GPS chipset maker SiRF Technology announced a partnership today with Intel Corporation “to help location and wireless connectivity become more mainstream in next generation mobile devices.” For the most part, this means that Intel will license positioning technology from SiRF for developing silicon used in mobile internet devices, mobile phones and handheld consumer devices. “SiRF has a vision to bring the benefits of location enabled content and applications to the mainstream mobile consumer and enterprise markets,” said Kanwar Chadha, SiRF’s founder and vice president of marketing.
Warning - if you are brave enough to read the entire press release, it’s rather vague and gives few details on specific plans for the pair. This is clearly intended for Wall Street (look who we’re working with!), although it didn’t help much today: SiRF was down nearly 10% in extended trading after the company lowered FY2007 guidance.
Last week, research company In-Stat said that U.S. cellphone owners who subscribe to phone-based navigation services will increase from 1.6 million in 2007 to 8.7 million by 2011. One reason for the projected gain is the relatively high price tags of personal navigation devices (PNDs), which retail anywhere from $200 to $600.
Future forecasts aside, In-Stat also surveyed more than 1,000 consumers and found that half would currently prefer to purchase a PND rather than subscribe to a handset navigation service. Only 17 percent said they wanted to use handset navigation, but the remaining 33 percent said they will probably use both handset navigation and a PND.
In-Stat also found that very few consumers could correctly identify whether their carrier offered handset navigation. “So the mobile carriers are really the ones that need to be promoting this and haven’t,” noted In-Stat principal analyst David Chamberlain.
I don’t have the detailed report to reference, but something’s not right here. Let’s see, $400 for a Garmin Nuvi or $10/month for Telenav on Sprint? And a full third of those surveyed said they would use both? I wonder how the responses would change if people knew about the navigation industry’s dirty little secret: free Google Maps w/GPS (running great on my Blackberry 8800). The bottom line is the lack of market awareness for handset navigation. Chamberlain is right - carriers need to do a better job of educating consumers on these services. After all, carriers are the sole distribution channel for the vast majority of LBS apps out there.
U.S. Cellular, the nation’s sixth-largest wireless carrier with six million subscribers, introduced its “Your Navigator” service today. The turn-by-turn navigation service is powered by Networks In Motion (NIM), an Aliso Viejo-based LBS developer. If the app looks familiar, that’s because NIM also powers VZ Navigator on Verizon. The company also does a white-label version for Alltel. The service is available for $9.99 per month or $2.99 per day, and works with the Kyocera 312, LG 245 and Motorola V3M.
There’s nothing groundbreaking about the service, but I’m glad to see them following the VZ Navigator pricing model with a $2.99 daily rate. This fits the usage pattern of most navigation users - they might purchase the service a couple of times a month on a business trip or vacation. Most people never venture far from their familiar home-to-work/school route. Why would they pay a monthly fee?
Nothing says “back to school” like the smell of new sneakers, some sharp pencils…and a GPS in your kid’s backpack? UK-based Blue Tree Services is offering a GPS child tracking system squarely aimed at this market. The unit provides continuous location tracking with four-meter accuracy for £19.95 per month. A parent can view the child’s position anywhere in the UK and Ireland on a dynamic map, either through a secure website or on a mobile device. The system also includes an optional panic alarm which allows the child to alert parents if they are in trouble. Sales have apparently increased after the recent disappearance of the four-year-old British toddler Madeleine McCann in Portugal.
Mike Smuts, managing director of Blue Tree Services, said: “We have seen a huge demand for this product from across all sectors of society. It is good to know that parents can allow their children a little more freedom and at the same time manage their independence.”
This kind of mobile service already exists in the United States: Family Locator on Sprint, Chaperone on Verizon, and Family Locator on Disney Mobile. No one has a problem with installing LoJack on their car or even tracking felons, but it brings up major privacy and parenting issues when you start tracking children. I’m still undecided on the approach - ask me again in 10 years…
Hot on the heels of a WiMAX collaboration with Clearwire, Sprint has partnered with Google “to bring WiMAX mobile Internet customers search, interactive communications and social networking tools though a new mobile portal. The collaboration between Sprint and Google will help spur new mobility and location-assisted services as Sprint untethers Internet access for consumers, businesses and government customers.” In simple terms: a Google homepage.
Here’s the best part: “Google and Sprint will optimize the Internet experience for the digital lifestyle,” said Barry West, president, 4G Mobile Broadband for Sprint. Yeah, ’cause I love my 1s and 0s. And didn’t Google already optimize it?
Google is focusing heavily on location-based services because better targeted ads equal higher CPMs. These location-based services inevitably mean maps, and the content cost will squeeze Google’s margins as its commitment to LBS grows. I would think a Google counteroffer for Tele Atlas or an acquisition of Navteq makes sense before they head too far down this road.
Apparently some cabbies aren’t as enthusiastic as those in Quebec over the idea of GPS in their taxis. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which counts more than 8,400 members, is calling for a strike in September if city leaders don’t shelf plans for required GPS systems. The group fears the technology could be used to track drivers’ movements, executive director Bhairavi Desai said Wednesday. The other point of contention is the cost that cabbies would incur to install the systems: a three-year maximum of $7,400 for equipment and other fees.
The commission initially called for the technology while approving a 26% fare increase in 2004. Starting on Oct. 1, all 13,000 city cabs will be required to have the systems installed as they come up for inspection.
You read that right. Under current Quebec law (Article 439 of the Highway Safety Code) it is currently prohibited to have a television or other screen displaying information that a motorist can directly or indirectly see while driving. But according the the Montreal Gazette, the highway code is expected to be modified by the end of 2007, thanks to a decade-long fight by Quebec’s cabbies to make GPS legal for taxis. According to the paper, Montreal police have issued 190 tickets for this kind of violation since 2003. Welcome to the 21st century, Québecois!
I came across an interesting tidbit from an interview with Tele Atlas CEO Alain De Taeye. TomTom and Tele Atlas want to tap into the user-generated content phenomenon that’s fueling the Web 2.0 trend. The two want to create a community that provides feedback on roads, traffic and points of interest, says De Taeye.
“We are going into a new era of digital mapping,” De Taeye said in the interview. “The best map of the future will be a map that is produced by a company that has full access to a large community-based input system.” With its big installed base of users, TomTom can get feedback to enhance and correct its maps, he said. Tele Atlas executives say many users want to create map databases. “That’s a huge opportunity,” De Taeye said.
So does this mean the end to all those orange Tele Atlas vans mapping the world’s roads? Probably. Do you think TomTom and Tele Atlas will give users a discount on GPS units for creating and maintaining this valuable data? Probably not. What do you think this means for the future of map data collection?
The rings are the invention of Gail Knight, a British designer at the Royal College of Art, who developed them as a way of helping women feel safe in unfamiliar areas.
“I’d been looking at women and their position in the public sphere, and how safe they feel in a public environment,” she told BBC World Service. “I wanted to avoid the route of attack alarms, which nobody really uses, and just find a way of making people feel confident.”
A device controller is worn either around the neck or clipped on to clothing. The controller has a display of eight digits, which allows for a postcode to be entered. It also houses an electronic compass and GPS system, which is what powers the device’s navigation. The signal is then transmitted to the two rings, inside of which are a small vibrating motor and antenna. The rings buzz for left and right, and have different vibrations for forwards and backwards. Both buzz when going in the wrong direction.
Spain’s federal traffic authority, the Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT), is considering fines for drivers caught programming a GPS navigation unit while driving. The DGT recently launched a media campaign to warn drivers about the hazards of distractions while driving, such as smoking, talking on a mobile phone, or programming a GPS navigation unit. In 2006, the DGT estimates such distractions figured in 30 percent of traffic accidents. During the summer that percentage typically rises to nearly 50 percent. The campaign cites Navteq estimates that some 1.3 million portable navigation units were sold in Spain during 2006. If the driver is distracted while programming a navigation unit—DGT suggests that this process can take as long as 30 seconds—traffic conditions can quickly change and result in a major accident.
Following the launch of this media campaign warning Spanish drivers about distractions, the head of the DGT, Pere Navarro, said that the DGT is considering a policy of fining drivers €300 ($415) and the loss of three driving points if caught programming a navigation unit while driving, according to Spanish media reports.
Navarro also said the DGT has corresponded with the makers of navigation units, asking them to be designed so that they could not be programmed while the vehicle is in motion. He acknowledged that it would take time for the industry to respond, and that in the meantime the fines would suffice.
