl-Zeiss optics and dual LED flash, built-in features to edit videos, show them on TV or online, built-in GPS with Assisted GPS (A-GPS) support, compass and Nokia Ovi Maps.

    It packs high speed MicroUSB connector, WLAN (China WAPI), Bluetooth 2.0, WCDMA, GPRS/EDGE, HSDPA connectivity and full web browser (OSS) v7.0 with Macromedia Flash Lite 3.0

    The Nokia X6 is expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2009 for an estimated retail price of EUR459.

  • Nokia Unveils N900 – The New Company’s Flagship Handset

    Nokia has finally launched the N900 – running on the new Maemo 5 latest company’s smartphone, which has evolved from Nokia’s previous generation of internet tablets.

    “The open source, Linux-based Maemo software delivers a PC-like experience on a handset-sized device” says the company’s announcement.

    Nokia N900 packs an ARM Cortex-A8 600 MHz processor, up to 1GB of application memory and 3D graphics accelerator with OpenGL ES 2.0 support. The result is, as the company promises, “PC-like multitasking, allowing many applications to run simultaneously.”

    New Nokia comes with a 3.5-inch 800×480 pixel touchscreen, the full physical slide-out QWERTY, internet connectivity with 10/2 HSPA and WLAN, Wi-Fi 54Mbps data transfer, Mozilla-based browser and full Adobe Flash 9.4 support.

    To get the most out of the 5MP camera, Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash and 800 × 480 resolution video recording, Maemo software and the N900 come with a new tag cloud user interface.

    The device also features GPS with pre-installed Ovi Maps, Bluetooth 2.1, FM transmitter, TV-out and 1320mAh battery.

    The panoramic homescreen can be fully personalized with shortcuts, widgets and applications. Maemo software updates happen automatically over the internet.

    N900 has 32GB of storage, which is expandable up to 48GB via a microSD card.

    "The Nokia N900 shows where we are going with Maemo and we’ll continue to work with the community to push the software forward. What we have with Maemo is something that is fusing the power of the computer, the internet and the mobile phone, and it is great to see that it is evolving in exciting ways," said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President of Nokia.

    Nokia N900 will be available in select markets from October 2009 with an estimated retail price of EUR 500 and will be displayed at Nokia World, Stuttgart, on September 2.

  • US Mobile Market Ready for Location-Based Advertising

    INTERVIEW: Location-based advertising (LBA) is still in its early stages – and has so far mostly been rolled out in European markets, including France, Romania and Germany.

    Now TechnoCom has brought a mobile advertising and marketing content delivery platform to the US where it believes the opportunities are huge.

    Smartphone.biz-news spoke to Janice Partyka, vice president of external affairs at TechnoCom, about its SpotOn GPS application and plans for combining location-aware advertising with navigation.

    TechnoCom last month announced that it was launching SpotOn GPS, a mobile navigation system that offers turn-by-turn navigation, search and mapping.

    Nothing particularly startling in that. But where this hosted solution differs is that it is a mobile advertising and marketing content delivery platform that combines advertising with navigation.

    What makes this interesting – especially at a time when budgets are being fiercely scrutinised – is the potential it offers carriers and brands to increase the effectiveness and reach of advertising and promotional messaging.

    The argument is that the return on investment from mobile advertising dollars is greatly enhanced by presenting ads, coupons and offers to consumers at select times, in the right places and close to points of sale.

    Recent figures show that the mobile advertising market in the US is expected to reach USD $2.3 billion, roughly 25 per cent of the overall market by 2011.

    Janice Partyka, vice president of external affairs at TechnoCom

    The largest segment is expected to be mobile couponing reaching almost USD $4 billion by 2011 or 42 per cent of the overall market.

    Janice Partyka, vice president of external affairs at TechnoCom, said a key factor in launching the navigation system was their popularity as mobile applications.

    "We see it as a marketing and advertising pipe," she said. "In Europe there are offerings that combine navigation with advertising and marketing. But we are the first to introduce it to the US."

    Appeal of LBS

    Location-based advertising has been shown to yield significantly higher conversion rates with direct response modes, such as click-to-locate and click-to-navigate, compared to non-location-based advertising.

    This makes LBA and navigation an appealing combination.

    Helping drive the adoption of both is that fact that for end-users, ad-funded navigation can represent a balance between exposure to advertising and access to reduced-cost, or potentially free, navigation.

    Partyka told smartphone.biz-news that market research shows that a large percentage of people say "yes" when asked if they would be interested in an offering that deferred subscriber costs.

    "We have to be smart about it and not make the advert very intrusive," she said.

    "It has to be relevant to who they are and what they are doing."

    So while someone might appreciate receiving an offer from a nearby restaurant at lunchtime, they are unlikely to be so well disposed to getting one at midnight.
    "That’s not useful. Relevance is really important," said Partyka.

    She said that as well as carriers – the traditional channel for navigation – there were other options for SpotOn GPS.

    These include affinity groups, such as airline mileage rewards programs, shopping clubs or travel clubs, all of which can offer search listings of their inventory, suppliers, and partners.

    Partyka said that, for instance, a mileage program can list restaurants or hotels that offer their customers extra mileage incentives.

    The mileage program member may decide to view hotels on a map, receive coupons, offers and advertisements; click-tocall; connect to a website to see rates and book nights; and click-to-navigate to the business’s location.

    Partyka said this extends the reach of partners to get bookings.

    She said SpotOn GPS has other applications, such as a large retailer branding the application to always show its locations on maps, provide special offers that are regionally or outlet-specific, highlight certain vendors, and display loyalty messages.

    Other customers, such as wireless operators, may opt for third-party advertisements that SpotOn GPS offers as a bundle.

    Flexible Revenue Model

    But Partyka said that what SpotOn GPS also offers is flexibilty when it comes to the revenue model being used.

    While the traditional method is for navigation to be offered to end users on a monthly subscription, TechnoCom’s app can be be adapted to its customer’s requirements.

    The revenue models include subscriptions, premium content fees and advertising transaction fees.

    So this can range from a client paying the full fee or chosing a mix of reduced subscription with a share of advertising revenues – to the extent that it could is heavily discounted or even free.

    Partyka said that how customers end up working the charge with the end user depends on them.

    "In some cases they would not charge the end user for the service," she said.

    So, for example, it could be part of the American Express offering for Platinum Card holders, with the cost fully absorbed by membership charges or promotion budgets.

    "Someone else might make a minimum charge but much less than what would have found before," she said.

    Speedy Launch

    Designed as a turn-key solution, SpotOn GPS can be ready for service launch within sixty days of contract signing.

    Partyka said the app does what any other navigation, search and mapping service does.

    Worldwide rich mapping options include street maps, 3-D map views and satellite images. Location-specific traffic and weather are also offered.

    She said it is initially being supported on Windows Mobile, Blackberry and Java handsets but will be coming out on Android in Q3 and the iPhone Q4 2009.

    Based on LocatioNet’s amAze GPS service, it has has been white-labeled by leading international carriers and service providers, including Bouygues France, Orange Israel, Vodafone Romania and Telegate Germany.

    Partyka said SpoOn GPS is aimed at a wide range of end-users with access to international local search databases, and text and voice prompted instructions in thirteen languages with more being added.

    Other features being developed include user generated content, such as enabling users to identify where speed traps are located.

    TechnoCom expects to have its first customers for SpotOn GPS shortly, according to Partyka: "This is the beginning of the market. We have clients that are ready for it."

  • iPhone Fuelling Handset Navigation Uptake


    The rapidly growing smartphone market is providing a much-needed boost for handset-based turn-by-turn navigation.

    While PNDs and in-dash navigation device sales continue to suffer from the economic recession, the number of paying handset-based turn-by-turn navigation users will increase to 26 million by the end of 2010, according to ABI Research.

    The Asia-Pacific region is forecast to experience the strongest growth.

    ABI Research practice director Dominique Bonte said that in the wake of a continuous stream of eye-catching touchscreen smartphone launches, navigation software developers are rushing to port their solutions to as many new platforms as possible.

    These includes Android (ALK, Telenav) and the new Palm webOS (Telenav).

    But it is Apple’s iPhone that is causing the biggest waves.

    "The most significant driver for the uptake of handset navigation is expected to come from the iPhone, following Apple’s decision to finally enable turn-by-turn navigation on its latest 3.0 platform version," according to Bonte.

    Software from TomTom, Sygic, AT&T (Telenav), and Networks In Motion is already available from the iPhone App Store, with Navigon’s solution expected soon.

    ABI Research’s report said that while application stores are expected to become an important channel for the distribution of navigation software, many carriers and handset manufacturers prefer to pre-install or bundle navigation software with their phones and offer plans based on strategic partnerships with navigation developers.

    Examples include Verizon/NIM, AT&T/Telenav, Vodafone/Telmap LG/Appello, HTC/ALK Technologies, and Samsung/Route 66.

    Market leaders Nokia and Vodafone have respectively opted to acquire navigation providers Gate5 and Wayfinder, allowing tighter integration of navigation and LBS services into their portfolios. Both approaches often coexist.

    However, Bonte believes that several barriers still remain in place: "High monthly subscription fees and data roaming costs will need to be addressed for off-board navigation on handsets to reach high penetration levels."

    Free ad-funded navigation is one possible way forward with Locationet’s Amaze solution powering Technocom’s SpotOn GPS platform, Huawei’s new GPS phones, and Bouygues’ free navigation offer in France.

  • Panasonic's Dash-mountable Devices Offer In-car Blu-ray


    Blu-Ray may still be absent from most people’s living rooms – but Panasonic is offering a pair of dash-mountable devices for those who need their high-def fix in the car.

    The CN-HX3000D Windows-powered device, with a 7-inch, 1280 x 720 display offering GPS, Bluetooth, a 40GB hard drive, and iPod/iPhone compatibility.

    Use in conjunction with the CY-BB1000D in-car Blu-ray player and the results are no doubt impressive.

    At what cost, though, Panasonic has still to release, though the pair are expected to hit stores by the end of the summer.

  • AmAze Clear Winner of Smartphone-biz.news' Product of the Year Award


    AmAze’s free navigation and local search service is the winner of smartphone-biz.news’ Product of the Year 2008 award.

    With 41 per cent of the nominations, the turn-by-turn GPS program was the clear winner in a field that included Fring, mobile messaging service Nimbuzz and cellular fixed mobile convergence solution OnRelay MBX.

    AmAze has carved out a strong position for itself with its wide coverage of maps, including aerial photo in Europe, North America, Australia and parts of Asia and Africa.

    In collecting the most votes amAze also got some strong endorsements from readers who universally praised the service for its features and usability.

    One user described it as an "amazing free GPS tool – kicks dust into the expensive and cumbersome to update Garmin and other GPS services".

    Another said it was "just as good, if not better, than pricey GPS programs", while someone else said the GPS navigation "looks really great…and is FREE. It doesn’t get any better".

    Runner-up Nimbuzz took 20 per cent of the votes and also earned some enthusiastic admiration from readers who praised its services in the crowded mobile IM client space – "Nimbuzz stands out for it’s stability, well thought out interface and impressive network support," said one voter.

    "Smart connection options certainly don’t hurt the product either".

    Nimbuzz is targeting mobile users and online communities with free calls, chat and more.

    The "more" includes free mobile VoIP calling (excluding data charges), conference calling, instant messaging, chat and group chat, and photo and file sending across multiple IM communities, including Skype, MSN, Google Talk, Yahoo, AIM, Jabber and ICQ, plus 23 social networks, including Facebook and Myspace.

    Nimbuzz’s ability to "go beyond Skype" is a major appeal. One reader said: "I have tried many mobile instant messaging solutions, and Nimbuzz does everything I expect it to, does it well, keeps improving, and is free."

    Coming in third in the competition with 12 per cent of the vote was Fring, the mobile internet community and communication service.

    As well as its social appeal, Fring also lets users make affordable local and international calls to landline and regular cellular numbers using a SkypeOut/SkypeIn account or almost any internet voice service (SIP) such as SIPNET, EuteliaVoIP, VoIPVoIP and VoIPTalk, including from non-SIP enabled handsets.

    Among the voters’ praise for Fring was the fact the "wonderful application…keeps me available to my boss, colleagues and friends always".

    Others congratulated Fring for "supporting different VoiP providers in a single tool which can be installed in several mobile platforms", and described it as "the best software enabling you to keep in touch with all IM buddies as well as enabling you to make Voip/Sip calls".

    "It’s simple and easy to use and works well," explained a user. "Unlike similar applications it truly offers choice and freedom and is totally free. There is also free web support, free and interesting add-ons and a thriving online community."

    The fourth placed product with 9 per cent of the vote was OnRelay with its pioneering mobile PBX – the first global private mobile branch exchange, OnRelay MBX.

    It offers enterprises and operators a seamless Cellular Fixed Mobile Convergence solution and has commercial deployments in Tier 1 operators and Fortune 500 companies.

    The groundbreaking architecture has enabled OnRelay to claim to be the only cellular based FMC solution on the market able to completely replace desk phones, creating a "mobile only PBX" to disrupt the hardware intensive VoIP and WiFi markets.

    Readers described it as "the coolest thing ever – one phone does all", "the most innovative and exciting product on the market" and said "the addition of MBX to your professional life is transformative".

    One voter said: "The beauty of the smartphone is that they can save companies money because they can be used for several things.

    "In OnRelay’s case – customers can also replace deskphones with smartphones – a huge opportunity in this bear market.

    "Also a big opportunity for smartphone vendors to sell more smartphones."

    The top four entries saw off competition from a wide-ranging field of companies, including JaJah, Octrotalk, Orblive, Handyshell, Beejive IM, DinnerSpinner, MobiExplore and the N-Gage platform.

    Smartphone-biz.news would like to thank everyone who took the effort to nominate a product and to cast a vote.