UBIKWITUS

2008-02-16T22:52:00.000-08:00

GPS 'thermometer' could flag up climate change

12:59 15 February 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Kurt Kleiner

As GPS signals pass through the atmosphere, they are refracted slightly, with the angle of refraction depending on temperature and the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere. The signals are detected at satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) (Image: GeoDAF)

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GPS satellites could help predict the weather
10 July 2006
GPS echoes help monitor Earth
01 May 2004

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The Global Positioning System could be used as a global thermometer and used to monitor climate change, say UK meteorologists.

The idea rests on a relatively new technique for taking atmospheric measurements, called GPS radio occultation.

This involves using a satellite in low-Earth orbit to receive signals from GPS satellites. As the signals pass through the atmosphere, they are refracted slightly, with the angle of refraction depending on temperature and the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere.

Instruments on a number of research satellites measure GPS signals in this way, including the German CHAMP mission, and the joint US/Taiwan COSMIC mission.

These measurements are already used to help calculate the amount of water in the atmosphere, as well as temperature and density, which are useful in weather forecasting.

Man-made signal

Now two researchers at the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts in Reading, both in the UK, suggest that the measurements of refraction might be used directly to confirm climate change.

In a paper to be published in Geophysical Research Letters, Mark Ringer and Sean Healy describe how they have used computer models to calculate the expected change in the refraction of the GPS signals as global warming continues.

Although natural atmospheric variations will also affect the measurements, they predict that, within 10 years, a strong signal of man-made climate change should be detectable. Their model indicates that radio waves going through the stratosphere will be bent through an angle 4% greater than today.

"I think it's pretty significant,” says Robert Kursinski, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Arizona. "Here's another way you can use this data in a way that will, in theory, point out a change in climate."

Climate Change – Want to know more about global warming: the science, impacts and political debate? Visit our continually updated special report.

2008-02-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

Orange and Nokia Sign MOU on Value Added Mobile Services

Orange and Nokia have signed a memorandum of understanding in order to partner on value added services such as location based services, maps, mobile advertising and gaming. There is a strong intent to follow with a strategic partnership by mid 2008.

By combining Orange's marketing, customer and service expertise and Nokia's strength in device development and integration, the two companies will extend the way customers use and enjoy their mobile handsets. Nokia will continue to support Orange's Signature device strategy including common applications.

The partnership will be underpinned by co-marketing and sales activities, building on and increasing the collaboration that already exists between the two.

Orange's Signature Series portfolio includes a wide range of Nokia handsets. Within the Signature approach, Orange selects and tests the best applications, defines suitable tariffs, a user friendly interface plus integrated billing and customer support. As a converged operator, Orange's strategy is to become a leader in advertising solutions for mobile, Internet and IPTV. Orange is committed to becoming a leader in mobile advertising across its footprint.

Commenting on the partnership, Olaf Swantee, EVP of Orange's global mobile operations said "We are delighted to be extending our successful relationship with Nokia to drive the uptake of services. We have a strong and enduring partnership with Nokia. With this agreement we intend to bring the power of mobile internet to our customers with a user friendly experience and applications that make a difference to their lives".

"We're excited to work closer with Orange to bring new devices and mobile services to the market" said Kai Öistämö, EVP of Nokia Devices "as a next important step in our strong and long strategic relationship started in the early 90's."

About Orange
Orange is the key brand of France Telecom, one of the world's leading telecommunications operators. France Telecom serves more than 170 million customers in five continents as of December 31, 2007, of which two thirds are Orange customers. The Group had consolidated sales of 52.9 billion euros in 2007. As of December 31, 2007, the Group had 109.6 million mobile customers and 11.6 million broadband internet (ADSL) customers.

Launched in June 2005, the NExT program (New Experience in Telecommunications) will enable the Group to pursue its transformation as an integrated operator and make France Telecom the benchmark for new telecommunications services in Europe. In 2006, Orange became the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates, and Orange Business Services the banner for services offered to businesses worldwide. France Telecom is the number three mobile operator and the number one provider of broadband internet services in Europe and one of the world leaders in providing telecommunication services to multinational companies.

France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on Euronext Paris and on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information : www.orange.com, www.francetelecom.com, www.orange-business.com Orange and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trade marks of Orange Personal Communications Services Limited.

About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks

2008-02-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

Location Based Services Get Focus

by Piers Fawkes in Telecom

Reporting back from Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona this week, the Financial Times says that many of the players in the mobile market have a focus on Location Based Services. They give a glimpse of the plans Google, Apple, Nokia, Ericcson and Yahoo have:

Yahoo… put maps in focus with the launch of its OneConnect product, with another feature promising to show how far away friends are, and even plot their positioning on a map.

Google is also gaining traction for its Google Maps on mobile service, having secured partnerships with Vodafone, T-Mobile and the Apple iPhone.

Ericsson launched tools to help operators run location-based services on their networks, and Telmap, a company that provides whitelabel mapping services to mobile operators such as Vodafone, has just won a large deal with Orange Group.

The flurry of announcements shows the technology is maturing fast as global positioning system features are increasingly being embedded into handsets. Nokia, for example, is planning to include it in all its high-end, N-series smartphones. It expects to ship 35m GPS-enabled devices this year.<.blockquote>

FT.com / Companies / Media & internet - Handset makers find a route map to the futu

2008-02-16T22:37:00.000-08:00

Nokia Maps 2.0 Beta Available For Nokia N82

Nokia just announced the future of the Maps application at the Mobile World Congress event. And with this announcement you can now download the new Nokia Maps 2.0. But be careful it's still in beta, however reports are coming in that it's stable. One of the biggest features announced is real time traffic conditions. Right now it's only supported in European countries, but we should be getting some USA love soon. Maybe this will replace the necessity for the Google Maps application.

Here is a rundown of the new features in Nokia Maps 2.0 -

Nokia Maps 2.0 adds Walk, a pedestrian focused navigation component to the application, while still offering Drive, a world class car navigation system. The pedestrian navigation efficiently walks you from A to B with visual turn-by-turn guidance. It helps you to locate yourself by giving information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks (including pathways through the park).

The new Nokia Maps 2.0 update also adds the option to purchase first-class multimedia guides that feature photos, videos and audio streams to enlighten your journey even more. As with the previous version of Nokia Maps, map users will receive a free 3-day Navigation trial, for Walk and Drive, plus an additional free 10 minute City Guide trial.

"By taking navigation services out of the car and onto the sidewalk, Nokia is enabling people to explore and discover what's around them with the confidence of a local," said Michael Halbherr, vice president, Nokia location based services.

Upgrading to the GPS navigation option enables your mobile to become a powerful connected personal navigation device, that provides clear, turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance. If your Nokia device doesn't have built-in GPS, you can also use an external GPS module with a compatible device. Nokia Maps 2.0 will also have, for an optional fee, real-time traffic feeds with dynamic re-routing in 18 European countries. With vector maps provided by TeleAtlas and Navteq, Nokia Maps now has maps covering over 200 countries, with over 70 of them navigable.

Nokia Maps 2.0 can also lead you to the nearest transit station using localized icons in 17 cities so you can hop on the Metro to get across town. While you are on riding on the Metro you can discover and explore new places using the hybrid satellite views or by purchasing one of the new multimedia city guides from companies like Berlitz. The expert advice on where to go and what to do, combined with the integrated Nokia mobile search, helps Nokia fulfill its goal of bringing people context aware Internet services forward.

For some awesome photos and a good review, check out this post by The Symbian-Guru. Ricky was one of the first to get his hands on this application.

Click here to download Nokia Maps 2.0 for the Nokia N82.

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2008-02-16T22:32:00.000-08:00

Monday, February 11th

Sierra unveils HSPA mobile broadband modems

Sierra Wireless has introduced two new HSPA mobile broadband modems -- the AirCard 885E ExpressCard and Compass 885 USB modem. Both devices boast a small form-factor and offer the latest high-speed mobile broadband technology for use worldwide. Both the AirCard 885E ExpressCard and the Compass 885 USB modem are slated for shipment in mid-2008, and are compatible with Mac as well as Windows systems.

The Sierra Wireless Compass 885 tri-band USB modem for HSPA networks includes 'TRU-Install' software installation to simplify setup, a microSD memory card slot to expand its functionality, and a laptop clip accessory to provide flexibility in use. Compatible with mobile broadband networks worldwide, the Compass 885 USB modem is the only device in its class to include a connector for an external antenna, according to Sierra, allowing users in remote areas or fringe network coverage to extend and strengthen their connection to the network.

The AirCard 885E features a more compact ExpressCard design for users who regularly travel with a notebook that includes an ExpressCard slot. A fixed antenna with no moving parts aims to offer a reliable wireless connection, while the same 'TRU-Install' provides for quick installation without the need for a CD.

The Compass 885 USB modem and the AirCard 885E ExpressCard support tri-band HSPA/UMTS with receive diversity on all three bands and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM support. Both devices offer peak data speeds of up to 7.2Mbps of downstream bandwidth, and up to 2.0Mbps upstream. Uplink speeds are upgradeable via software to 5.76Mbps as future improvements become available.

Each device also offers GPS support for location based services such as local search and navigation applications.

2008-02-16T22:28:00.000-08:00

Nokia shows off Maps 2.0

Posted on Monday, February 11 2008 @ 17:23:28 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck

Nokia presented a new version of its Nokia Maps navigation service at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This service is geared toward pedestrians and will be available on the Nokia 6210 Navigator phone:

Nokia Maps 2.0 adds Walk, a pedestrian focused navigation component to the application, while still offering Drive, a world class car navigation system. The pedestrian navigation efficiently walks you from A to B with visual turn-by-turn guidance. It helps you to locate yourself by giving information about the surrounding buildings, streets and parks (including pathways through the park) and in newer handsets, like the Nokia 6210 Navigator, points the direction in which you are walking; using the handset's built in compass for orientation.

The new Nokia Maps 2.0 update also adds the option to purchase first-class multimedia guides that feature photos, videos and audio streams to enlighten your journey even more. As with the previous version of Nokia Maps, map users will receive a free 3-day Navigation trial, for Walk and Drive, plus an additional free 10 minute City Guide trial.

"By taking navigation services out of the car and onto the sidewalk, Nokia is enabling people to explore and discover what's around them with the confidence of a local," said Michael Halbherr, vice president, Nokia location based services. "By combining the integrated compass of the Nokia 6210 Navigator, with the speed and accuracy of assisted GPS, Nokia Maps 2.0 provides a unique experience with which other less accurate mobile navigation applications can't compete."

Upgrading to the GPS navigation option enables your mobile to become a powerful connected personal navigation device, that provides clear, turn-by-turn visual and voice guidance. If your Nokia device doesn't have built-in GPS, you can also use an external GPS module with a compatible device. Nokia Maps 2.0 will also have, for an optional fee, real-time traffic feeds with dynamic re-routing in 18 European countries. With vector maps provided by TeleAtlas and Navteq, Nokia Maps now has maps covering over 200 countries, with over 70 of them navigable.

Nokia Maps 2.0 can also lead you to the nearest transit station using localized icons in 17 cities so you can hop on the Metro to get across town. While you are on riding on the Metro you can discover and explore new places using the hybrid satellite views or by purchasing one of the new multimedia city guides from companies like Berlitz. The expert advice on where to go and what to do, combined with the integrated Nokia mobile search, helps Nokia fulfill its goal of bringing people context aware Internet services forward.

A beta version of the software can be downloaded over here.

2008-02-16T22:24:00.001-08:00

Nokia vs. Google: The Battle Escalates

The battle for Internet turf is no longer just a figure of speech. Nokia (NOK) on Feb. 11 announced a quartet of new handsets designed to more closely link global positioning systems (GPS) with the mobile Internet, bringing the Finnish company into more direct competition with Google Maps and staking a bigger claim to the emerging market for so-called location-based services. The announcement came on the same day that Google (GOOG) encroached on Nokia territory by demonstrating a prototype of its Android operating system for mobile phones.

Both companies are betting that where people are located will become an important part of how they use the Net. Nokia is trying to claim that arena with handsets such as its new, top-of-the-line N96. The device allows owners to shoot videos, "geotag" them with info about where the images were taken, and upload to a Nokia Web site that sounds suspiciously like Google's YouTube.

Mobile Devices Take the Lead

Of course, the GPS-equipped phones also help people find their way around, using satellite signals as well as the cell-phone network to tell customers where they are and to provide travel directions. A new feature gives instructions designed specifically for pedestrians, in contrast to the systems that provide driving directions now prevalent on the market. Thanks to Nokia's planned acquisition of mapping software company Navteq (BusinessWeek.com, 10/1/07), the cell-phone giant is gearing up to compete with Google in mapping as well.

As a maker of devices rather than just software, Nokia thinks it has an advantage over Google as people increasingly access the Internet while they're mobile. Cell-phone keypads and software are less standardized than PCs, making it more difficult for companies to let their customers easily surf the Net. Like everybody in the industry, Google is still feeling its way in the nascent mobile search and ads business, as evidenced by the company's recent announcement (BusinessWeek.com, 1/24/08) of its partnership with Japanese cellular giant NTT DoCoMo (DCM).

Nokia has 40% of the global handset market and more than half of the smartphone market. That and its software prowess give the company great clout to determine the standards that will be used to access the Internet via handheld devices. "I don't know if we're in a position to decide," Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia executive vice-president for markets, told BusinessWeek. "But Nokia's power position will certainly influence the development of different interfaces."

Nokia's New Line of Handsets

Part of Nokia's power comes from its ability to develop a broader array of products than its competitors. That was on display in Barcelona, where much of the mobile industry was gathered for the 2008 Mobile World Congress (BusinessWeek.com, 2/8/08). The company introduced four handsets designed to extend the limits of what a mobile device can do as well as to make wireless Web and GPS functions more accessible to the masses.

At the high end, the $800 N96 is similar to the previous top-of-the-line N95, with features such as GPS and high-quality video recording, but it features a bigger screen and improved ability to play TV programs digitally broadcast over the air or streamed via mobile networks. The N96, due to hit stores sometime after midyear, includes a "kickstand" allowing it to be propped on a surface for watching video. It also has a 16 gigabyte memory so it can store whole movies.

One feature which may give Google pause lets users of the N96 as well as other Nokia handsets instantly upload photos and videos to a YouTube-like Web portal operated by Nokia, called share.ovi.com. "They're definitely competing with Google," says Neil Mawston, director of the global wireless practice at market-watcher Strategy Analytics. Mawston points out, though, that Nokia also is reacting to Google's attempts to invade the mobile handset space by developing Android. Nokia's strategy, Mawston says, "is partly offensive and partly defensive."

A Global Internet Powerhouse

At the lower end of the products introduced on Feb. 11, the 6220 classic offers features previously exclusive to high-end phones, including a 5.0 megapixel camera and GPS, for about $475. In markets where operators subsidize handsets, the price to consumers certainly will be much lower. Such phones expand the number of users with access to the mobile Internet—and give weight to Nokia's long-held assertion that most of the world will access the Net via their phones rather than via PCs.

That could be especially true in fast-growing emerging markets, where lack of broadband connections and reliable electricity restrict the spread of PCs. "The PC in India is the mobile phone," Manoj Kohli, CEO of Indian provider Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO), said at a separate event in Barcelona.

Already, says Nokia's Vanjoki, the company's older N70 smartphone is available for around $150 and the price continues to fall. With some 1 billion Nokia handsets now in circulation, the Finns could well emerge as the dominant suppliers of Internet devices for much of the world. Estimates are that 5 billion people will have access to a mobile phone by 2015, bringing the Internet to people and places that have so far been excluded from electronic media and communications.

Consumer Backlash?

One risk for Nokia is that customers will begin to resent its commanding market power in the same way that some people resent Microsoft's (MSFT) dominance of operating systems or Google's dominance of search. The company's managers are certainly aware of the danger—and Vanjoki, for his part, is adamant that Nokia doesn't want to "own" the Internet. He notes, for instance, that the company's ovi service—its platform for Internet services such as photo sharing—will be open to other software developers as well as rival handset vendors.

A company's image among consumers, Vanjoki told BusinessWeek, "is completely dependant on behavior. There are responsible players and there are people who want to monopolize." Nokia intends to belong to the responsible group," he insists. "Consumers are demanding, and they penalize you if you don't behave."

credited to BusinessWeek

2008-02-16T22:18:00.000-08:00

NXP fuels rise of mobile location-based services with ultra-low power, single-chip GPS solution

Posted in February 9th, 2008

by Lusi in Nokia, PDA, Qtek, Symbian, Uncategorized, Windows Mobile

Recent acquisition quick to deliver best-in-class GPS technology within NXP’s mobile product portfolio

Quickly following the January 23rd closing of its acquisition of GPS technology provider GloNav, Inc., NXP Semiconductors today announced its first single-chip, Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) solution, designed for use in both mobile phones and standalone personal navigation devices (PNDs). Built on an advanced architecture, NXP’s GNS7560 is the industry’s smallest, lowest power, lowest system cost GPS solution.

To take these design advantages a step further, NXP has also integrated this best-in-class GPS technology into its existing Nexperia Cellular System Solution 7210 for 3G. This integration accelerates overall ease of use, system performance, time to market and cost effectiveness for mobile handset OEMs wanting to integrate powerful GPS capabilities in support of today’s growing trend toward location-based services on mobile phones.

“NXP believes that location-based services are the next killer application in wireless, and our recent acquisition of GloNav is a testament to our belief in the endless possibilities that will arise with increased adoption of location-aware technologies,” said Dennis Kish, Senior Vice President of Connected Entertainment, Business Unit Mobile & Personal at NXP Semiconductors. “We are excited that just two weeks after closing the transaction, the quick synergy between GloNav’s technology and our existing product portfolio has allowed us to almost immediately offer our customers full access to an industry-leading GPS solution.”

“Advances in GPS chipset development will significantly facilitate the low-cost integration of GPS technology with greater reliability and precision of satellite positioning in tomorrow’s mobile devices, said Dominique Bonte, Principal Analyst, Telematics & Navigation at ABI Research. “By 2013, we can expect to see more than 900 million GPS-enabled devices in the market; each offering an array of new and innovative location-based services beyond traditional navigation, such as automatic geo-tagging of pictures taken with digital cameras, road toll systems, and social networking applications.”

The NXP GNS7560 is implemented on a 90 nanometer (nm) architecture and features a high performance CMOS RF front end plus correlator engine to significantly reduce system cost and power. Advanced power management modes reduce power consumption to less than 13mW for one-second map updates – beyond any alternative GPS solution on the market today. With a package size of less than 9 mm2, the GNS7560 is the smallest GPS chip available, and when integrated with NXP’s Cellular System Solution 7210, also provides the smallest overall solution.

Unlike other GPS solutions, the GNS7560 automatically alters sensitivity and tracking based on signal strength, multipath and velocity, delivering first-rate acquisition and tracking sensitivity, Time to First Fix (TTFF) and accuracy to ensure deep-indoor sensitivity and reliable coverage even in dense metropolitan areas known as ‘urban canyons’. The host software for the product is structured for easy OS integration with Microsoft Windows® CE, Windows Mobile® and Linux standard drivers, as well as a variety of real-time kernels in support of today’s Smartphone designs.

The high-performance GPS single-chip solution is integrated with NXP’s Nexperia UMTS/EDGE Cellular System Solution 7210, which supports a broad set of multimedia applications and connectivity options for 2G and 3G mobile handsets. A demonstration of the Nexperia Cellular System Solution with integrated GNS7560 will be shown on NXP’s booth (Hall 8, B110) at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain from February 11-14, 2008. .

Availablity
The standalone GNS7560 A-GPS solution is sampling now.

About NXP
NXP is a top 10 semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in Europe, the company has 37,000 employees working in more than 20 countries and posted sales of EUR 5 billion in 2006. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in mobile phones, personal media players, TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.

2008-02-16T22:15:00.000-08:00

Nokia's N96 spotted in the wild?

Posted Dec 20th 2007 10:12AM by Darren Murph
Filed under: Cellphones

That, friends, is an N96. Or, at least we're led to believe so. Judging by five mysterious images that surfaced over at Mobile-Review, it appears that Nokia's N96 (which looks like a jazzed-up version of the N81, actually) has leaked out, and while no specifications are available, it looks as if this thing is packing a 5-megapixel camera (with the obligatory Carl Zeiss lens), a dual LED flash and a sexy black motif. Check out one more look after the jump.

[Via IntoMobile]

Tags: breaking news, BreakingNews, in the wild, InTheWild, n96, nokia, pics, pictures, sneak peek, SneakPeek

2008-02-14T21:57:00.000-08:00

3G Operator 3 UK First To Launch Google Maps Version 2
Do you receive our FREE 3G Newsletter ? If not click here
23rd January , 2008
Europe UK : 3 have announced that they are the first mobile network operator in the UK to launch version 2 of the much-loved Google Maps application.The new version of Google Maps, available only through a 3G network, will use your mobile phone connection to establish your location through GPS, and work out directions or find local services and business for you at the touch of a button. The updated software will also:
Integrate all your search results on one, easy to navigate page
Give detailed directions for both walkers and drivers
Provide a satellite view of all locations
Display your internet KB usage in the corner of your screen
Allow easy access to details of local business found in your search The new application is now available on the majority of 3's wide range of handsets.

2008-02-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

Garmin Adds A Cell Phone To Its GPS Device

The Nuvifone's built-in camera takes pictures that are automatically tagged with latitude and longitude.

By Elena Malykhina
InformationWeek
January 31, 2008 02:35 PM

First Apple came out with the iPhone, then Google announced its mobile-phone software development platform, and now GPS maker Garmin is entering the mobile phone market with a hybrid device called the Nuvifone.


The Nuvifone is the first mobile phone by Garmin, featuring GPS, a touch screen, and a Web browser.
(click for image gallery)

The Nuvifone, which Garmin unveiled this week, combines a cell phone, a Web browser, and GPS. Its slim form factor, 3.5-inch touch screen, and on-screen keypad resemble another device that took the mobile market by storm last year: the iPhone.

"This is the breakthrough product that cell phone and GPS users around the world have been longing for -- a single device that does it all," said Cliff Pemble, Garmin's president and COO, in a statement.

Unlike the iPhone, the Nuvifone is a GPS personal navigator and has built-in third-generation cellular technology for high-speed data access. The home screen features three icons: call, search, and view map for simple access to the phone's functions. Additionally, the phone's GPS works with the built-in camera to take pictures that are automatically tagged with latitude and longitude. Users can e-mail pictures to others, who can then navigate to the location where it was taken, said Garmin.

Once the Nuvifone is docked onto a vehicle mount, the GPS turns on automatically, the navigation menu is activated, and a person is then able to make hands-free calls while simultaneously using the navigation function, according to Garmin. The phone comes with maps of North America and Europe, as well as a built-in database with millions of points of interest. It works just like Garmin's standard GPS devices, offering turn-by-turn audible directions.

The Nuvifone is also Garmin's first device with the Google local search application, which serves up nearby venues based on a person's current location.

Garmin said the Nuvifone will be available in the third quarter of this year, but didn't provide details on specific markets and pricing.

There were over a billion mobile phones shipped last year, according to ABI Research. GPS, digital cameras, media players, and other capabilities are being integrated into phones to create multifunctional devices. Garmin, Google, Apple, and others see the mobile phone market as the next big opportunity, even though the companies are not traditional telephony players.

Discuss This

2008-02-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

Inside The GPhone: What To Expect From Google's Android Alliance

If you think the Google Phone is all talk, you're wrong: Here are eight technologies--GPS, multimedia, mobile Web browsing, gaming graphics, and more--which Open Handset Alliance members will bring to the upcoming mobile handset.

By Alexander Wolfe
InformationWeek
January 30, 2008 07:00 AM

This story originally appeared on Nov. 13, 2007.

What exactly will the GPhone -- that vaporous handset that's the subject of furious speculation -- actually look like? In the wake of Google's release of its Android mobile-phone software development platform, there's been lots of chatter, but little hard information. This article is intended to change that.


	(click image for larger view) The GPhone may apply user-interface elements designed by Sweden's TAT. view the image gallery

Google has publicly listed all the partners in its Android project, under the umbrella of the Open Handset Alliance. By intelligently examining what those companies are working on, we can come up with a fact-based projection of the GPhone's probable feature set.

The allies enlisted to work on the device constitutes a mobile software and hardware elite. There are well-known handset makers like Taiwan's HTC, which fields what some consider a better "iPhone" than Apple, in the form of its sleek Touch. And there are beneath-the-radar innovators, like Sweden's TAT. The software developer's clean but funky user-interface designs could propel the GPhone towards the holy grail of a device which is so simple your Grandma could use it.

While the GPhone won't be revolutionary -- the very existence of the Alliance implies it'll use currently available technologies -- it will connect the pieces in pleasantly new ways. Expect the GPhone to be a handset in Web 2.0 clothing, with a friendlier and more integrated approach to mobile computing than even Steve Jobs has envisioned.

Here then are the eight technologies we can expect to see in the GPhone (or phones) due sometime in 2008.

A Chic Euro User Interface

If Apple's iPhone has set the high water mark for what the cutting-edge smartphone's screen is supposed to look like, it's safe to infer that the GPhone won't try to top that via imitation. Rather, Google and its partners are likely to go in a different direction.

Their journey might lead to Europe, where some of the most interesting user-interface development work is taking place at little-known, Swedish operation called TAT. That's an acronym for "The Astonishing Tribe." The pretentiousness of the name aside, the mobile-software company's work is focused on pushing the limits of cellphone user-interfaces. TAT says it's worked for SonyEricsson, Samsung, TeliaSonera and Orange.

Judging by the evidence, TAT is highly successful at implementing UIs which aren't good looking just for the sake of being hip, but are also well designed. Mostly, they adhere to the time-honored dictum of good design that "less is more," because they squeeze a function down to its essence and pack onto the screen just enough to make, say, email work well.

TAT's design philosophy can be summed up as being based on the belief that current cellphone UIs are too damn complicated. In a white paper, the company notes: "According to a survey, 85 percent of consumers admitted to being too dumb to access or use mobile services, mainly because of increased device complexity."

Interestingly, TAT boasts that its software is platform-independent. That statement gives additional heft to the idea that whatever the Google phone will be, it'll be less a ground-breaking new platform than an amalgam of today's best-of-breed mobile technologies.

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2008-02-05T17:07:00.001-08:00

Phone usage stuck in the dark ages

There's so much more fun to be had, honest

Most of us are still using our mobiles in the same way as we did five years ago, according to research by AppTrigger, the telecom app specialists.

The research - based on a sample of 500 UK punters - found that 57 per cent had not changed their usage, suggesting operators are failing somewhat in their bid to make us spend more, do more, on our phones.

Naturally Apptrigger believes operators lack the tools to make us more interested.

“Mobile operators are missing a trick by not combining traditional services with new IP services to create new innovative services” said Patrick Fitzgerald, VP of Marketing for AppTrigger. “However, the lack of mobile marketing is a side effect of a greater illness. If operators were equipped with the appropriate tools and technologies to link promotions, via applications, into their networks quickly and push them out to market, they would be able to capitalise on this lost opportunity.”

He believes that mobile phone operators are largely locked into proprietary application suites and hindered by complex connectivity issues. The missed opportunity comes in the form of traditional IN-based applications such as pre-paid, voicemail and SMS.

But it's not all bad news:

• Within the youth market (16 – 24 year olds) 62 per cent said that they download music or games;

• The ‘young careerist’ market (aged 25 – 34) said they are more likely to use their phones for PDA tools (diary, contacts and email) and checking websites (62 per cent and 69 per cent respectively);

• The mainstream age market (aged 35-44) make commercial transactions with their phones (39 per cent said they conduct transactions such as topping up their balance);

• The mature age group (45 to 55 year olds) were most likely to user their phones for checking websites;

But when it comes to GPS service awareness is still patchy, only 22 per cent of mobile phone owners in all age groups said they have used Location-Based Services (LBS)

February 04, 2008 | Permalink

2008-02-04T02:10:00.000-08:00

Mobile Phones Will Kill GPS Systems February 01, 2008 Posted In Wireless World, Emerging Technology By Allison

Location-based services getting around

Everyone needs direction—in a big city, in Macy’s Herald Square (floor 12 ½??), in life. That is why we’ll see navigational location-based services (LBS) really take off on mobile phones this year. According to Telephia, of the $118 million in revenue generated by downloadable mobile apps during Q2 2007, LBS represented a whopping 51 percent–with navigation taking the lion’s share.

Now carriers and handset makers are rushing to incorporate these services into their offerings. TeleNav, the first to launch a GPS navigation system on a mobile phone, has a long list of partners that include AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Nokia and RIM. Their competitor Navteq was snatched up by Nokia last year for $7.7 billion, and Garmin and TomTom (who dominate non-mobile GPS devices) are in a bidding war over digital mapper TeleAtlas. An increasing number of phones are now coming with built-in satellite navigation capabilities. Nokia’s new N95 and smartphones from BlackBerry, Motorola, and Samsung all come with GPS chips. Meanwhile Apple launched Google Maps, which uses cell towers to approximate the phone’s location. This is all allowing many cool LBS services like Socialight, Loopt, Wayfinder to be fully location-aware and sparking the creation of many more.

Garmin readies with a handset of its own

The number of cell phones with navigation will hit 162 million this year—that’s more than seven times the number of such devices sold for use in cars. And that market will soon be eclipsed entirely by mobile phones that can perform in-car GPS functions. In fact, it’s Garmin that is leading the charge towards dual function devices. They just launched a device that incorporates their GPS technology into a mobile phone. According to Mobile Content Today, the “nuviphone” is 3.5G with a touch screen and a camera in addition to GPS.

When you plug the nuviphone into its docking station, the hands-free capabilities are automatically turned on. Another useful feature is the “Where am I?” function that finds where you are on a map and lets you know of stores and whatnot that are near you.

And, thanks to some smart thinkers at Garmin, there’s finally an easy way to find your car in a crowded parking lot without hitting the panic button on the remote. The nuviphone has a nifty feature that pinpoints the cradle location, which, Gearlog points out, is also a great way to also pinpoint the location of your car at the mall.

No more tennis balls on antennas! But the device lacks multimedia, messaging, and third-party applications apparently. We’ll see if Garmin’s attempt to preempt their downfall works. In any case it will likely force both TomTom and traditional handset makers step up to the plate and try to create something better.

2008-02-04T02:02:00.000-08:00

Maps and Location Based Technology Gains Momentum

Published by Babar Bhatti on January 30, 2008 10:40 pm under Gadgets, ICT, Mobile Trends, Value Added Services, mobile phones

Location Based Services (LBS) are one of the hottest new emerging growth area and battlefield in North America, Europe and parts of Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, among others). With the sale of personal navigation devices at an all time high and with increasing number of mobile phones with GPS capability, it will be an interesting area to watch. Some of the recent events such as Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas provided ample evidence of this.

There are many pieces of technology which make up this: better/cheaper devices, new value added services based on connected navigation devices, alternatives to GPS for location determination on the phone, CDMA vs GSM technologies and advances in mapping technologies.

Maps have come a long way in the last few years and the need for real time location-based information whether it be traffic or product inventory is acting as a catalyst. For a view of the situation of maps technology in Pakistan see this recent entry at Green&White.

Here’s a bit more on the recent industry events related to maps and navigation from TheDeal.com.

U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. built up its arsenal in the battle against Google Earth with the acquisition Wednesday, Dec. 12, of U.K. online mapping service Multimap Ltd. for an undisclosed sum.

Microsoft’s purchase is the latest in a series of deals in the digital mapping industry. In October Nokia acquired U.S. car navigation software provider Navteq Corp. for $8.1 billion. Last month Dutch navigation device maker TomTom NV snared Tele Atlas NV, the Netherlands-based digital map maker, for $4.3 billion.

Seattle-based Microsoft said the acquisition would enhance its existing offerings such as Virtual Earth and offer future integration potential for a range of other services and platforms.

As more and more cellular phone makers incorporate the technology into their handsets, demand for digital navigation devices is expected to explode. California research group iSuppli Corp. valued the market at about $4 billion in 2006 and projects $16.5 billion in revenue by 2013.

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2008-02-03T18:01:00.001-08:00

GPS in Cameras: Cheaper, Faster, Smaller, More Efficient Printer Friendly
Wellingborough - February 1, 2008 – The big names in the digital camera world are all at PMA from today and there is no doubt that GPS will be a hot topic amongst attendees. The reason for this is a host of recent announcements from GPS companies such as Air Semiconductors, SiRF, Qualcomm, u-blox, Glonav and Geotate (NXP Software’s spinoff). These companies are finally paving the way for intelligent integration of GPS in digital cameras. All the major GPS IC companies are looking at the digital camera market because of the volumes involved (over 100million units shipped in 2006 and growing) and the interest that digital camera manufacturers are showing in the technology. These manufacturers have been looking at GPS technology for years now and they have all been facing the issue of the usage mode of digital cameras (click and go). This conflicts directly with GPS, which can require tens of seconds (or sometimes minutes) in order to get a location fix (TTFF). As outlined in IMS Research’s report “The Worldwide Market for GPS/GNSS-enabled Portable Devices”, solving this conflict is a key element for a successful uptake of the technology in the market. Matia Grossi, author of the report, said “camera manufacturers are unsure of traditional solutions because they are too power hungry, too expensive and take too long to get a location fix. The imminent arrival of GPS-enabled cameraphones, has placed increased emphasis on addressing this capability. Furthermore in the past years their margins have thinned significantly, with the commoditization of their products and the competition from the cellular market, making the issue even more complicated. At the moment there are limited GPS-enabled solutions, mostly in the high-end SLR market using external (and expensive) devices”. “A new wave of GPS techniques are emerging that will solve the issue in different and innovative ways. As a result, IMS Research’s forecasts that the GPS camera market will show very strong growth over the next 5 years growing from a sub-million unit market in 2006, with a CAGR of over 200%. Currently, two of the most interesting ones are those brought to the market by Geotate and Air Semiconductor. In Geotate’s Snapspot solution the receiver is only on for a fraction of a second, while the user takes a picture. Snapshot is instantaneous and user-independent, without eating up the battery, making for a perfect user case. From the manufacturers point of view it is a small, cost-effective way of addressing the geo-tagging market. In Air Semiconductor’s Airwave-1 solution the receiver is always on, dynamically trading accuracy with power efficiency to find the optimum balance for each application. The receiver consumes as little as 1mA (on average) and is independent of the existing hardware, providing a perfect usage mode for cameras”. Grossi continues, “The new solutions that are being presented could finally open the market to GPS and while it might be too early to expect any major announcements involving GPS at the 2008 edition of PMA, please watch this space”. If you would like an interview with an expert in this area, please contact Alison Bogle, Marketing Manager, at Alison.Bogle@imsresearch-usa.com or +1 412-441-1888.About IMS ResearchIMS Research is a supplier of market research and consultancy services on a wide range of global electronics markets. The company is supported by headquarters in Wellingborough, UK and offices in Austin, Texas and Shanghai, China. IMS Research regularly publishes detailed research on the cellular market including handsets and infrastructure equipment markets, among others. Please visit us at: www.imsresearch.com
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2008-01-31T20:21:00.001-08:00

Google gazes into truly mobile future
…location-based ads to revolutionise web?
Tags: google, ads, location based services, advertising

The arrival of a truly mobile web, offering a new generation of location-based advertising, is set to unleash a "huge revolution", Google chief executive Eric Schmidt has said.
The best of Google Earth From Hollywood to Vegas and racetracks to controversial domes... click here to travel the world with Google Earth.
Schmidt said at the World Economic Forum, in Switzerland: "It's the re-creation of the internet, it's the re-creation of the PC story and it is before us - and it is very likely it will happen in the next year."
Current estimates for mobile advertising are cautious, with consultancy Forrester predicting revenues of under $1bn by 2012.
But Schmidt said this figure was too low and failed to take into account the fact the mobile web was reaching a tipping point.
Google aims to be a prime mover by bidding for coveted airwaves to launch an open US wireless network, pitting it against established telecommunications players. The move will take the company well beyond its core web search and online advertising franchises.
Some analysts are worried at the high costs involved but Schmidt said he was confident location-based advertising - which could, for example, direct hungry travellers to nearby restaurants - would be "a very, very good business".

2008-01-24T21:16:00.000-08:00

Advances in GPS chipset development will allow integration of GPS in every mobile device within five years, claims a newly released report. Low cost, GPS modernization, and new Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) will expand the market to 900 million units by 2013, ABI Research forecasts.
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In-car navigation will remain the most important application of GPS technology, ABI says, but the use of GPS in many other consumer, business, and industrial environments is expected to grow. Examples include telematics and asset tracking, digital cameras with automatic geo-tagging, and consumer devices with location-based social networking features.Lower pricing from GPS chip vendors mentioned in the report -- such as Broadcom, SiRF, and u-blox, along with many others -- will be a major factor in market expansion, according to ABI. But, so will improved availability, reliability, and precision of GPS and other GNSS systems, such as China's Beidou (Big Dipper), the EU's Galileo, and Russia's GLONASS.ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte says, "Personal Navigation Devices for in-car use will be increasingly complemented by converged solutions based on GPS-enabled handsets for pedestrian navigation and location based services (LBS)." However, she adds, GNSS technologies will have to be combined with other positioning solutions, such as assisted GPS, dead reckoning, and WiFi, to address the issue of indoor coverage.For example, the WiFi positioning system (WPS) from Skyhook Wireless works with Windows Mobile and was adopted earlier this week by Apple, via a firmware revision to its iPhone. Even without GPS hardware, Skyhook-enabled phones can calculate their positions by triangulation using a database of known cellular towers and WiFi access points.Marine, avionics, military and surveying applications will also require supplementary technologies, such as laser or sonar, for improved precision and coverage. Therefore, specialists such as Garmin and Trimble will continue to successfully develop products for a wide range of applications and segments, Bonte says.AvailabilityThe 120-page report, "Global Navigation Satellite Positioning Solutions," provides detailed descriptions of products, market players, trends, drivers, and barriers, according to ABI. It also describes all GNSS systems, including GPS and its high-precision variants, such as Differential GPS, Real Time Kinematic (RTK), and augmentation systems. The report concludes with sales forecasts for each region and market segment, according to the company.More information is available from the ABI Research website, here.

2008-01-24T21:14:00.000-08:00

Blaupunkt has introduced a Windows CE 5.0-based GPS unit with an unusual round form-factor. The "TravelPilot Lucca 3.5 Edition" features street-level mapping for 22 different European countries, according to the company.(Click here for a larger view of the TravelPoint Lucca 3.5 Edition)Within the TravelPilot's circular case is a 3.5-inch touchscreen display with 320 x 240 resolution. The device has 64MB of RAM and 1GB of flash, and storage can be added via an SD slot. Like many other Windows CE-based GPS devices, the TravelPilot can display photos or play music files loaded from an SD card, Blaupunkt notes.The TravelPilot is built around SiRF's Atlas III, a highly integrated SoC (system-on-chip) that includes a 396MHz ARM926EJ-S core, a 264 MHz DSP, and support for displays up to 800 x 480 pixels. A faster version of the company's Atlas II, the Atlas III runs Windows CE natively and has 30-channel, hardware-accelerated GPS baseband capabilities.According to Blaupunkt, the TravelPilot features maps supplied by TeleAtlas, which can be loaded as needed from a DVD supplied with the unit. GPS functionality includes a "go-home function" from anywhere, points of interest (POI) displays, and route calculation that can avoid toll roads, ferries, or specific highways. "Adaptive adjustment" can take driving behavior into consideration when calculating routes, Blaupunkt claims.The TravelPilot also receives Traffic Message Channel (TMC) broadcasts via the FM Radio Data System (RDS), playing back only those that are relevant to a user's present position. (TMC is currently broadcasting in a variety of western European countries, with others expected to come online soon, according to TMC Forum, the TMC trade association.)Specifications listed by Blaupunkt for the TravelPilot Lucca 3.5 Edition include:
Processor -- SiRF Atlas III (396MHz ARM926EJ-S core and 264 MHz DSP)
Memory -- 64MB RAM and 1GB flash
Display -- 3.5-inch touchscreen display with 320 x 240 resolution
I/O:
1 x USB 2.0
3.5mm headphone jack
DC input
Battery type/life -- 1400 mAh battery lasts approximately three hours
Weight -- 7 ounces (195 g)
Dimensions -- 4.3 (diameter) x 0.8 (thickness) inchesBlaupunkt did not release pricing or availability information, but the TravelPilot Lucca 3.5 appears to be on sale in a variety of European countries.

2008-01-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

A monopoly for a market that doesn't exist yet! (Score:4, Interesting)

A monopoly for a market that doesn't exist yet! (Score:4, Interesting)
by AtariDatacenter (31657) on Wednesday December 26, @03:07PM (#21823736) Homepage
60% of you will underestimate this.20% of you will misunderstand this.10% of you might believe it.10% of you will totally get this.The next step in 'Internet advertising' doesn't exist yet, and doesn't directly center around the web browser and web pages. There is a real integration of three technologies that is coming around the corner, and Google is far ahead of the game than any other player. In fact, most of the other players don't even know the game exists.What is this magic combo?Cellular Data [real time, anyplace, data transport to a computing device] +Internet [not web pages, but providers of location based services (Google)] +GPS [one of the new key data fields that everything will hinge upon]"But we already have those things today!" "This is nothing new!" "My phone currently does all three!"Yes. Those are three discrete services that your phone may have. But are they INTEGRATED?New world example:You're hungry. You want a place to eat. You go to your [smart device]. It could be a cell phone. It could be a Nokia N800 like device. Yes, it could be built into your car like your existing GPS mapping device. It already knows where you are (and shows your position on the default screen). You query (not through a web browser, but an integrated interface) for a nearby fast food restaurant. With me so far? You didn't go to a web page Yahoo! Local or Google Maps. Your map application was built into the device.Quite a number of nearby locations pop up on your map. But there are a few bolded map selections. Arby's has free desert with any meal purchase. Bill & Ruth's sub shop has a discount of $1 towards any sandwich. And some small pizza place you never heard of has a 2-for-1 special. And then there are quite a number of other choices.How did those bolded deals get there? Some large company built up the infrastructure required to run a service where any advertiser (major corporation or little mom-and-pop shops) could put in advertisements at a local level. They've got the transaction engine necessary to take and bill for advertisements. (That would be an existing online advertising company.) They've got the scale to do this on a nationwide (or even worldwide) basis. They've got a yellow pages database. They've got a way to deliver this to consumers.Who has something like this today? The only things close that I've found are Yahoo! Local [yahoo.com], and our friend Google.Google doesn't have all the pieces yet. But they're assembling them. Adsense is going to start allowing location based advertising. (I wish I kept my reference for that.) They're working on an integrated delivery platform to get that to you (Gphone). They practically have all the pieces in place, and they're working towards the goal of making this happen.Now, DoubleClick is a major online advertising company. They could be competition to Google in this future world. But, if Google absorbs DoubleClick before the market even exists, then they can avoid the whole monopoly issue. So Google isn't just playing for the here and now, but they're playing for the future in advertising. Nobody else (such as local telephone companies which maintain their own yellow pages) will be in a position to compete (because they lack everything needed to gather the ads nationwide, and they lack everything needed to present the ads, except for some ownership of the mobile devices). Which... of course... Google managed to take away their walled garden when it comes to the mobile devices allowed on the next generation wireless networks.And Google totally has this figured out. Hello? Google Maps? Want to know what the business looks like that you're heading for? Google street view. Google is totally lining all of its ducks in a row to corner this new market.DoubleClick is an important piece that a potential competitor would need in order to assemble the pieces to compete with Google in this new market. A market which most people don't even see coming. I'm sure the regulators don't either.I did a quick Google on the topic. I haven't found a lot. But at least I see that someone else [wordpress.com] totally gets it. Looks like his observations dovetail in very nicely with my own.Welcome to Web 3.0. What's different about Web 3.0? The Web Browser is no longer the star. Your location is.

2008-01-06T16:26:00.000-08:00

Magellan Partners With Google On GPS Device

SAN JOSE (AP) ― Magellan Navigation Inc. has teamed with Internet powerhouse Google Inc. to put local business listings on its first portable navigation device to feature wireless connectivity. The Magellan Maestro Elite 5340+GPRS, being unveiled at next week's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, will be among the first in a new crop of global positioning system devices to sport GPRS cellular capability. Several other GPS device makers, including Dash Navigation Inc., are expected to also show navigation products with connectivity features at CES. The connectivity means users on-the-road could get a taste of the same up-to-date information they are already accustomed to getting from the Internet, such as real-time traffic conditions or the location of the cheapest gas. No longer will users be limited to just the points-of-interest or map data embedded in the gadget. For example, users of the Maestro featuring Google Local Search can type "pizza" into the device and then Google will display its relevant results, including Web-based recommendations, around the user's specified or current location, Magellan said. Users or others will also be able to wirelessly send information, such as a destination address or other notes, directly from their PCs or Web-connected gadgets to the car-navigation device. But the cutting-edge connectivity won't come cheap. The Maestro Elite 5340+GPRS will be Magellan's premiere GPS model with a price tag of $1,299 when it becomes available in March. Users will also have to pay a yet-to-be-determined monthly fee for the GPRS service.

2008-01-06T16:23:00.000-08:00

NemeriX CTO Lionel Garin to Share His Vision for the Future of Handheld GPS Offerings at CES

Santa Clara, CA and MANNO, Switzerland: NemeriX, a leading fabless semiconductor company specializing in ultra low power semiconductors and solutions for GPS and location-based service devices, today announced that Lionel Garin will share his vision for the future for consumer-oriented, handheld GPS devices in a session entitled: "Market Navigation for the Navigation Market" scheduled to take place on Monday January 7th from 3-4 PM in the North Hall, Room N264 of the Las Vegas Convention Center. This session is moderated by Avi Greengart, Research Director for Mobile Devices at Current Analysis, and will also include Ed Staehlin from Motorola; Amit Desai, from Dial Directions; and Christian Bubenheim, from Magellan; in addition to NemeriX’s Lionel Garin. During this session, Garin will discuss the different technical requirements from the automotive GPS market - where accuracy up to five meters is sufficient - to the pedestrian or last-mile GPS market, which requires a much higher degree of accuracy to provide pedestrian turn-by-turn directions in dense urban environments and indoors. “If you listen to mass market analysts, it might appear as though GPS has become a commodity, where the only differentiation between solutions is cost, and power consumption – but that’s not actually the case,” said Lionel Garin, CTO for NemeriX. “At CES, we’ll examine why the navigation market requires a higher level of performance, and we’ll discuss when the navigation capabilities that address indoor environments - such as shopping malls, and deep-indoor locations - will arrive to usher in wide market acceptance.”At CES, Garin will discuss a series of upcoming, consumer-oriented GPS applications, such as signal authentication and position certification for mobile banking applications, where precise transaction timing and location authentication are required. He will also discuss how GPS location and velocity authentication can facilitate new consumer services, such as pay-by-use car insurance; usage-based toll road charges, and how the technology can be used to resolve litigation related to speeding tickets. These and many other GPS-related items will be discussed all week at CES. Additional NemeriX executives, such as Lew Boore, and Vineet Dujari will be on hand throughout the week at CES. Members of the media interested in scheduling a briefing with NemeriX can do so by contacting Ally Forbes at ally [at] firpr.com. About CEA:The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $148 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,200 companies enjoy the benefits of CEA membership, including legislative advocacy, market research, technical training and education, industry promotion and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CEA also sponsors and manages the International CES – Where Entertainment, Technology and Business Converge. All profits from CES are reinvested into CEA's industry services. Find CEA online at www.CE.org.About NemeriX (www.nemerix.com)Founded in April 2002, NemeriX S.A. (Manno, Switzerland) is a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company specializing in ultra low power GPS and LBS integrated circuits, software and firmware for GPS and wireless applications. With the release of NX4, NemeriX has four generations of low-power, high performance, stand-alone, hosted, A-GPS experience. NemeriX’s devices enable battery powered location determination anywhere, anytime, facilitating the design and manufacture of truly differentiated products and an enhanced consumer experience. NemeriX’s investors include Atila Ventures, Auriga Partners, Cadence, Oak Investment Partners, PolyTechnos Venture-Partners, and Vi Venture Incubator. For more information about NemeriX, please visit: www.nemerix.com.

2008-01-06T14:57:00.001-08:00

Garmin Chooses Sarantel Technology To Drive Development Of Next Generation Handheld

GPS Devices Printer Friendly
London - Jan 4th 2008 - Garmin has chosen Sarantel's award-winning GeoHelix GPS Antennas for its recently launched Colorado range of handheld GPS receivers. Sarantel (AIM: SLG) develops and manufactures the world's most advanced miniature filtering antennas for mobile, wireless and handheld devices. The technology is one of the most compact and yet accurate positioning antennas on the market today; designed with the varied and increasing demand for GPS technology in mind. Garmin is a pioneer and the worldwide leader in handheld GPS products and the Colorado series represents a dramatic step forward in innovation and usability in the outdoor GPS market segment. Users will benefit from a host of innovative features, such as world class positional accuracy, and will find its small size easier to use and more practical. The range of products incorporates a unique ''Rock 'N' Roller'' input device that allows for one-handed operation, shaded-relief and satellite imagery mapping and vibrant color 3-inch screen with high resolution, 15 hours of operating time on AA batteries, a built-in compass, altimeter, and temperature sensor, plus the ability to wirelessly exchange routes, tracks, waypoints, and geocaches between two units.David Wither, Chief Executive of Sarantel says: "Up to this point the challenge for GPS receiver manufacturers has been to develop a GPS product that works effectively and accurately but matching these performance requirements to an aesthetically pleasing, ever shrinking package is becoming increasingly difficult. Advances in antenna technology now mean that, for the first time, consumers can benefit from high performance in a small hand-held package, like Garmin's innovative new Colorado Series." About SarantelSarantel is a leader in the design of high-performance miniature antennas for portable wireless applications including hand-held navigation, satellite radio and laptop computers.Sarantel's revolutionary ceramic filtering antennas offer dramatically improved performance over existing antenna designs, resulting in a clearer signal, better range and 90 per cent reduction in the amount of signal radiation absorbed by the body.Because of their smaller size and higher capabilities, Sarantel's antennas enable manufacturers to create innovative high-volume consumer products incorporating technologies such as GPS, Wi-Fi, WiMax, 3G, GPRS, Satellite Radio and Bluetooth. More information about the company is available at www.sarantel.com

2008-01-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

Portable navigation on mobiles set to take off
John Walko

EE Times Europe (01/03/2008 8:30 AM EST)
LONDON — Sales of portable navigation devices are set to increase ten-fold over the next eight years, with the huge take-up coming from the the GPS functionality being embedded into mobile phones, according to Telematics Research Group (TRG).
While Garmin and TomTom are predicted to remain global market leaders for portable navigation devices, mobile phone makers such as Nokia, Motorola, LG and Samsung are expected to show the way in the near future, the Minneapolis based market research group suggests in a report on the sector.
TRG sees the worldwide portable navigation market growing from 50 million units in 2007 to more than 500 million units in 2015.
It suggests the change in market leadership is partly due to wireless connectivity opening up new applications and services by bringing together accurate location-based data with advanced POI data including pricing, inventory and user-generated content such as ratings of local businesses.
TRG estimates 30 million dedicated Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs) were sold last year and about 20 million navigation-enabled mobile phones. It estimates that navigation-enabled mobile phones will start outselling dedicated PNDs next year, with the combined segments reaching annual sales of more than 220 million by the end of 2012.
The market researchers suggest that by 2015, Nokia could be selling 180 million devices with GPS capability, followed by Samsung and Motorola (both 70 million), LG (60 million), and TomTom and Garmin both 25 million.
Corresponding figures for last year are said to be 9 million units sold by TomTom, 8 million by Garmin, 7 million by Mitac, 5 million by Nokia and 4 million by Mio/Navman.
"In the years to come navigation-enabled mobile phones will be used for auto navigation, pedestrian navigation and many other types of location-based services," says Egil Juliussen, principal analyst for TRG. "This opens up a new world of services and capabilities".
Recent acquisitions by TomTom and Nokia point the way toward the coming battle for the GPS consumer, according to Juliussen.
"Required for success in the GPS market of the future will be connectivity, inexpensive maps and rich point-of-interest content addresses alone will not be enough", he adds.
Garmin and TomTom are adding connectivity to their devices, he notes, and mobile phone makers are adding maps. "A large volume market for inexpensive, dedicated navigation devices will live on past 2008," Juliussen says, but survival for TomTom and Garmin may mean finding a way to compete for smartphone users.

2007-12-22T22:42:00.001-08:00

The Economist | GPS, PDAs, SatNav, GeoTags, Social Networks - Converge and Monetize: PERSONAL navigators—those turn-by-turn digital finders usually mounted on car dashboards, with touch screens and pre-loaded maps—have become this holiday season’s must-have gizmo. They account for seven of Amazon.com’s 20 top-selling electronic products this month.

Over the past year, global sales of such gadgets have doubled to 30m units. That’s small beer compared with annual sales of mobile phones or MP3 players. But with prices tumbling 20% annually, GPS (global positioning system) devices have reached a “tipping point” that has pitched them into mainstream acceptance.

Jupiter imagesBring it with you

This has happened faster than anyone expected, and for one simple reason: they’ve become small and light enough to make them portable. Untethered from the dashboard, personal navigators now travel as much with the owner on foot as with the car on the highway. In so doing, the device is morphing into something different and even more useful.

Thank Moore’s Law for a start. The relentless doubling of processor power every 18 months or so has endowed such devices with enough speed and storage to cope with ever-richer mapping tasks. Meanwhile, battery developments pioneered by mobile-phone makers have allowed portable navigators to run all day on a single charge.

Add a broadband wireless connection to location data from GPS satellites, digital maps packed with millions of “points of interest”, spoken street names and directions, and the navigation gizmo ceases to be a passive tool. Instead, it becomes alive with real-time information about where precisely (within 15 yards) you are on the planet and what’s happening nearby.

With a wireless connection, a portable navigator can add additional content to its map, such as minute-by-minute changes in traffic and weather conditions. Dynamic data like that then make it easy to provide alternative routes.

Last month, TomTom, a Dutch GPS-maker, launched a product that routes cars around traffic jams. Using a wireless connection, the subscription-based service collects traffic data by anonymously tracking the movement of mobile phones through their cellular network. Where the phone bleeps concentrate is where the snarl-ups are.

Adding connectivity to navigation doesn’t stop there. It can also be used to search the internet for local content while on the move. Input your likes and dislikes beforehand, and the device will search for things you might find interesting en route—an outlet of your favourite coffee chain, record store or Japanese restaurant, an old movie you’ve been meaning to see, or a popular hangout for folks your own age and inclination. Users have barely begun to tap navigation tools for their social-networking potential.

Also, instead of showing merely generic icons for hotels, restaurants, petrol stations and stores, mobile maps with broadband connections can be fed specific logos for, say, McDonald's, Shell or Gap. Even better, outlets can embed their latest offerings, discounts or seasonal menus within their clickable logos displayed on the map. Suddenly it becomes easy to find the cheapest place to gas up or have lunch.

Real-time parking information is another service that’s set to change our driving habits. Merely showing the location of a car park is useless if the lot is full. What motorists need to know beforehand is whether there are any empty slots, and does the lot accept validation from nearby stores and restaurants. Adding such features to personal navigation gear is relatively easy once the device is connected to the internet.

As navigation technology broadens its scope, it is changing its role. Until now, it has been used to guide people to their destinations. These innovations are turning it into a mobile tool to find things of personal interest along the way. That makes the route as much an input as an output—and the journey at least as important as the destination.

Other things change once mobile navigation steps out of the car and takes a hike. For instance, the “granularity” of the information displayed has to be finer. The kind of information that’s perfectly adequate for driving along the highway at 30mph is nowhere near detailed enough for walking at 3mph. In a car, “coming up soon” means in the next mile or so; on foot, it means literally the next block.

In addition, the nature of the route becomes as important as the distance. Motorists can use service roads and side streets as well as main roads and freeways without hesitation. By contrast, pedestrians can’t use freeways, but they can take short-cuts up steps, along walkways and footpaths, and across parks, plazas and open ground.

Pedestrians also need to know more about the “topology” of the route they’re being told to follow. Where hills barely bother motorists, they are a serious concern for people on foot. Where motorists look out for street signs, pedestrians watch for landmarks and special buildings like post offices, libraries, schools and petrol stations.

A mapping company called Tele Atlas uses a fleet of vans equipped with GPS and video cameras to record how individual streets actually look to walkers. Enriching maps with a worm’s (rather than bird’s) eye view—with real 3D images of stores and other roadside features—makes life easier for pedestrians and motorists alike.

All of which suggests map-making is the key to this rapidly changing field. Knowing where precisely individuals are at any given instant—and what retail outlets and other establishments they are near—is central to mobile searching and to location-based advertising. That’s why the two leading digital-mapping companies, Tele Atlas and Navteq, have lately been the target of takeover bids.

Earlier this week, Navteq, based in Chicago, formally accepted an $8.1 billion offer from Nokia, the world’s largest mobile-phone maker. Last month, Garmin, a Kansas City-based GPS-maker, withdrew its $3.3 billion hostile bid for Tele Atlas, leaving the map-maker to rival TomTom.

That Nokia paid so much for Navteq shows how important location-based information is becoming to mobile-phone companies. In a recent survey by J.D. Power and Associates, over 40% of respondents wanted GPS on their phones. Only 26% thought WiFi would be handy, and 19% would opt for television.

Mobile phones and navigation gear are clearly converging. By offering connectivity, mobile-search and location-based services (including route directions), both are chasing the same market: a rising generation of footloose, gregarious and acquisitive consumers.

Is there room for both platforms? Possibly. Their different strengths and forms should continue to differentiate them.

Smart phones will always be more compact and provide better voice connections, thanks to their proprietary cellular networks. By contrast, personal navigators will continue to offer bigger touch-sensitive screens, larger hard-drives and faster broadband connections. That will make them better for watching streaming video and television as well reading the fine-grained information and 3D imagery now being packed into navigation maps.

Enthusiasts will presumably want both. Having dropped enough hints over the past few weeks, your correspondent hopes to be opening a new one of each on Christmas Day.

http://www.economist.com/daily/columns/techview/displaystory.cfm?story_id=103...

Saturday December 15, 2

2007-12-22T22:37:00.000-08:00

December 21, 2007

Future Digital Maps will rely on user generated content

Filed under: Uncategorized — sammy @ 6:35 pm

The expected growth of handset-based pedestrian navigation and location based services will have a drastic impact on the traditional map production technologies, as they will no longer be able to generate and update the exponentially growing volume of required map details.

“User-Generated Digital Maps and POIs” is the new study from ABI Research, examines the major user-generated location content features, players, trends, drivers and barriers.

According to the company, by 2012 a large part of all map and POI content will be generated by more than 50 million active members of user communities. “TomTom Map Share is the first commercial implementation of user-generated map content technology directly on a Personal Navigation Device (PND),” says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “Map corrections or POI additions can be input on the device on the fly and instantly uploaded and shared with the rest of the TomTom Map Share community. AND (Automotive Navigation Data) has recently made available an online digital map which can be modified by all users based on Web 2.0 technology, allowing AND to produce maps more quickly and at a lower cost.”

Europe is already leading the way, Bonte says, as several open POI-community projects such as GPS-Waypoints, TellmeWhere, and GyPSii have recently launched, some of which have attracted venture capital funding. Advertising is expected to be the main revenue source for these ventures, though Bonte says that opportunities may still exist to sell packaged content to navigation vendors.

The study also says that Geocontent will become an important new dimension of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, creating synergies with Geoweb and POI-community related initiatives. Ultimately all mobile devices will become connected, accessing web-based geocontent from a variety of sources.

The report also contains forecasts for the number of community-ready navigation devices and the number of active users involved in user-generated content initiatives. It forms part of the Automotive Infotainment and Location Aware Services Research Services.

Source : www.abiresearch.com ,www.destinationcrm.com

2007-12-12T21:46:00.001-08:00

ABI: 50 million users will generate map and POI data by 2012

Dominique Bonte
ABI Research today released a new study,“User-Generated Digital Maps and POIs”, forecasting that by 2012 a large part of all map and POI content will be generated by more than 50 million active members of user communities. The acquisition of NAVTEQ by Nokia and the bidding war between Garmin and TomTom for control of Tele Atlas have shown how important digital maps have become in the navigation and location value chain. However, explains ABI Research, with the expected growth of handset-based pedestrian navigation and location based services, traditional map production technologies will no longer be able to generate and update the exponentially growing volume of required map details. The case for user-generated content for POIs is even stronger, as they are even more dynamic in nature. “TomTom Map Share is the first commercial implementation of user-generated map content technology directly on a Personal Navigation Device,” says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “Map corrections or POI additions can be input on the device on the fly and instantly uploaded and shared with the rest of the TomTom Map Share community. AND (Automotive Navigation Data) has recently made available an online digital map which can be modified by all users based on Web 2.0 technology, allowing AND to produce maps more quickly and at a lower cost.” While branded content sharing initiatives are aimed at keeping commercial maps up-to-date at low cost, completely open and standardized community projects will create digital maps and POI-databases from scratch. “The OpenStreetMap project has already achieved high levels of coverage in the Netherlands, UK and Germany”,said ABI. “Several open POI-community projects such as GPS-Waypoints, TellmeWhere and GyPSii have recently been launched, some of which have attracted important venture capital funding. Their main revenue source is expected to be based on advertising, and opportunities may still exist to sell packaged content to navigation vendors”. “Geocontent will become an important new dimension of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace”, added ABI.
Wednesday 12th December 2007

2007-12-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

Will Business Use Of GPS And Location Services Go Vertical Next Year?

Posted by Stephen
Location and GPS seem to be on everyone's minds these days. Seeing as it's it the end of the year, it's time to break out the crystal ball and see what lies ahead. Where will GPS and location services go in 2008? Will the market for these mobile technologies fragment into vertically-specific applications or will there be one set of horizontal mobile GPS apps?
I recently sat down with Sal Dhanani, co-founder and senior director of marketing at TeleNav, to get another take on the future of location services.
Over The Air (OTA): Hello Sal, welcome to Take 5 on Over The Air. First, why don't you tell us a little bit about TeleNav and its position in the mobile location market?
Sal Dhanani (SD): TeleNav was the first company to launch a GPS navigation system on mobile phones for the US market in 2003. TeleNav currently has 14 carrier partners in 21 countries, across four continents. The company's products are compatible with most mobile platforms and on more than 200 devices.Our first product, TeleNav GPS Navigator, is the first mobile navigation application to include 3D maps, voice-activated, turn-by-turn instructions, social networking, one-click traffic rerouting, cheapest gas price finder, and local search, all-in-one. The other, TeleNav Track, is a mobile resource management system that allows enterprises to better manage their fleet, track inventory and job status, receive GPS directions, and receive real-time fleet location updates.
OTA: Where do you see GPS and location-based services moving in 2008?
SD: 2008 will be a growth year for LBS. Location services are a proven set of technologies that carriers can generate revenue with so, as a consequence, I think we will see more awareness from the carriers. This combined with higher GPS handset penetration will fuel growth.We'll also see more applications like social networking and lifestyle LBS come out next year, and perhaps we'll also see LBS-based advertising.
OTA: Will we see an explosion of non-GPS LBS? Those location services that do not rely on satellites but use cell towers instead?
SD: Cell tower location will work for services that do not require high accuracy -- although the same services would be much better with GPS. Finding a business 'nearby,' getting a map of the general area, SMSing 'rough' locations to someone are all useful with cell tower location.However, depending on cell tower location technology can be very taxing on the cellular network. Cellular technologies like AFLT and E-OTD are more accurate but network heavy, so we may see limited use of these. Cell sector, however, is lighter on the network but not nearly as accurate.
OTA: What do you make of Google (NSDQ: GOOG)'s new non-GPS location feature, My Location, on Google Maps for mobile?
SD: It's very cool. Google has done it again. Fairly well executed. The 'My Location' service is fine for users who are simply looking for basic location information and business listings -- but it is very different from traditional LBS services like Navigation and even LBS local search -- which give precise information. For people who want traditional GPS, 'My Location' won't cut it.
OTA: What new business apps will we see in 2008 that utilize location?
SD: So far LBS business apps have been horizontal, meaning one size fits all. In 2008 we'll see the beginnings of tailored LBS apps for verticals and also highly customized apps for enterprise accounts.
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2007-12-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

GPS creates new revenue and Google knows it

With Google’s announcement that it is entering the mobile phone market with location-based services it’s clear that Google is expanding its highly successful advertising services to the mobile phone platform.
With the “development of Android”, a platform created for mobile devices by ”Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others“ known as the Open Handset Alliance, Google is positioning its multi-billion dollar empire to expand its core ad business into mobile markets worldwide.
Location-Based Advertising offers Google a significant opporunity to own the mobile market and they’ve taken the right approach to ensuring their success by involving communities of users to help in developing ”the first complete, open, and free mobile platform.”
Location Based Advertising [also known as Location Based Services or LBS] creates new revenue streams from location-relevant advertisements (audio and/or audio/video, text and multimedia) from national, regional, and local partners expanding their marketing programs into new media channels. This is a compelling value proposition for advertisers who are cutting back on their TV advertising spend due to decreasing ROI.
In a research report conducted in 2006, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and Forrester Research, Inc. found that “78% of marketers feel that traditional TV advertising has become less effective in the past two years.“
Advertisers are looking for new media channels that reach targeted markets. LBS offers a new frontier for enterprising companies looking to “entertain, inform, build brand awareness, create loyalty, and drive purchase decision among their target consumers through LBA“.

2007-12-12T20:33:00.000-08:00

A freeware tip for Nokia N95 and 6110 Navigator users - GyPSii software

Written by LBSzone
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Just released, GyPSii software (freeware) for Nokia N95 and 6110 Navigator today.

GypSii works as follows:1. Take a photo using the app (or add an existing photo to the app) on your phone - this is called "PlaceMe"2. Upload to GyPSii website with location attached (using GPS)3. Check out what's around your current position ("Search") or where your GyPSii friends are ("SpaceMe"), see them on a map, share Places with them, etc etc4. Log in to http://www.gypsii.com when you get home and check out what's going on in the rest of the world, or edit your own PlacesThe software is downloadable at http://gypsii.com/m (there's also Windows Mobile software)
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2007-12-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Microsoft Acquires U.K. Map Firm
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday acquired U.K. mapping company Multimap for an undisclosed sum, as part of a move by the U.S. technology giant to offer more targeted advertising and better compete with Google Inc.
Microsoft has built its mapping services over the past few years with offerings like Virtual Earth and Live Search. Multimap, an Internet maps and location-based services company, will help Microsoft expand its location-based search engine and advertising platforms, Microsoft said.
Multimap, which has been running since 1996, is one of Europe's most popular mapping Web sites and is also available on mobile phones and personal digital assistants. It provides street-level maps, photography and travel directions to users in the U.K., Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.S.
Multimap's location-based services could also integrate with aQuantive, the advertising platform Microsoft acquired in May for $6 billion, Microsoft said. Multimap itself has been building advertising services in the past year, launching services that allow people to find and book hotel and restaurant reservations online, as well as buy historic and aerial photos.
"This acquisition will play a significant role in the future growth of our search business and presents a huge opportunity to expand our platform business beyond the U.K. and globally," said Sharon Baylay, general manager at Microsoft's Online Services Group.
Multimap will be run as a subsidiary of Microsoft, as part of the Virtual Earth and Search unit within the company's Online Services Group.
Microsoft has been struggling to compete with Google in the mapping space, where that company leads the market with its Google Maps and Google Earth products. Google Maps had 71.5 million unique users during October, while its Earth service recorded 22.7 million users, according to research company Nielsen Online. In comparison, Microsoft's Windows Live Maps service had 7.1 million unique users worldwide during the same period, Nielsen said. Multimap had 1.4 million users.
"This mapping technology will help us build better services and compete in the search space where we want to compete more and more and make progress on the dominant position Google has," said John Mangelaars, Microsoft's European vice president for Online Services Business, in an interview.
In addition to building its customer base, Mr. Mangelaars said the acquisition of the privately-held company will see more than 150 staff transfer to Microsoft.
Posted by ltd at 11:12 AM

0 co

2007-12-09T22:06:00.000-08:00

Google to send business addresses to TomTom devices

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December 05, 2007 (Computerworld) -- TomTom International BV has teamed with Google Inc. to make it easier for users to search for and send business addresses from Google Maps to their TomTom portable navigation devices.
"The ability to search, find and send information from the Web to a TomTom is something we have been investing in for some time now," said Eric Pité, vice president for product management at TomTom, in a statement. "This cooperation represents a major step for TomTom in meeting the growing demands of our customers for personalized content for their TomTom devices."
Google has expanded the local search pages of Google Maps by adding "Send to GPS" to its "Send to" feature, according to the statement. That means TomTom users can add business addresses to their devices without having to download .zip files. After a user searches for a business address on Google Maps, all he has to do is click on the "Send to GPS" button to transfer the information to his TomTom device.
The information is transferred to the device when it is connected to the Internet via TomTom Home, the company's free software application. Once this is completed, motorists can view the location of the business on the map on the TomTom device as well as navigate to the destination. The address can also be saved on the device as a "favorite" for later use, TomTom International said.
"We are constantly working to make our maps more useful so they become a one-stop shop for finding all the local information and directions that people need," said Giorgio Scherl, a Google product manager, in the statement.

2007-12-08T23:55:00.000-08:00

Look no GPS !

Mobile, LBS Add comments

This is just so cool, and having used it over the past few months around the world, it actually is improving with time as other users improve our cell database. Another great example of the power of cloud-sourcing and another shot in the arm for the prospects of LBS - as a platform not an application.

This is really just the first step..

Written and submitted from home, using my home 802.11 network

2007-12-06T21:40:00.000-08:00

Market Study Confirms deCarta as the Dominant Platform Provider for Wireless Location-Based Services Applications
deCarta-powered applications drive 90% of LBS revenues for top U.S. wireless carriers
By: PR Newswire
Dec. 3, 2007 08:00 PMDigg This!

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- deCarta, the leading supplier of software and services for the Location-Based Services (LBS) industry, today announced that recent market data clearly demonstrates that deCarta provides the enabling technology that powers the top applications among the largest US Wireless carriers including Verizon, Sprint Nextel and AT&T. Nielsen Mobile, a division of The Nielsen Company, recently released its third quarter Mobile Application Report on usage and revenue from wireless applications. In Nielsen Mobile's report, LBS has grown to account for 58 percent of the total application revenue among the top four U.S. wireless carriers, up from 51 percent the previous quarter. In this fast growing market, 63 percent of LBS applications downloaded were running on deCarta's technology. Furthermore, these applications drove 90 percent of wireless LBS revenue at these carriers.
These results demonstrate and reaffirm deCarta's dominance as the preferred provider of LBS software platforms. Among the companies using the deCarta platform for wireless LBS applications are market leaders including Networks In Motion, TeleNav, Wavemarket and Loopt.
"Consumer demand and adoption of mobile LBS is rapidly accelerating, and underscores the market requirement for LBS application providers to create highly differentiated applications to capture consumer attention and market share," said J. Kim Fennell, president and CEO of deCarta. "This recent study from Nielsen is a testament to the value deCarta's platforms provide to our customers, like Networks In Motion."
deCarta's software platform gives LBS application developers the ability to quickly build applications that integrate a wide variety of map and data sources to provide complex mapping, routing and spatial search functions.
"Delivering compelling applications to the consumer has enabled us to be the first to exceed two million paid mobile phone navigation subscribers," said Doug Antone, president and CEO of Networks In Motion. "deCarta's software platform allows us to focus on our client/server technology and other components involved in bringing to market successful LBS applications."
For more information about deCarta and its platforms, please visit http://www.decarta.com/.
About deCarta
deCarta is the leading geospatial software platform that has enabled some of the industry's most successful Location-Based Services (LBS) applications such as those that have been deployed by Ask.com, Google, Verizon and Sprint Nextel. The company's unique, patented technology is ideal for high-volume LBS applications for use in Internet, mobile, personal navigation and enterprise applications where scalability, speed and reliability are vital. Its Drill Down Server geospatial software platform, Rich Map Engine, Hosted Web Service and Navigation SDK are preferred by application developers and service providers who also want the flexibility to customize map styles, utilize unique routing capabilities and self-brand. Some of deCarta's customers and technology partners have included AND, Appello, Ask.com, ATX, AutoTrader.com, Google, Hotels.com, Inrix, Local Matters, Maps.com, Motorola, Multimap, NAVTEQ, Networks In Motion, Rand McNally, SRC, Tele Atlas, TeleNav, TopTable.com and Zillow. deCarta is privately held and headquartered in San Jose, California with international offices in the UK and China. http://www.decarta.com/

2007-12-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

Nov. 28, 2007 at 11:00am Eastern by Greg Sterling

Google Introduces New "My Location" Feature for Mobile Devices

Many mobile industry insiders and pundits have argued that when GPS becomes ubiquitous then "location based services" will really take off. The problem is: GPS doesn't always work, it isn't yet in every device, and isn't always enabled even if it is present. But the premise that passive location awareness represents a big opportunity in mobile is correct. Accordingly, Google is introducing a new "My Location" feature for Google Maps for Mobile that takes advantage of GPS (if present) but uses cell-tower triangulation for the majority of phones where GPS isn't present or won't work for one reason or another.

In non-GPS scenarios the service can pinpoint user location within 500 to 5000 meters. Where it uses GPS, the new feature identifies user location precisely. Here's how Google explains how My Location works:

Mobile towers are placed by operators throughout an area to provide coverage for their users. Each of these towers has its own individual coverage area, usually split into three non-overlapping sections know as "cells." These cells come with identification numbers, but no location information. Google takes geo-contextual information [from anonymous GPS readings, etc.] and associates this information with the cell at that location to develop a database of cell locations. Based on this information, Google uses various algorithms to approximate a user's handset location relative to the cells nearest to them. The accuracy of this information depends on how big an individual cell is. Thus, areas with a denser concentration of mobile towers allow for a more accurate My Location reading. Additionally, as our database of cell locations continues to improve, so too does the accuracy and coverage of the My Location feature.

In order to fix your location, you press the "0" key on the handset. It doesn't work 100 percent of the time, but it has performed fairly consistently in my testing. What the user is then permitted to do is conduct a search and discover results in closest proximity nearby. It removes the inconvenience of keying in location information.

One can simply enter "Starbucks" or "sushi" or "salons" or any other query and find the nearest locations. It thereby eliminates the frustrations of having to key in additional characters or query terms.

My Location is available today for the majority of smartphones, including BlackBerry, Nokia (Series 60), and many Windows Mobile phones. Not supported currently are the iPhone, Motorola Q, Samsung Blackjack, and Palm Treo 700w. The service works in the US, UK, most of Europe, including Russia, and in Taiwan. It's not currently available in China or Japan.

There is no advertising on Google Maps for Mobile now, of course. But expect that, over time, ads will be introduced just as they exist on Google Maps on the desktop. More precise user location information creates an opportunity for those ads to become much more locally relevant than on the PC.

Here's a video that explains My Location:

By Greg Sterling Permalink Jump To Comments See Related Stories In: Google: Mobile

2007-11-26T22:05:00.001-08:00

How will the GPS phone market evolve in the next 3 years ?
The two principal functions of mobile phones have been picture taking and music playing. Today the satellite navigation is expected to be the must-have feature: research suggests that 25% of mobile phones will have GPS by 2010.
In the United States, a large number of mobile phones have integrated GPS chips for security reasons, to pinpoint user's location when they are in danger. But theses chips can also be the support of various location based services. Nokia and Motorola have already introduced their navigation enabled handset for the mass market, so far the sells going well : apparently PNDs don't have a negative impact on GPS enabled phones growth rate (we have talked about it here) and we expect that growth to continue in the next years.
The most obvious service of GPS enabled phones is turn-by-turn navigation, which provides directions simply by allowing users to type a destination.Satellites locate the GPS-enabled device and map the device's location to the destination.A map can be then generated on the user's screen, along with text based directions. So the key factor for GPS phones is to keep the map up to date : See #8-Why did Nokia buy Navteq :-)
But location based services of mobile phones will soon go far beyond navigation :
Mobile search will become a standard feature on all handsets over the next three years.
Mobile Social Networking will be a killer application (social networking : "finding friends and meeting new ones", receiving alerts when a friend is close by, ect)
Geotagging: Internet and maps will allow people to upload pictures, videos and sound clips recorded with their phones that are automatically encoded with the location where the picture was taken or the recording was made
Mobile Geo-advertising : according Telephia's report, mobile video revenues in Q1 2007 increased 198% over the previous year, and mobile video users had the best ad recall of any mobile data user group. With LBS, mobile ads will be adopted on a large scale.
23 November 2007 in The business of GPS Permalink

2007-11-23T22:58:00.000-08:00

How will the GPS phone market evolve in the next 3 years ?

The two principal functions of mobile phones have been picture taking and music playing. Today the satellite navigation is expected to be the must-have feature: research suggests that 25% of mobile phones will have GPS by 2010.

In the United States, a large number of mobile phones have integrated GPS chips for security reasons, to pinpoint user's location when they are in danger. But theses chips can also be the support of various location based services. Nokia and Motorola have already introduced their navigation enabled handset for the mass market, so far the sells going well : apparently PNDs don't have a negative impact on GPS enabled phones growth rate (we have talked about it here) and we expect that growth to continue in the next years.

The most obvious service of GPS enabled phones is turn-by-turn navigation, which provides directions simply by allowing users to type a destination.Satellites locate the GPS-enabled device and map the device's location to the destination.A map can be then generated on the user's screen, along with text based directions. So the key factor for GPS phones is to keep the map up to date : See #8-Why did Nokia buy Navteq :-)

But location based services of mobile phones will soon go far beyond navigation :

Mobile search will become a standard feature on all handsets over the next three years.
Mobile Social Networking will be a killer application (social networking : "finding friends and meeting new ones", receiving alerts when a friend is close by, ect)
Geotagging: Internet and maps will allow people to upload pictures, videos and sound clips recorded with their phones that are automatically encoded with the location where the picture was taken or the recording was made
Mobile Geo-advertising : according Telephia's report, mobile video revenues in Q1 2007 increased 198% over the previous year, and mobile video users had the best ad recall of any mobile data user group. With LBS, mobile ads will be adopted on a large scale.

23 November 2007 in The business

2007-11-17T00:40:00.000-08:00

The Paperless Map Is the Killer App
Forget media downloads. Cell customers really want GPS and navigation features

First, cell phones made the streetcorner pay phone obsolete. Now they're doing away with the need to ask for directions. A surge in phones with built-in satellite navigation capability has sparked a wave of creative mapping and locating services. And it has set off a multibillion-dollar scramble by companies to buy up digital navigation technologies.

The number of navigation-ready cell phones will hit 162 million this year, or more than seven times the number of such devices sold for use in cars or other nonphone gadgets, says researcher iSuppli. You only have to scan phone company ads to see how they are touting navigational features: The new N95 smartphone from Nokia (NOK ) plays music and videos, but it also has a chip that receives signals from the government's Global Positioning System satellites, enabling the phone to display maps. Research In Motion (RIMM ) is already putting navigation features into its BlackBerry smartphones. Other big phonemakers including Motorola (MOT ) and Samsung are doing the same. Apple (AAPL ), having put a version of Google (GOOG ) Maps on its iPhone, is widely expected to add GPS chips and live mapping in 2008.

Phone carriers and software developers alike have been quick to offer location-based services that go way beyond simple street directions. Verizon's (VZ ) Chaperone service allows parents to track the location of kids from their phones or on the Web and sends a message when they reach their destination. Loopt lets Sprint (S ) and Boost Mobile customers track friends--imagine a buddy list overlaid on a map--and sends alerts when they're nearby. Services like those rang up $92 million in sales in the third quarter, or 58% of what consumers spent to download software to phones, Nielsen Mobile found. This spring, wireless users spent on average nearly twice as much on navigation as they did to download music to their phones, says David Gill, a Nielsen Mobile analyst.

To understand why phone-based navigation is suddenly so hot, talk with Debby Ramundo. The senior project manager at Seattle's Swedish Medical Center, Ramundo oversees 200 doctors and nurses who visit patients who can't travel to a doctor's office. Like millions of other people, clinicians are hard-pressed to get to the right place on time. That can be especially tricky in fast-growing Seattle, where new residential streets pop up out of nowhere. So last year the medical center handed out GPS-equipped Nextel cell phones. The phones offer such features as spoken turn-by-turn directions.

Such options until recently could be found only in $300-plus dashboard devices. The software, from TeleNav, a Sunnyvale (Calif.) company, costs each user $10 a month. But Ramundo says efficiency gains for medical workers more than offset the added costs: "Every hour they're not here in the office getting directions or getting lost is a billable hour they're out seeing patients."

THE GPS BANDWAGON
For years, satellite-based navigation technology was restricted to the military, which used it to position troops or guide missiles. The government purposely made GPS signals too fuzzy for civilians other than hikers or boaters to find useful. That changed in 2000, though, when civilians were given access to more accurate signals. An industry quickly sprang up for car-based navigation, which is a $6.8 billion business today, says iSuppli.

Now GPS phones are embedded with tiny chips that receive signals from the collection of 31 GPS satellites that blanket every inch of the Earth with a faint radio signal. A receiver needs to be within range of at least four satellites at once to determine its location accurately. That is drawn on-screen, matching latitude and longitude with maps sent via wireless Net connections.

As more players jump into navigation, it has triggered a wave of deal-making that reflects the nervousness of established players. Makers of car-based or other dedicated (nonphone) devices worry that competitors will gain control of essential mapping data, which show names and locations of streets, homes, restaurants, and hotels and must be regularly updated.

The two companies supplying that data, Chicago-based Navteq (NVT ) and Netherlands-based Tele Atlas, are now being rolled up. In July, one of the largest car-navigation outfits, Dutch concern TomTom, moved to acquire Tele Atlas for $2.3 billion. Stock in rival Navteq soared on the expectation it would be acquired by Garmin (GRMN ), TomTom's Olathe (Kan.)-based competitor, or perhaps Google or Microsoft (MSFT ), which operate mapping sites. But on Oct. 1 phone giant Nokia jumped in with an $8.1 billion deal to buy Navteq--a price nearly 14 times its $582 million in 2006 sales.

Faced with having to buy mapping data from a competitor, Garmin announced on Oct. 31 a hostile $3.3 billion bid for Tele Atlas. TomTom responded with a $4.3 billion offer. Garmin has until Dec. 4 to counter. The buyout binge isn't likely to end there. Analysts say possible targets include TeleNav, which supplies navigation software to carriers, and its rival Networks In Motion of Aliso Viejo, Calif. Also in the spotlight is Kirkland (Wash.)-based Inrix, spun off from Microsoft in 2004. It supplies live traffic data on 55,000 miles of U.S. roads. Its sole competitor, Traffic.com, was bought earlier this year by Navteq, and is becoming part of Nokia.

For navigation outfits that see Nokia as a competitor, that raised the possibility of losing access to traffic data as well as mapping data. So they're furiously signing agreements with Inrix, says President and CEO Bryan Mistele: "The last 120 days have been the best days in our company's history."

2007-11-16T20:45:00.001-08:00

HTC adds GPS to Windows Mobile Touch line Nov. 12, 2007

HTC has announced a new member of its Windows Mobile-based Touch smartphone family. The "Touch Cruise," the latest model from this extremely prolific handheld device maker, shares many features in common with earlier Touch models but adds built-in GPS with Tom Tom navigation support, according to the company.

(Click here for a larger view of HTC's Touch Cruise)

In June, HTC launched its original Touch, the first phone to feature HTC's much-touted TouchFLO UI (user interface). TouchFLO, according to HTC, is able to distinguish whether the screen is being touched by a stylus or by fingers and respond accordingly. Finger touches allow scrolling, panning, and zooming in or out.

First available in the U.S. only as an unlocked and unsubsidized GMS/GPRS/EDGE device, the Touch later was Americanized by Sprint and other carriers. It then spawned "designer" versions such as the Ted Baker Needle.

Last month, HTC launched the Touch Dual, which doubled the Touch's processing speed courtesy of a Qualcomm MSM7200 processor clocked at 400 MHz. It also added a slide-out keyboard in a choice of two different versions -- either a 20-key QWERTY layout, or a 16-key keypad layout.

The technically similar Touch Cruise loses the keyboard but adds GPS functionality to the mix, employing navigation software and maps from Tom Tom. (Readers will get no prizes for successfully guessing what capabilities the next model in the Touch family might combine!)

Other wireless features in the device include support for European HSDPA/UMTS (2100 MHz) and GSM/GPRS/EDGE (900, 1800, 1900 MHz), along with WiFi and Bluetooth 2.0. High-speed data downloads are rated at 3.6 Mbps for HSDPA, and 384 Kbps for UMTS downloads; upload rates for both technologies are spec'd at 384 Kbps.

Earlier Touch versions already included the ability to play back multimedia in a variety of formats, including MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV, and AMR-NB. The Touch Cruise also provides an FM radio.

According to HTC, the device offers dual cameras -- a 3 megapixel autofocus camera for photos, and a front-facing VGA (640 x 480 pixel) camera for videoconferencing.

As with the other Touch iterations, the Cruise includes all the smartphone capabilities of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6 Professional software platform, including Windows Media Player 10 plus mobile editions of Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Office.

Key features and specifications of the Touch Cruise, as listed by HTC, include:

Processor -- Qualcomm MSM7200, clocked at 400 MHz

Memory -- 128 MB RAM; 256 MB flash

Display -- 2.8-inch TFT display with LCD backlighting

Keys -- 4-way navigation wheel with enter button

Wireless interfaces:

WAN:
- HSDPA/UMTS -- 2100 MHz (Europe); 850/1900 MHz (U.S.)
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE -- quad-band 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz
WLAN -- 802.11b/g WiFi
WPAN -- Bluetooth 2.0

Camera -- 3 megapixel camera with auto focus, plus VGA-resolution camera for videoconferencing

Built-in GPS receiver

Built-in FM receiver

Other I/O -- HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB and audio jack in one)

Expansion -- microSD card

Dimensions -- 4.3 x 2.3 x 0.6 inches (110 x 58 x 16 mm)

Weight -- 4.6 ounces (130 gm) with battery

Power:

1350 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Standby time -- up to 450 hours for UMTS, 400 hours for GSM
Talk time -- up to 4 hours for UMTS, 7 hours for GSM, 2.3 hours for video calling

Florian Seiche, VP of HTC Europe, stated, "The original HTC Touch has already been a phenomenal success, and the HTC Touch Cruise with fully integrated GPS adds another dimension to our leading touchscreen device family ... we're proud to have been able to launch three HTC Touch devices since June."

According to the company, the Touch Cruise will be available starting this month, both from retailers and directly from HTC. More information is available from the company's website, here.

2007-11-16T20:43:00.001-08:00

Reports forecast GPS proliferation Nov. 08, 2007

Low-cost GPS chipsets will increasingly be integrated into mobile devices, according to reports just released by two major market research firms. While apparently disagreeing on the exact numbers, both ABI Research and In-Stat forecast extremely strong growth between now and 2011.

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In its statement, ABI Research said personal navigation devices (PNDs) will grow to a global sales volume of more than 100 million units by 2011. While dedicated PNDs will remain the preferred form-factor for use in cars, GPS will increasingly be an expected ingredient in handsets, portable media players (PMPs), ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), and other mobile devices, according to the company.

ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte stated, "Handset-based navigation will be stimulated by convergence trends and technological advances in low-cost GPS-receiver integration. It will be a catalyst for the uptake of location-based services such as search, friend finder and tracking features."

Driven by the involvement of wireless carriers, handset-based GPS will grow strongly in North America, reaching a sales volume of 21 million units by 2012, according to ABI Research. The analyst firm's report adds that while Europe is the strongest present-day market for GPS, strong growth is expected in developing countries such as China and India. By 2012, more navigation systems are expected to ship in Asia-Pacific than in any other region.

ABI Research says that increasing price pressure and levels of competition will result in consolidation, citing the acquisition of digital map providers Navteq and Tele Atlas as an example. Navigation vendors will need to aggregate their user communities under strong brands, in order to take advantage of the potential of user-generated map and POI (point of interest) content, the firm's report notes.

In its separate report, In-Stat reaches very similar overall conclusions, though it adds digital cameras and even handheld games to the mix of devices expected to include GPS. Even more bullish on the numbers, In-Stat predicts that "Sales of mobile devices with integrated GPS [will] grow from 180 million units in 2007 to 720 million units in 2011."

In-Stat analyst Gemma Tedesco stated, "Although there are external GPS receivers available for mobile PCs, PDAs, smartphones, digital cameras, handheld games, and other portable devices, volumes for these applications have been limited. Integration of GPS within these products will allow for more widespread use of GPS, and will spur much greater GPS chipset shipment volumes."

According to In-Stat, GPS chipset pricing will erode rapidly. Nonetheless, this will be offset by extremely high volumes, boosting revenue from $520 million in 2006 to more than $1.3 billion in 2011.

In-Stat reports that Qualcomm currently dominates the cellular handset market with its "integrated" GPS solution, while SiRF dominates the PND space. "TI and Broadcom, with their cellular chipset and in-house GPS solutions, promise to be solid competitors," the report says.

More details

More information, perhaps including an explanation of the methodologies that led to different numeric forecasts, is available to purchasers of these two analysts' reports.

ABI Research's 91-page report, whose price was not released, is called "Consumer Navigation Devices and Systems." Further specifics, including a listing of sections, tables, and companies featured, is available on the company's website, here.

In-Stat's 57-page report, "GPS Chips in Mobile Devices," is priced at $3,495. Further specifics, again including a listing of sections, tables, and companies featured, is available on the company's website, here.

2007-11-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

Google Maps Creation Tools - Part 19

WebAssist Pro Maps for Google:
Adobe Dreamweaver extension

WebAssist has created a tool for Adobe Dreamweaver which will help folks integrate
rich Google Map features into their websites. A point-and-click wizard guides users through the process. Check here for More information.. or visit this Del.icio.us page for more coverage of the launch.

Terraims Mapicon Factory - A map icon tool for your maps! (Related:Custom icons for your My Maps)
MapChannels - Embed maps created through Google My Maps or other KML / GeoRSS sources easily into a website with no need for coding.
Tutorial: Google Earth, Google Maps and Your Photos - Also see Part II
Get-A-Route - Convert Google Maps routes to OziExplorer (.rte and .wpt) or GPX files.
Use Google Maps from within a Win32 client application
Mashup of Google Maps and VCL
Using Google Maps from VCL sample application

2007-11-10T20:52:00.000-08:00

07 Nov 2007 - What’s in a name? Searching for the right words

"Words strain,
Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,
Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,
Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,
Will not stay still. Shrieking voices
Scolding, mocking, or merely chattering,
Always assail them."
- T. S. Eliot, American poet and playwright, Four Quartets, 1935

In the past decade the geospatial industry has seen the emergence of a host of similar terms to try and describe what the industry is all about and where it is going. Words like "SDI", "Geomatics", "Spatial Infrastructure", "Ubiquitous Geographic Computing", "Location Intelligence", "Location Based Services", "Geospatial Intelligence", and of course "GeoWeb". This proliferation of terminology reflects both a confusion in the industry, and an attempt to understand it. We know that the general rubric of "GIS" is both too generic , and too limiting, but we are not sure what to use in its place. Such confusion is of course typical of domains which are undergoing rapid change and which are being pulled in many directions by a wide array of market, social and technology forces.

This article attempts to clarify the situation by offering some definitions and equivalences to help reduce the terminology clutter.

To begin with let's redefine the term GIS to mean all and any information system or systems that deal with Geography or Geographic information. So everything we talk about is then GIS. Effectively GIS and Geomatics are then synomyms. Think GIS = Geomatics = automation of geographic information handling. These terms then cover all aspects from data acquisition (e.g. surveying, remote sensing) to cartography, map production, analysis, and all forms of applications that make use of geographic information. Of course such a generalization leaves open the real issues that confront us and how to talk about them, but we can at least dispense with GIS or Geomatics as the right words, other than for the very general umbrella. All of the others must pertain to concepts or ideas within the domain of GIS/Geomatics or overlap between this domain and other areas of Information Technology.

The dominant force for change in the Geomatics world (I'll use just the one word henceforth) is the increasingly everywhere connectivity of information systems. Don't think in terms of wireless or mobility - these are just technologies - think in terms of everywhere connectivity. The same effects could be obtained, and will be in many cases, using RFID's or other local place identification mechanisms.

One might ask why everywhere connectivity should have such a deep impact on geomatics? It might seem to be a supreme irony that the nearly universal transparency of location should have such a huge impact on the world of geomatics, but there is a reason for this. It is what I would call the information integration imperative and this was a major driver for the desk top GIS systems of the 1980's. Every action that we humans take in the world (or which is taken by the world) has consequences and impacts far beyond the action itself. As a consequence, any attempt to deal with the world, whether in terms of engineering design, or emergency response, requires that we integrate information from a host of sources and disciplines. This is made still more difficult by the fact that the world is divided into a vast array of complex and overlapping jurisdictions. Effective decision making of any kind demands that this information be integrated. Everywhere connectivity makes this integration possible, and more over makes it possible to provide the results of this integration to any point on the planet. "Location Services", "Location Intelligence" are thus technologies that deal with the provision of integrated information or the results of information integration to a user regardless of their location. The terms do not however deal with the act of integration itself.

A companion driving force to that of everywhere connectivity is that of everywhere position determination - one of the fundamental location services - determining where in the world something is located. Everywhere position determination complements everywhere connectivity (the latter is precondition for the former) by greatly enriching the sources of information, and by enabling the provision of information not just about a place, but more importantly about a thing such as a person or a vehicle, whether fixed or in motion. This in turn has enabled information consumers - consumers of location services - to themselves be participants in information creation and hence in information integration. Knowing where you are is of no help if you don't know what is around you.

The term "Ubiquitous Geographic Computing" can be seen as implying everywhere connectivity and everywhere position determination, but should not be seen as representing any particular geomatics technologies. One should think of ubiquity as a given aspect of all future information technologies and not a technology in itself.

So what then about SDI and GeoWeb? Both of these terms imply information integration. What's the difference? How much of this is really to do with geomatics? I would argue that GeoWeb is the more general term and refers both to the subject of local and global geographic data integration, and to the technologies for realizing that integration. "SDI" and "Spatial Infrastructures" are community implementations of technology for information sharing, and should be understood as implying real time integration of information and associated services. This means that the GeoWeb, as a noun, can be seen as the integration of many SDI's into a web of integrated information potentially spanning the globe, hence dealing with the integration imperative and providing community integration and global accessibility. Note that the notion of a community (also data community, information community) may be bound to a place (e.g. a municipality or region) or may be location independent (e.g. community of oceanographers world-wide).

Make sense? I am sure this discussion has only scratched the surface - but I hope it has in some way cleared the air.

"For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice."
-T. S. Eliot, American poet and playwright, Four Quartets, 1944

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

* del.icio.us
* digg

2007-11-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

tailed vision of IRL: Reality Fusion

Location Based Services: Acknowledged Potential

09 11 2007 Posted by: Frank Schuil in Uncategorized, tags: based, google, LBS, Location, nokia, services

On this graphical representation from GigaOM we clearly see an increasing amount of deals closed in the location based services (LBS) market. Large corporations like Nokia and Google are starting to acquire companies that are location driven. This overview of closed deals shows us how the adaptation process takes place in a market where both the online giants and the mobile giants are fighting for LBS market share.

Technological issues at hand are currently focused on which ideal location identification method should be used. These are the several technological solutions at hand: GPS, Cell ID, Bluetooth beacons, WiFi positioning, Bluetooth proximity and RFID. For more information I refer you to a report on mobile location.

Share and Enjoy:

2007-11-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

Sprint and Microsoft in collboration
Published: 2007-10-04
New location-based search service offered by Sprint.
As part of the strategic alliance between Sprint and Microsoft Corp., the two companies are now providing Sprint customers with the industry's first fully integrated GPS location-aware mobile search service with entire Internet search on Sprint phones. Voice search by Live Search for mobile using Tellme technologies will also be available on select Sprint phones as a separate download. The new services enable people to find Web, local, and phone content easily using traditional input methods or voice. With the enhanced mobile search service launching today, Sprint customers can now: * Search the entire Web, local listings and maps, and Sprint's mobile content catalogue using the same familiar search box powered by Live Search, on the Sprint mobile Web home page.* Use Sprint's built-in GPS capabilities to automatically find local businesses and listings nearby quickly and easily without needing to manually enter location information. The new GPS-enabled search allows customers to give permission to let their phone automatically identify their location to return nearby business search results, such as the closest gas station, pizza place or movie theatre – all by simply typing in or, on select phones, speaking the name or category of business for which they are searching. Additionally, Sprint is the first mobile operator in the U.S. to launch GPS-enabled voice search capabilities, which are powered by Live Search for mobile. Customers can simply say the business listing and then see the search results on the screen. Speaking rather than typing makes it even easier for customers to find the results they are looking for. This feature uses award-winning voice user interface design from Microsoft's recent acquisition Tellme. "With Live Search on Sprint devices, Sprint customers now carry with them a GPS-enabled search tool providing open Internet search, local listing search and mobile content search, all in one easy service," said Kevin Packingham, vice president of product management for Sprint. "We look forward to working with Microsoft to continue developing innovative mobility solutions that bring together exceptional products and services from both companies for business and consumer subscribers." "The location based and voice technologies we're delivering today with Sprint are a first in the US mobile industry bringing customers a smart and easy search experience on the phone," said Brian Arbogast, vice president of Mobile Services organization at Microsoft. "We are focused on working with industry leaders like Sprint to bring new and innovative services to market for customers, and creating new business and revenue opportunities for our partners." Sprint and Microsoft initially announced their strategic alliance in November 2006, when the companies launched combined mobile content and local listings search capabilities and committed to delivering GPS-enabled search. The two companies plan to continue to deliver industry-leading wireless data experiences together by combining Sprint's strength in data services and Microsoft's award-winning mobile search experiences. On average, Sprint customers spent an industry-leading $9.75 per month on wireless data at the end of the second quarter of 2007.

2007-11-05T20:57:00.001-08:00

Google Phone Has Mobile Calling Industry Worried
Internet giant Google is now gearing up to conquer the global mobile calling market. On Tuesday, Google announced a plan to release an operating system for mobile phones in partnership with handset makers and wireless providers around the world. The Google Phone could become the next iPhone, sweeping the mobile communications industry.
The biggest advantage of the Google Phone is likely to be its extensive Internet services. It will have almost all the features of the Internet -- search, location-based services, instant messaging, media player, and entertainment. This indicates that handsets are now becoming mini PCs.
Google has formed a partnership called the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) with some 30 global handset makers and mobile operators such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Motorola, HTC, Intel, Qualcomm, China Mobile, NTT Docomo, and KDDI. A Samsung Electronics source said that the Google Phone will allow users to video clips about their areas of interest like movies and sports in the form of videos with the press of a button.
As handsets begin to adopt advanced features and act more like mini PCs, software and services are becoming more important than hardware. In the PC industry the most profitable company is software and service provider Microsoft. The software giant makes more money than PC manufacturers from its Windows operating system which comes installed on most PCs. Google aims to do the same with its mobile phone operating system. But it has strong rivals, including Microsoft, Nokia and Apple, which have their own mobile phone operating systems -- Windows Mobile, Symbian and OSX, respectively.
To beat these rivals, Google plans to use a low-price strategy. It has agreed to provide its operating system for next to nothing by basing it on the reasonably-priced Linux operating system. In contrast, Microsoft reportedly receives US$12 per handset in royalties. Google also plans to open up the source of the system software so its partners can modify it as they see fit. It will generate profits through advertising.
Google's entry into the mobile calling market is expected to cause an upheaval in the industry. Competition will likely get particularly fierce in the wireless Internet business as existing mobile operators will strive hard not to lose market share to newcomers like Apple and Google. Mobile handset makers are welcoming the news because expanded services can lead to an increase in demand. Handset makers are also happy because the Google Phones, expected early next year or in the second quarter, should boost their sales. But some point out that if handset makers depend too much on Google or Microsoft, they'll see their profits tumble just as PC makers did. An LG Electronics executive said that competition to produce Google Phone may become heated, which could push the phone's release earlier than expected.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
Posted by techaddict at 7:22 PM

2007-11-04T21:54:00.000-08:00

The year of mobile maps?

For years, people have been predicting a world of location-based services thanks to a proliferation of GPS embedded in mobile systems. Maybe it will finally happen in 2008.
Rick MerrittComputing Editor
One of my colleagues over at the Automotive DesignLine notes that GPS is on a rapid rise in cars. And today iSuppli Corp. claims we are just past the start of the hockey stick ramp for GPS in cellphones.
Well, maybe. The FCC took a go-slow approach to its E911 mandate once seen as a driver for GPS in cellphones, and most handset makers used triangulation to save the costs of a full GPS implementation. But Qualcomm has been pushing hard on GPS since 2000 and Sirf Technology convened a summit on location services recently.
So maybe this is about to happen. Or maybe not. I know friends with their new iPhones have been particularly pleased about how that handset helps them access Mapquest on the road…so maybe handsets with real Internet access will supplant GPS phones before this trend really takes off. I vote for the latter. Why recreate something that's already working?

2007-10-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Google Leads Microsoft, Nokia in Location Based Services Development, New Evans Data Survey Shows

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Refer to a friend © Business Wire 2005
2007-10-30 17:44:55 -
www.evansdata.com - Google is the first choice among wireless developers for developing location-enhanced applications, according to a newly released survey of professional developers working on applications for mobile devices. The survey, which was conducted worldwide in September, showed that 38.4 percent of developers preferred using Google technologies for location based development. The closest competitors were Microsoft followed
by Nokia. "Google, the premier online internet company, has intensified its focus on the mobile market over the last year, introducing and enhancing a number of new services and applications specifically designed for the small screen to include LBS," said John Andrews, President and CEO of Evans Data Corporation. "Given that there will be approximately three billion mobile phone subscribers by end of 2007, Google sees tremendous potential in further extending their presence with content aimed squarely at this market." Use of location-based services is strongest in the Asia Pacific region, where over half of wireless developers are currently incorporating location-based services in their development. North American developers were the second most likely to be developing location aware applications where 47 percent were doing so. The most common use of location-based services in development involves individual tracking, followed by vehicle tracking. Other findings from the in-depth survey of almost 400 wireless developers worldwide include: -- Almost two-thirds (60.5%) of wireless developers plan to be using open source or Linux-specific tools to build applications for mobile devices in the next year. -- Application runtime environment is the first consideration when choosing a wireless target platform for 44% of wireless developers - almost three times as many as first consider any other factor - including device, operating system, computer language, etc. -- Java ME is the leading wireless runtime environment. About Evans Data Corporation Evans Data Corporation (www.evansdata.com) provides regularly updated IT industry market intelligence based on in-depth surveys of the global developer population. Evans' syndicated research includes surveys focused on developers in a wide variety of subjects. Copyright 2007 Evans Data Corporation. All other company names, products and services mentioned in this document are the trademarks and property of their respective owners. Evans Data CorporationElsamarie Corradetti, 831-316-0072

2007-10-29T15:30:00.001-07:00

TruePosition Finds Favourite Location Based Services for Mobile Subscribers

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Berwyn, PA, October 29, 2007 - TruePosition, Inc., a leading provider of wireless location technologies and solutions and a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, today announced the findings of a significant research study undertaken with IDC. One key outcome revealed that, on average, a staggering 70% of consumers are receptive to advertisement-sponsored local search services, which could prove to be a significant new source of revenue for mobile operators."Location based services have been met with extreme cynicism in Europe over the last few years. They have promised much and delivered little. But these research findings clearly demonstrate that we are now experiencing something of an LBS renaissance," said Robert Morrison, Senior Vice President of Market and Business Development. "The technology, handsets and high bandwidth networks now exist to deliver the accuracy to ensure the best possible user experience. This will pave the way for LBS to deliver the revenues they have always promised and drive demand for the innovative services highlighted in our study."Some of the highlights include:Mobile Local SearchMobile local search looks set to be the LBS low hanging fruit for the mobile operator community, but only if they can agree a free advertising based business model. 80% of Spanish, 60% of UK and 70% of US respondents would be likely to consider subscribing to mobile local search services, but only if they are free. Only 40% Spanish, 25% UK and 25% US would consider paying for them.Social NetworkingSecurity looks to be a key factor in determining whether location-enabled mobile social networking will take off. Consumers are unlikely to subscribe to these types of services unless service accessibility can be limited to authorized users and a process is in place to keep out strangers.Family MonitoringAnxious parents seeking peace of mind look to be an important market for LBS as 45% of respondents admitted to being likely to subscribe to child locator services in the next 12 months.Overall, consumers revealed that they were extremely receptive to location based services, providing they perform at the optimum levels - essentially working wherever and whenever their mobile phone worked. The majority of the respondents wanted the services to work in several different types of environments (outdoors, indoors and in vehicles), desired sub-50 meter accuracy, and required a sub-15 second response time.Enterprise ServicesFrom an enterprise perspective, LBS user preferences between the three geographies were remarkably similar. Workforce management and fleet tracking services were highlighted as the most prevalent uses of LBS by businesses. Respondents to the survey viewed productivity improvements (74%) and cost savings (68%) as the key benefits. Also, businesses ranked the safety and security of its workers as the most important feature, with ease of implementation coming in at a close second.Overall, the performance levels for enterprise services echoed the consumer findings with end-users consistently requesting premium performance in terms of accuracy, reliability and response times."The data TruePosition and IDC uncovered together is truly compelling," stated Scott Ellison, Vice President of Wireless and Mobile Communications at IDC. "As location based services continue to gain momentum, service providers will need to better understand their customers' requirements for these services. This research study certainly is at the forefront of that effort." "New regulatory pressure and increasing subscriber demand will continue to lay down the accuracy gauntlet for LBS. This study clearly indicates that our potential consumer and business customers will accept nothing short of a perfectly performing, accurate service," added Morrison. "This is a positive time to move forward with location services and ensure that hybrid location technology is deployed to guarantee the best possible results."The study asked consumers and enterprises in the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States exactly what they want and expect from the following location based services: Child Monitoring, Medical and Senior Citizen Monitoring, Pet Tracking, Navigation, Traffic, Stolen Vehicle Recovery, Social Networking, Local Search, Fleet Tracking, and Workforce Management.Additional findings and research methodology can be found in the IDC White Paper sponsored by TruePosition, "Opportunities for Location Based Services in Consumer and Enterprise Markets," Doc #209059, October 2007.About TruePositionTruePosition is dedicated to the development and implementation of advanced wireless location products, services and devices, providing complete solutions to support the wireless location needs of the global marketplace. In addition to providing industry leading core location technologies, TruePosition supports all levels of the wireless location value chain to offer turnkey solutions.TruePosition's foundation was built on the development of advanced location systems, which include handset, network and hybrid location solutions. Today, TruePosition can offer hybrid location systems that incorporate Cell ID, Enhanced Cell ID, Uplink Time Difference of Arrival, Angle of Arrival, and Assisted GPS to power the next generation of location-based services. TruePosition is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to its Liberty Capital Group (NASDAQ: LINTA, LINTB, LCAPA, LCAPB). For more information, visit www.trueposition.com

2007-10-28T19:37:00.001-07:00

Nokia's Navteq acquisition bid shows value of map IP in GPS supply chain, says iSuppli
iSuppli - October 18, 2007
Holders of map Intellectual Property (IP) now occupy the most important position in the global GPS navigation supply chain, according to iSuppli. Navteq Corp. and Tele Atlas N.V., the two remaining major independent map IP suppliers with broad geographic coverage, are in the process of being acquired. With Nokia recently announcing a bid for Navteq, the combined TomTom/Tele Atlas may be an acquisition target for Microsoft or Google, reasons iSuppli.

iSuppli believes that Google has a greater motivation to buy TomTom/Tele Atlas than Microsoft due to its desire to offer mobile location-based services.
“Speculation has arisen that Microsoft is considering a purchase of Garmin,” said Richard Robinson, principal analyst, automotive electronics, for iSuppli. “iSuppli considers this to be less likely than Microsoft buying TomTom/Tele Atlas. This is because the key item in the supply chain is the map IP, rather than the navigation devices themselves.”
Nokia’s $8 billion bid to buy Navteq Corp. illustrates the critical position that the two independent holders of map IP with broad geographic coverage now occupy in the global navigation market -- and may presage even larger acquisitions in this area, iSuppli Corp. believes.
With Nokia’s purchase of Navteq, the world’s last remaining independent provider of detailed, comprehensive global map IP for GPS systems, the competitive structure of the navigation market has been altered fundamentally. Furthermore, with the deal also exposing the enormous supply-chain value wielded by map IP suppliers like Navteq, technology behemoths like Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. soon may engage in similar acquisitions to maintain their position in this fast-growing market.
Navigation opportunity
The stakes in the navigation market are huge, with dozens of companies offering products including Personal Navigation Devices (PNDs), built-in automotive systems, and navigation-enabled smart phones. iSuppli estimates 40 companies now are offering GPS navigation capabilities in a range of products, from PNDs and embedded systems, to smart phones.
Worldwide PND shipments will rise to 50.4 million units in Calendar Year (CY) 2010, up from 12.7 million in CY 2006, iSuppli predicts.
Meanwhile, global shipments of GPS-enabled mobile handsets are expected to reach 250 million units by CY 2010, up from more than 70 million units in CY 2006.
Of the 40 companies offering products in this area, the market is dominated by the major PND makers, Garmin, TomTom and Mitac, which collectively account for 85 percent of worldwide shipments. But while there are many sellers of navigation products, there are only two independent providers of the map IP that is the sine qua non of such products: Navteq and Tele Atlas NV. Without map data from Navteq and Tele Atlas, there can be no navigation. Because of this, the two companies have carved out an indispensable niche in the global navigation market. The major PND OEMs are heavily dependent on these companies, with Garmin exclusively using Navteq map data, and TomTom and Mitac using only Tele Atlas.
Playing duopoly
The map IP companies didn’t always occupy the navigation market’s cat-bird’s seat.
Gathering map data is a painful, laborious process that is very expensive and time consuming. Because of this, map making was long considered to be the least sexy link in the navigation supply chain.
For many years, Navteq and Tele Atlas struggled in relative obscurity. Both companies labored to keep their levels of “cash burn” down, in the knowledge that the end device manufacturers would simply go to their competitor if the deal was not right. This squeezed margins at both companies to the very limit of profitability.
The duopoly of map suppliers ensured map IP costs remained low. However, as map formatting became standardized, the end device manufacturers -- particularly the PND makers -- began to realize that product differentiation was impossible if all their competitors essentially were displaying the same data. Device makers could create attractive map graphics and nice interfaces, but taken to the logical conclusion, standardization of maps means that pricing is the only bargaining chip left on the table for these companies over the long term.
This realization changed the status of the map IP companies from wallflowers to the belles of the ball.
Navigating to riches
The map IP companies gained further stature when it became clear how much they were valued by the market. The first sign of the map companies’ true valuation came earlier this year from PND manufacturer TomTom, which launched a bid to acquire Tele Atlas for around 2 billion euros. Why would TomTom make such a move when it previously had struck very favorable deals with both map companies -- and maps were never a huge cost item for the company anyway?
The reason is that the acquisition was a strategic move by TomTom to create differentiated products. By bringing the map creation and updating process in-house, TomTom will be able to more effectively manage its future products. Such products will be less about hardware and software and more about building a community of users for services that provide ongoing revenues.
Viewed in this light, TomTom’s acquisition of Tele Atlas was a shrewd move, iSuppli believes.
Re-charting the supply chain
The TomTom/Tele Atlas deal made Navteq the main map supplier for the rest of the navigation device makers. However, Nokia’s deal to buy Navteq for $8 billion eliminates the last independent map IP supplier.
Every participant in the navigation supply chain is affected by these events, from first-tier automotive electronics companies, to navigation systems makers, to vehicle OEMs, to PND companies, to search engine and software suppliers. Any company that owns the map data IP, which is effectively impossible to recreate, is not only able to control mapping data quality and freshness, but most critically -- price. Nokia and TomTom now are in control of this critical element that determines product differentiation and pricing for every player in the navigation market.
With their acquisitions, the major map suppliers may begin offering two tiers of service. While the two map providers will not be able to drastically increase map prices for other customers due to antitrust legislation, there is nothing to stop them from degrading the top-level data. It’s clear that the control of map IP could be very damaging to the supply chain over the long term, particularly to the expanding range of device manufacturers that will be forced to buy maps from their competitors, and then sell their products into the same vertical markets.
Market response
How will other companies in the navigation supply chain respond to the map IP power grab?
One possibility is a counter bid for Tele Atlas by TomTom competitor Garmin, which potentially stands to lose a great deal if both acquisitions go through.
Although Nokia’s Navteq acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company, it still must pass regulatory approvals and must be ratified by Navteq’s shareholders. The TomTom/Tele Atlas deal has been referred to the European Commission for approval.
A more intriguing possibility is an acquisition bid for the combined TomTom/Tele Atlas from the two heaviest hitters in high tech today: Microsoft and Google. By acquiring TomTom and Tele Atlas, Microsoft would be buying a top-selling consumer-electronics brand -- along with the key map IP.
Google needs maps to become a key provider of location-based services, particularly for mobile devices, making a TomTom/Tele Atlas acquisition highly desirable. iSuppli believes that Google has a greater motivation to buy TomTom/Tele Atlas than Microsoft. This is because of the obvious importance of moving from static to mobile location services.
With location-based systems, wireless service providers can use the position of a user’s phone to triangulate his position and send information related to his location -- such as location-based ads. This cannot be done without the capability to access maps and obtain refreshed data.
While Microsoft would also gain from the acquisition of map IP and the valuable TomTom consumer-electronics brand name, it has less of a stake than Google.
Speculation has arisen that Microsoft is considering a purchase of Garmin. iSuppli considers this to be less likely than Microsoft buying TomTom/Tele Atlas. This is because the key item in the supply chain is the map IP, rather than the navigation devices themselves.
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2007-10-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Where Are You Now? Design for the Location Revolution

By Jonathan Follett

Published: October 22, 2007

“Mobile devices offer the greatest opportunity for satisfying people’s wants and needs by providing context-specific, time-sensitive interactive experiences.”

Of all the digital information delivery systems people use, mobile devices offer the greatest opportunity for satisfying people’s wants and needs by providing context-specific, time-sensitive interactive experiences. But, in order to truly take advantage of this potential, experience designers need to transition from designing for a single, static space—the desktop—to imagining the broad possibilities of the geospatial Web. For digital products and services, the next dimension of user experience we should consider during design is location.

Changing Our Perspective on Mobile Design

“The mobile Web is poised to become the delivery mechanism for a new generation of location-aware applications.”

There’s no doubt that the mobile experience has the potential to be far more than just the desktop Web reformatted for a tiny screen and accessible on the go. But looking at many of the products that major wireless carriers in the United States are touting, you wouldn’t think so.

Much of the mobile industry is focusing on porting already existing digital content and services to the mobile environment, with a heavy emphasis on entertainment—for example, accessing Fantasy Football stats or viewing abbreviated video clips of network television’s latest and greatest shows. While it might be fun and convenient to check your favorite player’s stats while waiting in line or during a particularly boring business meeting, the experience is, at best, a pleasant distraction. There’s nothing wrong with these products—people will always enjoy entertaining content—but they do not take advantage of the power of the mobile Web as a medium.

The true power of the mobile Web lies not merely in providing remote access to data, but in letting users view contextual information relating to location and interact with that information. The mobile Web is poised to become the delivery mechanism for a new generation of location-aware applications.

Envisioning a User-Centered Virtual Geography

In a May 2005 article, “The Geospatial Web: A Call to Action,” Mike Liebhold, author and researcher at Institute for the Future, explains:

“...we can see the beginning shapes of a true geospatial Web, inhabited by spatially tagged hypermedia as well as digital map geodata. Google Maps is just one more layer among all the invisible cartographic attributes and user annotations on every centimeter of a place and attached to every physical thing, visible and useful, in context, on low-cost, easy-to-use mobile devices.”

When it comes to mobile user experience, location data is becoming the unique connector between the digital world and the physical one. Unchained from the desktop user experience, users can freely interact with their own and others’ virtual data in real spaces.

Where Are You Now?

“For users, the most important location is where they are now—making the dimension of location perhaps the most important design element to consider when creating new mobile user experiences.”

For users, the most important location is where they are now—making the dimension of location perhaps the most important design element to consider when creating new mobile user experiences. Location-based services have been percolating for years, but as Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, and other geospatial technologies become cheaper and more readily available, such services are working their way toward mainstream adoption. Location data has two intrinsic dimensions: absolute location and relative location.

Absolute Location

Identifying a user’s or an object’s absolute location—the physical presence of a person or object—is a key capability of location-based mobile services. It follows, then, that the most popular and advanced consumer-oriented, location-based services are mapping systems. Personal navigation systems for drivers—for example, TomTom —provide interactive maps and turn-by-turn audio directions for users to follow. Verizon Wireless offers a similar service, the VZ Navigator, which is available to drivers via their mobile phones. Similarly, many tracking services use absolute location data to monitor packages in transit or find stolen or missing possessions—like cars, laptops, and even pets.

However, products can use this type of location data for more than just navigation and tracking. Mobile product innovator Apple showed in its Calamari iPhone ad how a person hungry for calamari can easily find a nearby seafood restaurant, demonstrating that contextual data delivery based on absolute location provides a compellingly simple and desirable user experience. For the iPhone user, the difference between this experience and, say, looking up the restaurant via a wired connection in a hotel room is immediacy, spontaneity, and specificity—all of which increase the value of the interaction.

Relative Location

“Another useful dimension of location data is relative location—the relationship in physical space between two or more people, places, or objects.”

Another useful dimension of location data is relative location—the relationship in physical space between two or more people, places, or objects. Relative location data makes possible the first wave of mobile social networking applications—dodgeball, Loopt, and even the location plug-in for AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)—which inform users when friends or colleagues are in their vicinity. The value of this kind of communication is immediately apparent. I enjoy keeping up with friends and colleagues using LinkedIn or Facebook, but often wish I could have more personal interactions with people in my network rather than just relating in digital space.

Of course, such social networking services can very quickly come up against the question of privacy. Clearly, social networking applications must let users control their online presence information and thus prevent other users from locating them, if they want to remain out of contact. But the problem remains that no controls or settings can guarantee users’ anonymity once they start using such applications. Will location-based services make real privacy even more elusive? The answer is probably yes. But these examples represent only the beginnings of location-based services.

Location Data As a Design Element

Soon, UX designers must grapple with the problem of integrating location information into applications and bridge the physical and digital worlds.

Filtering

“Location can serve as a powerful filter for data—either delivering specific information or removing unnecessary options depending on location.”

Location can serve as a powerful filter for data—either delivering specific information or removing unnecessary options depending on location. Some enterprise-level business applications already take advantage of location-based contextual data. For instance, UPS drivers can access data relating to a specific delivery address, so if a condominium association requires a pass code for a security gate, that code can appear alongside other information when a driver views the next address for a package delivery. Similarly, SAP has developed a context-aware sales order-entry system that streamlines a customer’s selection of products based on location. I can imagine a construction company using site location as a filter for their collaboration software. When a project manager arrived at a job, the correct blueprints would already be queued up on his PDA.

Tagging

Even more powerfully, we can tag content using location data. In the article “A Design Approach for the Geospatial Web,” Julian Bleecker, head of the Mobile Media Lab at the University of Southern California, shares this vision:

“By tagging content and data with geographic metadata—effectively giving content a location in the real world—it is possible to imagine new metaphors to describe experiences in geographic space. We’ll stumble across lost pet notices on our way to work; freeway exit ramps will have indicators for a quicker route to the beach on city streets during a busy weekend; standing in front of a local theater will enable you to find movie reviews left by previous patrons. It’s incredibly exciting to think of the possibilities. Perhaps our metaphors for managing content will change as the geospatial Web grows in consequence. It may be that someday in the near future, we’ll be talking about leaving our files, rather than saving them.”

Conclusion

“The mobile experience has the potential to enable customers to bridge the online and offline worlds—allowing them to access pricing, reviews, and other valuable data while in a physical store examining a product.”

Consumers are already anticipating such user experiences. A recent television advertisement for Lowe’s, a chain of stores that markets home improvement products, features a man who, while shopping for an appliance, converses on his mobile phone with family members who are strategically located at competing retailers, while a Lowe’s salesperson patiently waits. The man’s question to his family: “How much does it cost there?” He is comparing pricing data in real time. While the point of the ad is that Lowe’s has the best price, the challenge, from a user experience perspective, is to figure out a way to provide the same data, without requiring family members to drive to different locations. Of course, Lowe’s might not like actually having their washing machines geotagged with competitors’ pricing information.

The power of online shopping, arguably, is customers’ ability to do product research and compare pricing at a variety of retailers. Conversely, with the bricks-and-mortar experience, customers benefit from actually being able to touch products, look them over closely, and assess their quality and craftsmanship. The mobile experience has the potential to enable customers to bridge the online and offline worlds—allowing them to access pricing, reviews, and other valuable data while in a physical store examining a product.

The mobile space is still the Wild West of interactive applications. A host of competing platforms, nascent standards, and carrier restrictions make the medium a challenging one for designers to work in. Balancing technical requirements with imaginative design possibilities is no easy task. But the potential and the need for location-aware services is seemingly boundless

2007-10-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

Juniper Research Predicts Portable Navigation Revenues to Top 8bn Euros in Western Europe by 2012

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

A new report from Juniper Research estimates that revenues from portable navigation solutions, including PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices) and software solutions for multiuser devices, will exceed 8.3 billion Euros in Western Europe by 2012.

Hampshire, UK (PRWEB) October 23, 2007 -- A new report from Juniper Research estimates that revenues from portable navigation solutions, including PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices) and software solutions for multiuser devices, will exceed 8.3 billion Euros in Western Europe by 2012.

PND sales in Europe are booming at the moment, but it can't last for ever. There are already signs of growing maturity in the earliest developed European markets, prices are continuing to fall and there is strong competition from original equipment in-vehicle navigation solutions and from software solutions for multipurpose devices, particularly mobile phones.

PNDs have been one of the great consumer electronics success stories of the past two years, with product ranges from suppliers such as TomTom reporting revenue growth of 89% for financial year 2006.

Revenues from PNDs are currently estimated to account for over 90% of the portable navigation market in Western Europe, with other navigation solutions losing market share in the face of the PND onslaught in recent years. Juniper Research believes this to be due to a number of reasons:

Necessity - whilst few products are absolutely necessary, increasing congestion on European roads has brought products aimed at congestion avoidance to the fore.
Affordability - GPS device prices have plummeted in recent years, as sales volumes have increased. TomTom, the market leader in europe, reports average selling price for PNDs as dropping from 464 Euros in 2004 to 270 Euros in 2006.
Product capability - fuelled by increasing demand, product capability has improved over the last three years making hitherto top end features commonplace and shifting Sat Nav devices from "nice to have" to "must have" for many regular drivers. In Western Europe, Juniper Research expects the percentage of vehicles using PNDs to grow to 22% by 2012.
Peer group pressure - the domino knock-on effect and the realisation that someone else has something which is really useful. This is a powerful purchase incentive.
Convergence in consumer electronics product - progress towards the ubiquitous personal entertainment and communications device continues, as manufacturers produce devices capable of running a wide range of applications with increasingly acceptable performance in all areas.

However, there are a number of threats to the future rate of PND market growth on the horizon and Juniper Research feels that the tide could turn again in the next two to three years.

Report author, Bruce Gibson commented "PND sales in Europe are booming at the moment, but it can't last for ever. There are already signs of growing maturity in the earliest developed European markets, prices are continuing to fall and there is strong competition from original equipment in-vehicle navigation solutions and from software solutions for multipurpose devices, particularly mobile phones."

For free whitepapers and further details of the new study 'Portable Navigation and Wireless Tracking: Western European Markets & Forecasts, 2007 - 2012" visit http://www.juniperresearch.com Alternatively contact John Levett at 44 (0)1256 830002.

Juniper Research provides analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing analyst reports, consultancy and industry surveys.

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2007-10-20T23:29:00.001-07:00

On Google's Mobile Strategy

A guest post by Chad Bam

Chad Bam is the founder and chief writer for Ga Ga Gooogle.com, a blog that discusses Google's strategy, stock trends and the latest Google news. Here is a summary of a three-part series titled: Google's Mobile Strategy (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).

Today Google is a pure money machine. The company has done a phenomenal job maximizing ad revenues. They also know they need to think, plan and executive for the long term. To remain a viable long-term powerhouse, Google will need more than just landline PC Internet search advertising. Which brings us to their long-term focus: Mobile.

Unplugging the PC / landline Internet. Mobility is where Google will create a greater fortune, and put a big hurting squeeze on it's competitors. As Eric Schmidt puts it:

"Mobile, mobile, mobile - it's probably the most wide open space out there right now."

We are on the cusp of a new revolution: the untethered Internet; the mobile Internet. I'm talking about going beyond a "cell phone." This revolution is just starting (the iPhone is a prime example), and Google's covering all their bases to be the key player and money maker.

Let's look at the wireless infrastructure and how Google will "own" it. All wireless companies (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint) own spectrum. It's the air waves that all cell phone calls run over. Spectrum is also a finite asset, which means it's limited. This is why the wireless carriers spend billions at these spectrum "auctions". If they don't own spectrum, they can't run their business.

There has been a lot of buzz about the 700Mhz spectrum auction taking place in January 2008 because Google stepped into the fray. This spectrum was used by TV companies for analog television. The government is requiring the TV companies give the spectrum back as they convert to a digital signal (which needs to be completed by the 2009 deadline).

The spectrum is valuable real estate because it covers 196 million people in the U.S. and will be true mobile broadband (much faster than today's current 2.5 G or 3G networks). Enter Google.

We believe Google has no intention of bidding on the spectrum, owning the spectrum, or running a wireless network. It's not their core business. Google is sitting at the spectrum card table, holding their cards tight, and bluffing--- with a straight face. They are trying to loosen the hold wireless carriers have on us, the end users.

Today, wireless carriers control the phone and applications that run on their networks, and how long we are committed to them. Google wants an open wireless Internet (network), just like the landline Internet. In an open market, Google can thrive. Specifically, Google wants the following, as stated on the Google Public Policy Blog:

Open applications: consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;

Open devices: consumers should be able to utilize a handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;

Open services: third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms; and

Open networks: third parties (like Internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at a technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee's wireless network.

Of course the major wireless carriers don't want this, as it will just increase competition and lower their profit margins. They don't want to lose control. So Google has been hard at work lobbying the FCC [PDF].

But even Google doesn't always get what it wants, in this case, half. Google's words:

"In essence, the FCC embraced two of the four openness conditions that we suggested several weeks ago: (1) open applications, the right of consumers to download and utilize any software applications or content they desire; and (2) open devices, the right of consumers to utilize their handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer. Today the FCC took some concrete steps on the road to bringing greater choice and competition to all Americans."

But Verizon is now pushing back. As Verizon won't get pushed around without a fight. And neither will AT&T, as they just bought a boat load of 700Mhz spectrum right under the nose of Google and Verizon. Holly crap!!! That was a slick move. Google, how did you miss that? Now AT&T is not beholden to the spectrum auction, but they will still bid on it, just to bid the price UP UP UP.

So where is Sprint in all this? Enter Xohm.

Sprint already owns 4G wireless spectrum in the 2.5Ghz band, so it doesn't not need the 700Mhz spectrum. Sprint will launch Xohm (a WiMAX 4G mobile broadband technology) on it's 2.5Ghz band and has already partnered with Google, Intel, Motorola, Samsung and others..

Sprint plans to launch it's WiMAX in April 2008, a full year or two before any vendor will be able to use the 700Mhz spectrum. So Sprint has an advantage (if they can get out of their own way). Xohm is like WiFi, but runs long distances. It will have mobile broadband speeds averaging 2-5 megabits, with bursting speeds of up to 10 megabits. It will be the mobile Internet.

From Xohm.com:

"Xohm customers will be able to experience a new form of interactive communications, high-speed Internet browsing, social networking tools, local and location-centric services, and multimedia services including music, video, TV and on-demand products through a new mobile portal."

So Google gets the open devices and open applications on the 700Mhz spectrum and partners with Xohm. What does this mean?

It means the Gphone will debut on April 1, 2008 (on the 4th anniversary of Gmail). But it may not be what you think.

It will debut on the Xohm mobile Internet (see Google's Mobile Strategy, Part 2). It will be a data-only device, but don't fret, you'll still be able to make voice calls. You'll pay a flat fee and won't sign a contract. That's right, no contract! Pay to use it just for the day, or pay monthly; or yearly. You decide.

The voice calls will be VoIP (voice over IP) leveraging an integrated version of Google Talk and GrandCentral. The device will be Google's "unified communications" platform. This Linux-based platform (OS or framework) will also include search, maps, gmail, reader, calendar, docs, texting, location-based services, presence, social networking and, of course, ads. And the monthly fee will be much lower than your standard cell phone plan, partially offset by unobtrusive click ads. Talk away, text away, surf away... it doesn't matter, it's unlimited! The device will be manufactured by HTC with a full qwerty keyboard and run all Google's mobile services. But unlike today's scattered apps, they will be tightly integrated, all having the Google UI feel, like Gmail and Maps.

Why run it on Xohm? Simple. Xohm has no restrictions on applications, devices or services. Use it at will. Plus Xohm is IP-based with less latency (better performance) with a more efficient use of the spectrum (it can scale very well). Plus Xohm (WiMAX) is being rolled-out internationally by other carriers, so it will eventually be a global standard for the mobile Internet. In April, Xohm will be as close as you can get to the Mobile Internet today and will distinctly outperform today's 3G networks.

Google will then follow-up with more devices on the 700Mhz spectrum (whichever carrier wins it). Today's carrier's have Google boxed-out with end user restrictions (see Google's Mobile Strategy Part 2). Sprint, on the other hand, needs to use the 2.5Ghz spectrum (or they'll lose it) and desperately needs differentiators against Verizon and AT&T. Google needs the free open mobile Internet (Xohm). End users need lower cost plans and no commitments or contracts with better Internet capabilities.

Labels: Google Phone, Mobile

2007-10-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Releases New Search Services for Internet and Mobile Customers

Written by Microsoft

Friday, 19 October 2007

Latest releases complete fall updates for Live Search service, including voice search and location-aware technology.

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 15, 2007 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the final updates to the fall release of its Live Search service, introducing a broad array of new services and features to its local and mobile search offerings. The new features and enhancements are designed to make it easier for people to find what they need at home or on the go through significant innovations in mapping, imagery and driving directions as well as new services to make the mobile search experience easy and powerful.

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Microsoft also announced the availability of the Live Search 411 service. Customers can gain toll-free* access by dialing (800) CALL-411 (800-225-5411) from any phone to find and connect to local businesses and other local information, such as weather updates, movie show times and airline information. People using a cell phone with Internet access can also receive links to traffic maps from Live Search 411.

“Microsoft is building on several years of innovation in imagery and 3-D visualization, adding some of the most significant innovations to driving directions technology in the last several years and expanding how our current 185 million customers can experience the improvements to the core of Live Search to include access from a wider variety of clients, platforms and devices,” said Satya Nadella, corporate vice president of the Search & Advertising Platform Group at Microsoft. “Collectively, these improvements build on the work we did in core relevance and differentiated vertical experiences, and are an important milestone in our efforts in delivering a comprehensive, innovative search offering that includes mobile, mapping, Web and local services for customers to find what they need, when they need it, on any device.”

Today’s announcement comes on the heels of the release on Sept. 26 of several new capabilities for Live Search, which included significant improvements in relevance and coverage in the core Web search service and expanded the range and depth of information available in areas where most customers were doing most of their queries — entertainment, shopping, health and local searches.

Today’s release offers these key features:

Maps and Directions
•

Innovative driving directions. The new Live Search offers more accurate and easy-to-use driving directions, including dynamic rerouting of directions based on real-time traffic information, one-click directions that allow drivers to get only essential directions to their destination with no starting point needed, and inline hints that tell drivers if they have gone too far based on local landmarks. Combined with new, one-page printing, these new enhancements have taken driving directions to the next level.
•

Innovative visualization and 3-D. Coverage of bird’s-eye and 3-D imagery has been increased to cover 80 percent of the U.S. population. In addition, nearly 200 complete cities are available in 3-D, and customers can now combine views of 3-D imagery with Live Search’s unique 45-degree bird’s-eye images, giving a complete and detailed geolocation experience. In addition, people who use Live Search Maps can create and share their own 3-D models of buildings through an alliance with Dassault Systemes.
•

Innovative local content index including user-generated content.The new local search capabilities in Live Search include not only a broad set of expert sources but also broad access to user-generated content from Live Search and from across the entire Web, through searchable user-created collections and Keyhole Markup Language (KML) support.
•

Virtual Earth platform updates. The Virtual Earth™ platform is the underlying technology behind well over 1,000 partner mapping solutions as well as Live Search Maps. Updates in version 6.0 of Virtual Earth include multipoint trip routing; enhanced geocoding that combines results for multiple geocoders; rooftop geocoding, which provides more precise geocoding results; map control support for Safari 2.0; and the release of MapCruncher beta, making it easier to publish maps overlaid in an application using the Virtual Earth map control. More details on the Virtual Earth platform can be found at http://dev.live.com/virtualearth.

Mobile Enhancements
•

Live Search for Windows Mobile with voice input. The updated Live Search for Windows Mobile® 5.0 and 6.0 will be available for download for free on Tuesday, Oct. 16, and now includes voice input (beta version), gas prices, and hours of operation for businesses. The service can also use Global Positioning System (GPS) data on GPS-enabled phones to provide location-aware local search for customers.
•

Live Search 411. Jointly developed with Tellme Networks Inc., acquired by Microsoft earlier this year, a new toll-free number will be available for anyone using any kind of phone to access the power of Live Search. Users can simply dial (800) CALL-411 (800-225-5411) and say the city and state, then ask for the business or business category to hear a list of options. Users say, “Connect me,” to instantly connect to the business. Cell phone users can ask for a text message with a link to a map of the business.*
•

Live Search for use with BlackBerry® Devices. Live Search designed for use with BlackBerry devices is in beta and will be available for download for free on Tuesday, Oct. 16. It is a new offering designed for use on BlackBerry OS 4.0.2 or later phones, and customers with GPS-enabled phones can use location awareness to enhance their searches.

More information on the mobile offerings will be available at http://www.LiveSearchMobile.com and http://www.LiveSearch411.com.

Market availability for specific features varies. More information on these updated features and services can be found on the following Microsoft team blogs: http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch and http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com.

About Windows Live and MSN

Windows Live™, a comprehensive set of personal Internet services and software, is designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web. MSN® attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering compelling programmed content experiences to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. MSN and Windows Live will be offered alongside each other as complementary services. Some Windows Live services entered an early beta phase on Nov. 1, 2005; these and future beta updates can be found at http://ideas.live.com. Windows Live and Live Search are available at http://www.live.com. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com.

“Virtual Earth -3DVIA users will be able to build a world that mixes their future projects and ideas with real-life places, buildings and structures,” said Lynne Wilson, senior vice president and general manager of 3DVIA at Dassault Systèmes. “Through Microsoft’s online geographic location mapping technology and our 3-D modeling and realistic visualization know-how, we have created a new level of realism within Virtual Earth that provides an unrestricted freedom for creativity and innovation.”

Users can download Virtual Earth -3DVIA for free and immediately begin using the fun, easy-to-use and intuitive application. Virtual Earth -3DVIA allows anyone to do the following with their ideas:
•

Create. With just a few clicks, users can easily design a 3-D model of their house, favorite building or any structure, then select from different visualization options, textures and colors to give their 3-D model a style of its own.
•

Publish. Users can upload their 3-D models to Virtual Earth, specifying an address or neighborhood so they can experience the model within a real-life context.
•

Share. Users can add their 3-D model to collections, and share it with friends and colleagues through Web communities.

“Our alliance with Dassault Systèmes, a company that has 26 years of technology experience in 3-D modeling, will help us bring a new level of realism to Virtual Earth,” said Stephen Lawler, general manager of Virtual Earth at Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to delivering the highest-quality product for our Virtual Earth customers, and this enhancement is another step toward fulfilling that commitment.”

Virtual Earth -3DVIA is being released as a technology preview to allow community feedback before the next release of the product. More information about Virtual Earth -3DVIA is available online at http://maps.live.com/Help/en-us/VE3DVIADownload.htm.

About Virtual Earth

The Virtual Earth platform is Microsoft’s next-generation integrated set of powerful online mapping and search services that offer a variety of capabilities, including unique bird’s- eye view, three-dimensional imagery, and aerial and satellite imagery. The Virtual Earth platform also powers a variety of consumer, enterprise and government applications that enable people to discover and explore a specific location. Virtual Earth powers Live Search Maps, Microsoft’s online local search and mapping Web site. More information about the Virtual Earth platform is available at http://www.microsoft.com/virtualearth/default.mspx.

2007-10-20T23:22:00.001-07:00

Location-Based Services: Hype or Hope?

Posted by Tom Fuller in Blindside project, Faster/smaller/better..., Hyperconnectedness at October 18th, 2007

To date, location-based services are widely used in emergency services, help alerts, fleet tracking and offering the location of a mobile phone. Or, as Wikipedia lists them,

Some examples of location-based services are:
Requesting the nearest business or service, such as an ATM or restaurant
Receiving alerts, such as notification of a sale on gas or warning of a traffic jam
Finding a buddy
For the carrier, location-based services provide value add by enabling services such as:
Resource tracking with dynamic distribution Taxis, service people, rental equipment, doctors, fleet scheduling
Resource tracking Objects without privacy controls, using passive sensors or RF tags, such as packages and train boxcars
Finding someone or something Person by skill (doctor), business directory, navigation, weather, traffic, room schedules, stolen phone, emergency 911
Proximity-based notification (push or pull) Targeted advertising, buddy list, common profile matching (dating), automatic airport check-in
Proximity-based actuation (push or pull) Payment based upon proximity (EZ pass, toll watch)

All very useful services, but in a sector where much more was expected, it looks kind of vanilla these days.

In September of 2006, Silicon.com wrote of location-based services, “Another good question. Mobile operators, pundits and other assorted industry watchers have been talking about LBS since the tail end of the last decade but have never really found a way to capitalise on them. It’s thought that the inclusion of GPS in mobile handsets could jump-start LBS. ABI Research predicts that by 2011, there will be 315 million GPS subscribers for location based services, up from a measly 12 million this year.”

A year later, has anything changed?

In May of this year, the BBC was showing interest: “Speaking at the FT Mobile Media conference, the BBC’s director of future media, Ashley Highfield, said the broadcaster - now the UK’s favourite mobile web destination - believes mobile content is shortly to enter a boom time. He said: “Mobile is the future of media and technology… I think a number of factors are coming into alignment for explosive growth.” Among those factors, Highfield believes, are better pricing, operators’ decision to ditch their ‘walled garden’ approach to content and improvements in phones themselves including the addition of GPS. Highfield added: “It looks like the shift we saw when broadband took off.”

One major use of location-based services will be in telecare for the disabled and elderly. In March of 2007, the International Journal of Health Geographics published an editorial about CAALYX, a “Complete Ambient Assisted Living Experiment, an EU-funded project that aims at increasing older people’s autonomy and self-confidence by developing a wearable light device capable of measuring specific vital signs of the elderly, detecting falls and location, and communicating automatically in real-time with his/her care provider in case of an emergency, wherever the older person happens to be, at home or outside.”

“CAALYX aims at increasing older people’s autonomy and self-confidence by developing a wearable light device capable of measuring specific vital signs of the elderly, detecting falls, and communicating automatically in real time with his/her care provider in case of an emergency, wherever the elderly person happens to be, at home or outside. Specifically, CAALYX’s objectives are:

• To identify which vital signs and patterns are most important in determining probable critical states of an elder’s health;

• To develop an electronic device able to measure vital signs and to detect falls of the older person in the domestic environment and outside. This gadget will have a geo-location system so that the monitoring system may be able to know the elder’s position in case of emergency (especially outdoors);

• To allow for the secure monitoring of individuals organised into groups managed by a caretaker who will decide whether to communicate events identified by the system to the emergency service (112); and

• To create social tele-assistance services that can be easily operated by the users.”

Crucially for Blindside readers, CAALYX addresses privacy issues in the editorial: “Location capability poses service providers with the challenge of responsibly handling consumers’ personal privacy [1]. This is particularly important with ‘tracking services’ that continuously monitor and log user’s location, like Wherifone, an American location-tracking service for the elderly and children [21], and other live tracking services using technologies like the GpsGate Server [22]. Such services raise many privacy concerns and questions; for example, “If a consumer service allows one party access to the location of a second party, should that second party be notified when this location information has been provided?”[23]

However, CAALYX’s approach to location information privacy is different. CAALYX is an extensible user health monitoring platform that uses GPS as to support that function (health monitoring) and for emergency handling. Thus CAALYX is not continuously tracking older people, or continuously communicating their location in real-time with the central monitoring station. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, allowing the data logger (a mobile smartphone that users carry on them) to collect the data rather than continuously stream it to a remote server means that expensive bandwidth is saved. It is also far more power-efficient than a system that has to continuously transmit data and pick up real-time geographic information via GPS, a paramount feature in any handheld device. But most importantly, it means people will not feel as if their every move is being watched. Location information is only sent when required during an emergency or when an alarm is raised. As such CAALYX has the potential of setting the standards and providing a ‘modus operandi’ or ‘best-practice’ model for wireless location privacy in mobile, location-intelligent/enabled e-health services.”

Commercial activity reported in the media indicates substantial interest in location-based services. Nokia’s recent purchase of Navteq, a supplier of digital maps, follows their recent introduction of a GPS-enabled mobile phone, the 6110 Navigator. “Using the handset’s embedded software, consumers can view their current location on a map, search for destinations, find specific routes, or locate nearby services, such as restaurants, hotels or shops. Location-based services are “one of the cornerstones of Nokia’s internet services strategy,” Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement. “By joining forces with Navteq, we will be able to bring context and geographical information to a number of our internet services with accelerated time to market.”

And from the same article, “Navteq has been viewed as a takeover target since this summer, when navigation device maker TomTom said it would pay €1.8bn for Navteq’s top rival in the mapping market, Tele Atlas. Tele Atlas provides maps for MapQuest, Google Maps and several other navigation devices. TomTom accounts for about 40 percent of Tele Atlas’ business. When the acquisition was announced in July, many speculated that Google would buy rival Navteq.”

It’s all very much jam tomorrow, but tomorrow looks closer than it did a year ago. Well, I suppose it would.

To see what’s actually happening today, one needs to look at Asia. A white paper found on ZDNet (registration required), titled ‘Home Network Services in Korea,’ and published by Research On Asia (ROA) Group, Inc. talks about some interesting location-based services:

Logicplant’s Telekeeper (Mobile phone-based PC remote service) Service in brief: a solution to problems related to children’s PC use. The parents can monitor their children’s computer use.

Phone CCTV Service by SKT: Service in brief: this service, based on camera and high speed Internet, enables the user to monitor the situation at home via mobile phone and warns the user by sending a text message in a case of an intruder. By just installing a camera at home or in office, the service is enabled in real time via mobile phone.

Nespot Lu Service by KT: Service in brief: KT’s wireless Nespot service, connects mobile phone with a home robot. The robot is equipped with a small camera that monitors the situation inside the house and enables the user to check each room while staying outside the house by using a mobile phone.

From America (specifically, the University of Colorado), comes “A Methodological Assessment of Location Privacy Risks
in Wireless Hotspot Networks,” another white paper found on ZDNet. The abstract states, “Mobile computing enables users to compute and communicate almost regardless of their current location. However, as a side effect this technology considerably increased surveillance potential for user movements. Current research addresses location privacy rather patchwork-like than comprehensively. Thus, this paper presents a methodology for identifying, assessing, and comparing location privacy risks in mobile computing technologies. In a case study, we apply the approach to IEEE 802.11b wireless LAN networks and location-based
services, where it reveals significant location privacy concerns through link- and application-layer information. From a technological perspective, we argue that these are best addressed through novel anonymity-based mechanisms.

Jam today, but not jam here.

2007-10-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

Nokia 6110 - Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Not all those who wander are lost. Thanks to Nokia 6610 its users will never get lost. They will find their own way of subsistence with this wonder- phone. Laden with functionalities, GPS (Global Positioning System) and AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System), users can easily access instant and easy-to-use maps, routing and voice guided navigation available with the click one-touch Navigator key.

The Nokia 6110 is a feature-rich, compact device operating on WCDMA 2100 and GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks. With the help of it, users can easily determine their current location on the map embedded, search for destinations, find incisive routes, or locate essential services as restaurants, hotels or shops that are nearby.

The phone is embedded with such features which enables to suggests the best probable route to follow to reach a location by car or on foot. Besides a local map pre-installed on the phone's memory card, there are options in it that enables users to purchase online additional maps and content that ranges from traffic information, to weather, and to travel guide.

While describing its utility, Peter Ropke, Senior Vice President, Broad Appeal Business Unit, Nokia, said "With the Nokia 6110 Navigator, mobile phone owners will be able to enjoy the benefits of navigation in their daily life and enjoy a wide range of location-based services - whether they want to explore a city, search for restaurants, get weather forecasts, or look for travel guides for a weekend trip."

The key high definition features that are included into the Nokia 6110 includes: HSDPA for fast web browsing and downloading, WCDMA 2100 HSDPA, GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 support, 2 megapixel camera with integrated flash, 4x digital zoom and panorama mode, Real-time video sharing and video calling, 40 MB free internal memory and support of microSD memory card up to 2 GB.

Moreover, the Nokia 6110 Navigator enables fast and seamless access to online information with HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) up to 3.6 Mbps. Emails can be handled in real time by push email, which also supports attachments as well as features a Message reader function to read aloud your emails.

The smart Nokia 6110 Navigator is an ideal tool for 3G multimedia, enabling real time video sharing and video calls, as well as a 2 megapixel camera with a dedicated capture key, panorama mode, and integrated flash. Video clips can be enjoyed with full screen view, and maps and images are clear and crisp to see on the large and bright 2.2" QVGA screen, offering up to 16 million colors. For extra protection, the camera lens is covered by a protection slide, keeping the images crystal clear.

The Nokia 6110 Navigator is Nokia's first dedicated smartphone aimed specifically towards the navigation market. This device is another example of the commitment Nokia has to location based experiences such as mapping, navigation and local search and joins the already announced Nokia N95 and Nokia E90 in Nokia's integrated GPS device portfolio.

Bryan Gian is a Internet marketing consultant. He has written many articles on Mobile Phone,
Nokia Mobile Phones

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2007-10-19T23:23:00.000-07:00

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Samsung offers GPS phone i550 with Symbian software

Posted: 2007/10/17
From: Mathaba

Mobile phone maker Samsung unveiled several smartphones that run on Symbian's mobile platform and come with the latest features, including location based services and mapping, media reported Wednesday.

Samsung's phone lineup includes the i550, i560, and i450, which was introduced last week.

"The introduction of Samsung's new Symbian OS-based smartphones is testament to our strategic focus on the open OS phone market," said Geesung Choi, president of Samsung's telecommunications network business.

The i550 is the first Samsung phone to include GPS. The candy bar-like smartphone uses HSDPA third-generation (3G) cellular technology for data access, offering speeds of 3.6 Mbps, according to Samsung. Using built-in GPS, users get voice-activated turn-by-turn driving directions, walking directions when the phone is in pedestrian mode, and mobile maps.

Symbian is the largest mobile operating system maker, with a 72 percent worldwide market share.

2007-10-19T23:21:00.000-07:00

Nokia Business Plan Explained

There’s a topical article in the Boston Globe this morning about Nokia that stitches together a lot of their recent actions into a strategy that is emerging for the mobile handset giant that has them taking a big picture point of view to turn handset insight into a broad-based ad driven media company. The article keys in on a recent acquisition by Nokia of Enpocket, a Boston based firm specializing in mobile phone advertising.

The article quotes Rodger Entner of IAG Research who says, “They want to be more than just a phone purveyor, or an infrastructure purveyor. They want to be involved in the whole value chain. That’s why they bought Enpocket. They want to make this a substantial part of their business, ideally worth billions of dollars.”

This gives insight into why they are seeking to buy NAVTEQ too; with maps and navigation come more dependence on your mobile device, which facilitates Location Based Services (LBS). With the knowledge of who you are, and where you are, and maybe what you are looking for, comes ad opportunity, and that’s where the revenue is.

Detailed in the article are several more acquisitions that Nokia made which when listed together starts to form a solid picture of the broad offering to sell services. There are issues in the US market model that the article goes on to point out. Worth the quick read if you like this stuff.

ReadMore at Boston Globe.

2007-10-17T23:23:00.000-07:00

LOCATION BASED SERVICES; Telephia have made the obvious link between GPS availability and LBS uptake in their second quarter report on mobile applications published this week which states that 51 percent of all spending on mobile applications is spent on LBS. This is just one of a raft of stats on the location market and is mainly down to the high price users are willing to pay for mobile navigation services. The average monthly spend on LBS in the U.S. market is $9.23, more than $4 higher than then nearest mobile application challenger, mobile music which weighed in at $4.99. This premium for location can also be attributed to a premium for context.
However, application download rates are only tipping 5 percent as opposed to the 7 - 13 percent achieved by other downloadable content like mobile games. “Many consumers may not realize the utility of a navigation application on their mobile phone until they use it,” said David Gill, Director of Mobile Media, Telephia. “However, Nokia’s bid to buy NAVTEQ for $8.1 billion is a very positive sign for the market and validates the strength and potential of LBS.”
The challenge for the LBS industry is one that in part can be solved by GPS enabled handsets - there are now 130 million of these in the U.S. market alone. As this number increases, application providers must weave location, context, and content personalisation into the very fabric of their most popular mobile services.

2007-10-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

Google Extends Their Social Agenda To Maps
Posted in Ajax News by Nick Gonzalez on the October 18th, 2007
It’s no longer a secret that Google is working hard on developing social features across the board. Now they’re putting a face on all the content generated by users on Google Maps by integrating their Google “Shared Stuff” profiles.
The new profiles serve as a hub for all the content you generate on the site. They let you post a photo, links, business reviews, personal maps, and say a little something about yourself to the Google Maps crowd. It’s yet another step toward honing the Google Maps platform to take on the younger crop of location-based services like Yelp and various travel sites. Profiles will certainly give the mapping product a better idea of what kinds of aspects of the service your interested in, as well as an integration point for their recent acquisition, Jaiku.

2007-10-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

Mobile Phone Navigation Boost Ahead

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15th October , 2007
Europe UK : The acquisition of Navteq by Nokia will, in the opinion of industry experts, greatly accelerate the development of mobile phone navigation systems and other ‘connected navigation devices’, i.e. devices that interlink navigation with content from the Internet. "This acquisition will drive a paradigm shift in navigation. Navigation of the future is connected," says Hans-Hendrik Puvogel ( inset ), CEO of Munich-based Jentro Technologies.
Jentro is the latest winner of the Navteq LBS award and, according to market researcher Canalys, is Europe’s number two in mobile phone navigation after Nokia. ‘The valuable assets Nokia gains with the acquisition of Navteq are not only the maps, but also the latter’s location-based services (LBS), including traffic information from Traffic.com and travel information from Discover Cities,’ says Puvogel.
The market analyst Strategy Analytics sees the market for LBS growing from around 200 million dollars in 2006 to 1.2 billion in 2011. Puvogel believes that in future content will generally play a key role within the billion-dollar navigation market. Under the name ‘location-based experience,’ a new discipline is currently evolving, which combines local searches, maps, route navigation and dynamic information from the Internet. This development impacts on the entire industry, on both terminal equipment manufacturers and network operators alike, as well as on content providers, for whom this interconnection presents new business opportunities. The advertising industry also stands to benefit, since, due to the integration of dynamic content, navigation will become the ideal environment for mobile marketing.
Network operators under pressureAccording to Puvogel, it is particularly mobile phone network operators and service providers who will have to rethink their strategies. In acquiring Navteq, Nokia has given a further boost to the trend towards network-independent solutions in the mobile phone industry. As a result, mobile phone providers run the risk of losing their exclusive access to customers and, as such, control and sales. Customers expect strong brands and excellent content – areas in which many network operators have struggled to deliver thus far. Puvogel believes that navigation offerings are a must for network operators and service providers, whether under their own brands or in cooperation with strong third-party brands. Strategic partnerships with content providers need to be fostered in order to support their own core business in the data sector.
Internet-enabled terminal equipment has the edgeEquipment manufacturers also need to rethink things: ‘Stand-alone navigation devices, i.e. devices without Internet access, have no future,’ predicts Puvogel and this is all to the advantage of Internet-enabled mobile phone navigation. Strategy Analytics believes that these systems will be capable very shortly of closing the ranks with PNDs (personal navigation devices) that currently dominate the market. In Western Europe alone, this market analyst predicts more than 100 million GPS-enabled mobile phones by 2011. Peter Friedland, Equity Research Analyst GPS Industry with the Soleil Group, assumes that, following this acquisition by Nokia, the other mobile phone manufacturers will redouble their efforts to develop GPS-enabled mobile phones. ‘This acquisition kindles a fire in the entire mobile phone industry. All the manufacturers will now increase their efforts to launch GPS and LBS solutions onto the market in a bid to remain competitive with Nokia,’ says Friedland.

2007-10-15T17:19:00.001-07:00

NemeriX Delivers Industry’s First Scalable Hosted & Stand-Alone A-GPS Platform

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October 15, 2007, Manno Switzerland – NemeriX, a leading provider of A-GPS semiconductor solutions, announced today the release of its 4th generation A-GPS navigation platform: the NemeriX NX4. This modular, scalable, hosted & stand-alone A-GPS navigation solution directly targets the strategic roadmaps of mobile handset vendors. Like the three NemeriX GPS generations which precede it, the NX4 is designed to be an industry leader on low power and high sensitivity, provide top tier performance (e.g., tracking, TTFF time-to-first-fix), and have the lowest bill-of-materials (BOM).Commensurate with record investments in the GPS space, large mobile handset vendors (and suppliers) are demanding single-package, GPS-enabled multi-wireless solutions by the third quarter of 2008, followed by total wireless integration shortly thereafter. The NX4 platform provides users with the ability to choose hosted or stand-alone A-GPS architectures within a single chip, as well as migration to 65nm RFCMOS and integrated baseband for multi-wireless applications (e.g., BlueTooth, WiFi, and FM). The NX4 has already been selected by a major handset provider as its next GPS solution – proving the NX4’s outstanding performance and flexibility. “Our customers are clear that they want a high-performance, low-power single-package, GPS-enabled multi-wireless solution no later than the second half of 2008 and a single-die multi-wireless 65nm RFCMOS solution by 2010,” states Luc Seraphin, Managing Director of NemeriX. “Already having a Tier 1 kick-off customer for the NX4 is a tribute to NemeriX’s four generations of GPS know-how since 2002 and a clear validation that the NX4 can enable our partners’ roadmaps.”“GPS capability is turning out to be the “keystone” of the mobile phone industry. Compared to the -75dBm sensitivity typical of other wireless devices, GPS’s -162dBm sensitivity makes it the bottleneck to wireless integration. Coupled with the GSM base-band integration aspect of hosted-GPS architectures, this means that once the new multi-wireless solutions are designed-in, starting at the end of 2008, they will be very hard to displace. The barriers to entry will be enormous. GPS is quietly but fundamentally changing the rules of the mobile handset game. Suppliers with GPS capabilities will find this a lucrative development. However, those without GPS may find themselves out of the mobile handset business before they know it,” commented Eric Achtmann, Vice Chairman of NemeriX. About NemeriXFounded in April 2002, NemeriX S.A. (Manno, Switzerland) is a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company specializing in ultra low power GPS and LBS integrated circuits, software and firmware for GPS and wireless applications. With the release of NX4, NemeriX has four generations of low-power, high performance, stand-alone, hosted, A-GPS experience. NemeriX’s devices enable battery powered location determination anywhere, anytime, facilitating the design and manufacture of truly differentiated products and an enhanced consumer experience. NemeriX’s investors include Atila Ventures, Auriga Partners, Cadence, Oak Investment Partners, PolyTechnos Venture-Partners, and Vi Venture Incubator.For more information about NemeriX, please visit www.nemerix.com

2007-10-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

White House Statement Regarding Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites

Written by White House
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Today (Sept 17, 2007), the President accepted the recommendation of the Department of Defense to end procurement of Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites that have the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals. This decision reflects the United States strong commitment to users of GPS that this free global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil activities around the world.

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Recently (Sept 17, 2007), the President accepted the recommendation of the Department of Defense to end procurement of Global Positioning System ( GPS ) satellites that have the capability to intentionally degrade the accuracy of civil signals. This decision reflects the United States strong commitment to users of GPS that this free global utility can be counted on to support peaceful civil activities around the world.This degradation capability, known as Selective Availability ( SA ), will no longer be present in GPS III satellites. Although the United States stopped the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals in May 2000, this new action will result in the removal of SA capabilities, thereby eliminating a source of uncertainty in GPS performance that has been of concern to civil GPS users worldwide.GPS benefits users around the world in many different ways, including aviation, road, marine and rail navigation, telecommunications, emergency response, resource exploration, mining and construction, financial transactions, and many more. All users, and their governments, have a stake in the future of GPS. The United States promotes international cooperation in the operation of civil global navigation satellite systems and continues to work to build international support for the protection of these signals from intentional interference and disruption.

2007-10-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

SDK helps developers build GPS-enabled apps

Oct. 10, 2007TeleType has introduced an SDK (software development kit) aimed at helping developers create GPS-enabled applications for Windows CE-based mobile devices. The GPS SDK provides an API (application programming interface) that interfaces directly with the company's navigation program, WorldNav.According to the company, the APIs provided with the SDK implement functions such as:
Zooming in and out
Shifting a map in any direction
Passing search criteria directly from an application
Routing from any two specified points
TeleType's WorldNav software (left) and menu from the SDK (right)In addition, TeleType says it offers map conversion tools and utilities for developers who want to implement their own maps on Windows CE-based portable navigation devices. The tools are said to allow the popular ESRI shape file formatted maps to be converted into the company's TTM (TeleType Map) format.The TeleType GPS SDK (with API) is at $495. The company notes that use of the SDK requires the presence of its WorldNav GPS software, priced at $5,000 for an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) version. Both are said to be available now.

2007-10-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

Increased Availability of GPS on Mobile Phones Drives Consumption of Navigation and Other LBS

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SAN FRANCISCO — With GPS available on more new mobile devices, consumer demand for location-based services (LBS) such as navigation is growing, according to Telephia, a service of The Nielsen Company, and the world’s largest provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets. In its second quarter report on mobile applications, Telephia also reported that:
Approximately 13 million mobile consumers downloaded a mobile application on their phone.
Of the $118 million in revenue that downloadable mobile applications such as LBS, weather applications, chat/community, and personal organization tools generated during Q2 2007, LBS represented 51 percent.
Networks In Motion (NIM)—an LBS navigation publisher for products including Verizon Wireless’ VZ Navigator—secured a 27 percent share of carrier revenue from mobile applications and leads all mobile application publishers. Telenav Mobile followed with a 15 percent share of carrier revenue and is another LBS navigation publisher. While location-based services deliver highly personalized offerings such as friend-finding and other location-aware features, navigation represents the lion’s share of revenue. Moreover, favorable carrier deck placement for LBS applications and the bundling of navigation services with data packages have contributed to record high downloads. “With consumer awareness increasing, there is enormous potential for even greater LBS growth, especially since Telephia research indicates that there are approximately 130 million GPS-capable handsets in the U.S. alone, and growing,” said Doug Antone, president and CEO of Networks In Motion. “Networks In Motion is committed to remaining an LBS leader by continuing to create compelling mobile phone applications that consumers can benefit from on a daily basis.” LBS applications command a healthy price premium compared to other downloadable mobile applications. The average price per month for an LBS application is $9.23, as compared to a range of $3.82-$5.41 for weather applications, sports, wallpapers/pictures, etc. (see Table 1). The selling price for LBS applications is roughly 180 percent of industry average. However, overall consumer penetration for mobile applications hovers around five percent, as compared to penetration rates of 7-13 percent for other downloadable content like games, ringtones and premium SMS. “There are hurdles that LBS publishers face, most notably the relatively low incidence of application downloads when compared to other mobile data activity. Many consumers may not realize the utility of a navigation application on their mobile phone until they use it,” said David Gill, Director of Mobile Media, Telephia. “However, Nokia’s bid to buy NAVTEQ for $8.1 billion is a very positive sign for the market and validates the strength and potential of LBS.”Table 1: Average Price Paid by Consumers for Mobile Applications (U.S.) Mobile Application Average Price Paid
LBS $9.23
Weather $3.82
Sports $4.58
Wallpapers/Pictures $3.29
Music $4.99
Maps/Directions $3.95
Personal Organization Tools $5.41

Source: Telephia Mobile Application Report, Q2 2007

2007-10-08T20:36:00.000-07:00

Wherify Wireless, Inc. Announces Springboard LBS Platform for Multiple Applications

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SAN MATEO, CA -- Wherify Wireless, Inc. (OTCBB: WFYW), home of the award-winning Wherifone GPS Locator Phone and Services, today announces its intent to deliver in Q1 2008 its Location Based Services (LBS) platform, named Springboard, which is designed to enable carriers, application providers and mobile device manufacturers in developing location based services applications for their products and services. Springboard will provide development capability to support a wide array of consumer and enterprise applications beyond navigation, such as mobile social networking, mobile community search and shopping, fleet management, and more. Springboard technology will also support both GPS- and non-GPS-equipped devices. The new Springboard platform will provide an easy to integrate Application Programming Interface (API) beyond basic location features to enable a comprehensive LBS application implementation within a wide variety of electronic devices and service provider offerings. The platform, which fully supports telephony, notification, multimedia and mobile content push features, is GSM-based, but it is implemented independent of carrier infrastructure, and will allow handset manufacturers, application developers and telecommunications carriers to use a single platform to support multiple applications and devices. With Springboard, device manufacturers and service providers will be able to speed their location dependent applications, such as mobile shopping and advertising, to market by avoiding the time consuming and expensive process of designing all of the components of the platform. Additionally, Springboard will allow these organizations to reduce development time and expenses; and raise margins by outsourcing day-to-day operation of the LBS functions and back office support systems. "Over the past few years Wherify Wireless has invested a significant amount of time, capital and energy into developing its LBS technologies and for the first time is opening up this platform for use by other organizations. We believe almost all consumer and enterprise mobile applications in the near future will require location intelligence," said Vince Sheeran, CEO of Wherify Wireless, Inc. "Carriers, Handset Manufacturers, and Application Developers are all facing the same challenge: how to come up with a seamless end-to-end location rich applications, which integrate the GSM network, mobile device and application user experience. Wherify has a long history in solving this problem throughout the development of the Wherifone GPS Locator Phone and Services. We have developed the new Springboard product offering based on our solid LBS expertise to provide a single comprehensive location platform solution." About Wherify Wireless, Inc. Wherify Wireless, Inc. (OTCBB: WFYW) is a pioneering developer of personal location products and services, as recognized by the Smithsonian Institution Museum's adoption of Wherify Wireless' groundbreaking first product, the Child Locator, into permanent display as the world's first commercial personal GPS tracking device. With three U.S. patents granted in the areas of personal location and position tracking and four more patents pending in the area of GPS locator phones, Wherify Wireless continues to be a leader in location technology development by integrating Aided-GPS location into a GSM cellular platform that has been demonstrated on over 100 GSM networks world-wide. Wherify Wireless' expertise in GPS technology for wireless devices and its patented back-end location service engine enable customers to obtain real-time location information on individuals and property directly through the Internet or any phone. Wherify Wireless was founded in 1998, and is located in San Mateo, California.

2007-10-08T20:25:00.000-07:00

WiFi positioning system SDK gets "major upgrade"

Oct. 04, 2007WiFi positioning system (WPS) technology provider Skyhook Wireless has announced a "major upgrade" to its WPS software development kit (SDK). The new SDK improves positioning accuracy, supports a broader range of WiFi devices, and adds compatibility with a wide variety of GPS software, the company says.(Click here for larger image of the Skyhook WPS in operation)
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Touted as the first wide-area positioning system based on 802.11 WiFi, rather than satellite or cellular technology, Skyhook's WPS service became available in the largest 25 metropolitan areas of the U.S. in 2005. Skyhook's WPS service was touted as being able to determine the exact location of any WiFi enabled device running on Windows XP or Windows Mobile -- whether a PC, laptop, tablet, PDA, or cellphone -- without requiring any additional hardware.
Skyhook's database of WiFi access points in New York City(Click to enlarge)Now, according to the company, its new WPS SDK extends compatibility to Windows Vista, Mac OS X, Symbian, and Linux platforms. Additionally, WPS coverage is now said to include 19 million access points and 70 percent of the U.S., Canadian, and Australian populations. European coverage already includes London, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, and the majority of the European population will be covered by the end of 2007, Skyhook claims.Skyhook adds that the new WPS SDK also can be deployed in "autonomous mode," on devices such as portable media players (PMPs) and navigation gadgets that only access the network periodically. Velocity information, key for navigational accuracy on such devices, is said to have been improved by almost 50 percent.
iRiver's W10 PMP uses Skyhook's WPSOne PMP using Skyhook's WPS is the iRiver W10. Introduced in July, this is a flash-based PMP that also integrates an FM tuner and VoIP phone calling.Skyhook's new WPS SDK reportedly also adds a "Virtual GPS" feature which, the company says, makes it compatible with any applications that meet NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) standards for communications. The Therefore, applications that already support GPS require no additional development to be deployed via the SDK, according to Skyhook.Earlier this year, GPS chip vendor SiRF Technology partnered with Skyhook and with software specialist Openwave Systems in order to create the "SiRF Multimode Location Platform." Offered to device makers as part of the SiRF starIII chipset and to wireless carriers using the SiRFLoc Server, this technology is said to switch transparently between GPS and WiFi signals, according to whichever can provide the most precise positioning data at any given moment.AvailabilityAvailable now, the Skyhook WPS SDK can be downloaded from the Skyhook's website, here.

2007-10-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

Garmin launches Plug 'N Play Sat-Nav for Your Phone

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The satellite navigation company, Garmin has launched a unique, all-in-one software solution that turns selected smartphones with internal GPS into high-end navigators. Garmin Mobile XT is a mobile phone software application that seamlessly pairs the phone's built-in GPS with Garmin's software so that customers have the benefits of navigation anywhere in Europe or North America. Unlike other mobile phone applications, Garmin Mobile XT offers convenient preloaded maps and includes access to dynamic content like premium real-time traffic alerts and weather reports but does not require any monthly fees.*"Garmin Mobile XT is easy-to-use and affordable, with no monthly charges to get navigating straight away" says Garmin's Mobile Product Manager, Greg Stephenson. "It's a one-time investment that gives customers full-featured GPS sat-nav on their smartphone whenever and wherever they need it, including areas outside of wireless network coverage." Garmin Mobile XT is preloaded on a microSD card (with miniSD and standard SD card converter) that includes Garmin navigation software for UK and Ireland, Europe, or the United States and Canada. Once the card is inserted into a compatible smartphone with embedded GPS, the Garmin Mobile XT application will launch automatically. Customers are then greeted with Garmin's intuitive "Where to?" and "View map" welcome screen. With a few screen or button taps, customers can easily route to a specific street address or choose from millions of points of interest - such as restaurants, hotels, ATMs, and petrol stations. In addition to turn-by-turn, voice prompted directions, users will also see their exact position on a detailed moving map. If a turn is missed along the way, a new route will be recalculated automatically. Thanks to Garmin's vast product line and ability to leverage technology from the other GPS markets Garmin serves, Garmin Mobile XT builds in unique features such as support for travel guides, topographical maps and custom points of interest, as well as advanced features such as route planning with saved routes, custom avoidances and visible trip logs. Garmin Mobile XT users also have the benefit of routing to the location of a contact in their phone's address book or to a calendar appointment (on supported platforms).Garmin Mobile XT also includes PeerPoints, a powerful feature enabling users to send their position to any other phone as well as view and navigate to the location of other Garmin Mobile XT users. PeerPoints is the perfect way to keep track of friends and family and navigate to them with the touch of a button. In addition to navigation, Garmin Mobile XT includes free access to Garmin Online so that customers have useful, constantly-updating information at their fingertips like real-time traffic and weather forecasts. The real-time traffic service identifies accidents, road construction or other incidents affecting traffic, and routes users around the congestion. Real-time weather information lets users see forecasts at their current location or anywhere in the world. Garmin Online is accessed through the phone's wireless data service. Garmin Mobile XT is available now for a recommended retail price starting from £59.99 for UK and Ireland mapping. Garmin Mobile XT is compatible with a wide range of smartphones including models by Sony Ericsson, HP, Nokia, HTC and Samsung. It works with operating systems such as Windows Mobile, Palm and S60 v3. *safety camera alerts free for first three months. For updates subscription charges then apply.About Garmin:Garmin (Europe) Ltd. is a member of the Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN) group of companies which designs, manufactures, markets and sells navigation, communication and information devices and applications -- most of which are enabled by GPS technology. Garmin is a leader in consumer and general aviation navigation and its products serve the automotive/mobile, outdoor/fitness, marine and aviation markets. Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit Garmin's virtual pressroom at www.garmin.co.uk/mediacentre. Garmin is a registered trademark, and Garmin Mobile, Garmin Mobile XT, Garmin Online and PeerPoints are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.

2007-10-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

City Guide To Search SMS, E-Mail For Recommendations

By James Quintana Pearce - Fri 28 Sep 2007 07:26 AM PST

CNet has a review of a service developed by PARC which provides information about a local region: “things like shops, restaurants and event listings based on your location (via the GPS device in the phone), the time of day, your preferences and your past behavior”. Individual parts of it are available but from the sound of it the service does bring them together in a very good way—but it will be launched in Japan in 2009, and it doesn’t sound impressive enough to justify such a long development/marketing time. However, there are a few interesting aspects: “It predicts the likely activity,” said Bo Begole, a co-leader on the project. For example, coffee shops might be displayed in the morning hours, stores throughout the day, and restaurants, bars and movies at night.” It also keeps track of your preferences and adjusts its suggestions to reflect that, and uses collaborative filtering to recommend things other with similar tastes like. More controversially, it can also “detect clues to your activities in e-mails and text messages"… The analysis is done on the handset and Japan has some pretty strong consumer privacy regulations, but it’s still going to freak some people out until they get used to it. Gmail went through something similar, and it doesn’t seem to have hurt it.

Post

2007-10-05T23:36:00.000-07:00

Nokia Plans To Integrate Navteq Technology Into Photos, Videos, Pedestrian Navigation

By James Quintana Pearce - Thu 04 Oct 2007 07:13 PM PST

Nokia’s (NYSE: NOK) recent purchase of Navteq is more than just grabbing a navigation service, according to comments on the companies recent conference call. Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s EVP multimedia, said: “Maps and location based services is a key service area we are focusing on. In fact, I see, that location and context information is a key component in our future internet services, including search and navigation, photos and videos, as well as presence and communities. Our vision is that the location information helps build the next base of the bed with context sensitive services.” Vanjoki spoke about making pedestrian navigation a value added service for consumers, claiming that the “pedestrian location-based services market is totally undeveloped with basically zero penetration among the 3 billion mobile devices uses globally”. This includes: finding friends, where your map on the device will show you in realtime where your friends, family and other acquaintances are, allowing you to stay in touch; creating your own location tags to add information to a map; and organise photos, video and other media according to location. Vanjoki said this was the justification for buying Navteq rather than just partnering with it: “These type of features and services you can only create efficiently if you have the map data and consumer application parts in the same company.”

Nokia is looking to generate some extra revenue from those services. In response to a question Judson Green from Navteq said: “A map is not a simple thing, as we have seen over time and as I’m sure we’ll see in the next few years there will be more and more content that we add to our underlying map, both static content and dynamic content, which does give us the opportunity to price seperately for that from the underlying map.”

That’s not to say that Nokia won’t be pushing its Maps service, which is apparently in the top five applications used on the N95 (after messaging, camera and web browsing but ahead of music). Nokia claims that 100 percent of N95 owners have used the maps application (which is a big call, I’m sure there’s at least one or two that haven’t) and that the average usage for the service is three times per week. Nokia has already announced it plans to integrate Nokia Maps into its Ovi service, which itself is a larger push by Nokia to enter the content and services industry and avoid being sidelined as a handset manufacturer. I’m hoping to see some innovative and useful stuff coming out of this deal in the next few years, although it should be noted that Nokia probably isn’t expecting to get $8.1 billion in value for its mobile services—a lot of the value in Navteq is in its stand-alone business, and it is by keeping that going that Nokia justifies the sale price.

2007-10-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

Magnetic sensor could allow pigeon-style GPS

A variety of migrating birds, as well as bats and even hamsters successfully use a 'magnetic sense' to navigate on long journeys. Now, a new type of sensor developed by scientists in the US could make it possible for humans do the same trick.
Magnetic global positioning works by matching precise measurements of the Earth's magnetic field with a database of measurements from across the globe.
The magnetic field is like that of a giant bar magnet placed along the globe's axis. Magnetic field lines emerge from the southern half of the globe and re-enter the northern half. To use the field to calculate geographic position requires two measurements – of its angle and its strength.
The Earth's field is strongest at the poles and weakest at the equator. The angle at which it meets the Earth's surface is unique for a particular location, making it possible to refer to the survey data to work out where you are. Measuring both properties improves accuracy.
The sensor developed by researchers at Virginia Tech University, US, exploits a property called the 'giant magnetoelectric effect', where a material changes its electrical properties under the influence of a magnetic field.
The core of the sensor is made from layers of lead zirconium titanate, which has the largest magnetoelectric effect of any material. This means it can detect the tiny variations in field strength and angle needed for magnetic GPS.
3D measurements
To use the device as a geomagnetic sensor, the researchers apply a small alternating current to a coil wrapped around the core and measure the voltage generated from the core as a result. This voltage is proportional to the change in the Earth's magnetic field.
"For GPS applications, we need to take measurements in 3D so we can calculate both the magnetic field and the inclination," team member Junyi Zhai told New Scientist. "We therefore use three sensors, each one perpendicular to the other two to achieve this." The device is roughly cubic and 10cm to a side..
To determine location, the researchers compare the values of the magnetic field and angles obtained to data from the United States Geological Survey, which has tabulated the Earth's mean field and its inclinations at many points over much of the Earth's surface.
Although less accurate than satellite GPS, the new sensor's use of the magnetic field means it is more reliable in certain situations. For example, in remote areas that have no satellite reception, or in bad weather conditions where the connection is temporarily lost.
The researchers say the accuracy of the technique is "quite good", but that it is limited by the grid of values from the US Geological Survey. A more accurate survey of the field across the world would improve accuracy.
"The idea of using the ME sensors for GPS applications is truly novel," says Gopalan Srinivasan, who researches magnetoelectric devices at Oakland University, US. He adds that technical issues with the epoxy used to glue the core together, and its response to temperature will need to be ironed out in any device intended for production.
Journal reference: Applied Physics Letters (DOI:

2007-10-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

For handset makers, it's all about location

news analysis Nokia announces plans to spend $8.1 billion on Navteq. Why would it shell out so much for an outfit that's not well known?
By Erica Ogg Staff Writer, CNET News.com -->
Published: October 2, 2007, 4:00 AM PDT
Last modified: October 2, 2007, 10:22 AM PDT
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A correction was made to this story. Read below for details.
news analysis The young market for so-called location-based services may have just found a shortcut to mainstream adoption.
Nokia's announcement Monday that it will purchase digital-map provider Navteq for $8.1 billion illustrates the premium that both mobile handset and services providers are placing on location-based services. It could also mean that budding market will briskly move from niche service to standard feature.
"Everyone's going to have to move in that direction. You'll be missing something if you don't have (location-based services)," said analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates.
Location-based services (LBS) is a phrase used to describe the combination of the mobile Web and GPS data. It's a feature that will become even more in demand as portable gadgets become ubiquitous and staying connected assumes first priority. Add-on services are also one of the most surefire ways for manufacturers to make a few extra dollars in profit margin on consumer hardware. A side effect of the appeal of LBS on omnipresent devices like cell phones is that standalone GPS devices could go the way of the PDA.
Up to now, location-based services for most people meant getting directions from one place to another. But the vast database of location data that companies like Navteq can provide to mobile service providers, ad and marketing companies, and hardware makers opens some intriguing possibilities.
Giving directions is one thing, but when your device knows where you are, a slew of services can be tailored to your specific geographic needs. You could, for example, find the closest Starbucks, the locals' favorite Thai restaurant, or the gas station with the lowest prices. You could plan for inclement weather, reroute your commute around road closures or accidents, compare prices while shopping for gadgets or appliances, or keep tabs on friends or family members.
That Nokia would be the one to scoop up Navteq wasn't necessarily expected, but the Chicago-based map provider has been an acquisition target since navigation device maker TomTom offered to purchase Navteq rival Tele Atlas this summer for just over $2 billion. Navteq is one of the largest providers of digital mapping services, and Google was seen as a likely suitor. The world's No. 1 handset maker stepped in instead, leaving Google and any others fairly slim pickings in terms of acquisition targets now that the two biggest LBS companies have been snatched up.
LBS will be in higher demand by a whole host of industries beyond mobile phones, namely business that sell, well, anything, Gold said. Auction sites, like eBay for example, could find location services helpful in authenticating mobile purchases from its site. And companies such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft that are targeting advertisements will always want more specific information about consumer characteristics, preferences and locations to tailor their messages.
The technology to do this is already available, but for the most part, it is not yet linked to an individual's specific location. The availability of GPS chips in devices is the main barrier in mainstream adoption. "We're very GPS-poor from a device standpoint," especially here in the U.S., said Gold.
CONTINUED: GPS chips getting cheape...

2007-10-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

Nokia to Acquire NAVTEQ

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ESPOO, Finland, October 1 -- Nokia and NAVTEQ today announced a definitive agreement for Nokia to acquire NAVTEQ. Under the terms of the agreement, Nokia will pay $78 in cash for each share of NAVTEQ including outstanding options for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $8.1 billion (EUR5.7 billion), or approximately $7.7 billion (EUR5.4 billion) net of NAVTEQ existing cash balance. The acquisition has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approvals and NAVTEQ shareholders' approval.The navigation area is a fast growing business, and with location-based services expanding rapidly into mobile communications devices, the industry is poised for even further growth. NAVTEQ brings a number of key assets to Nokia: a great team with best-in-world maps and navigation industry expertise, a strong customer base and an industry-leading map data and technology platform with the broadest geographical coverage.NAVTEQ will continue to provide the most advanced and flexible map data platform to navigation industry players. With NAVTEQ, Nokia will further strengthen its location based services offering and bring to market the most innovative, context aware Nokia Internet services with accelerated time to market.NAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and business solutions. NAVTEQ also owns Traffic.com, a web and interactive service that provides traffic information and content to consumers. The Chicago-based company was founded in 1985, generated 2006 revenues of $582 million and has approximately 3,000 employees located in 168 offices in 30 countries.Nokia is the world's largest mobile device manufacturer with more than 900 million people using a Nokia mobile device around the world. Driven by Internet and digital convergence, Nokia is expanding its offering to include areas such as entertainment, communities and location based services. Shipping with the GPS-enabled Nokia N95 multimedia computer, the Nokia Maps solution is one of the most advanced location based services in the marketplace today."Location based services are one of the cornerstones of Nokia's Internet services strategy. The acquisition of NAVTEQ is another step toward Nokia becoming a leading player in this space," said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, President and CEO, Nokia. "By joining forces with NAVTEQ, we will be able to bring context and geographical information to a number of our Internet services with accelerated time to market. We also look forward to maintaining and enhancing the services and support provided to NAVTEQ's existing and future customers"."Nokia's unique vision for location based services aligns perfectly with NAVTEQ's vision to enable everyone to find their way to people, places and opportunities on mobile communications devices, cars, desktop computers and in all the other places that are important to them," said NAVTEQ President and CEO Judson Green. "It's really exciting to imagine what we can achieve by combining our location experience with the resources of a company that has a customer base of more than 900 million people."In commenting on the transaction, Christopher Galvin, Chairman of the Board of NAVTEQ, said "Nokia's offer of $78 per share reflects a very attractive valuation for NAVTEQ's stockholders, representing a 34% premium to our stock price of one month ago. In considering the offer, we approached other potential purchasers about their possible interest in NAVTEQ and our Board took those contacts and discussions into account in determining that Nokia's proposal was the best opportunity available to maximize value for our stockholders."After completion of the transaction, NAVTEQ's current map data business will continue operationally independent, but organizationally a Nokia Group company. Judson Green will report directly to Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. This will ensure that NAVTEQ's current and future customers continue to have a dedicated and strengthened unit serving them as before with digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, as well as government and business solutions.The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008. Nokia plans to finance the acquisition with a combination of cash and debt, and has secured a commitment on the debt. Nokia anticipates that the acquisition would not impact its share buy-backs under the current mandate, or its future cash distribution strategy in terms of dividends and share buybacks which is subject to the shareholders' approval. The acquisition is expected to be dilutive to Nokia earnings in 2008 and 2009 on a reported basis. However on a cash basis Nokia expects it to be only slightly dilutive in 2008 and slightly accretive in 2009.About NokiaNokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. Nokia makes a wide range of mobile devices and provides people with experiences in music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games and business mobility through these devices. Nokia also provides equipment, solutions and services for communications networks.About NAVTEQNAVTEQ is a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information for automotive navigation systems, mobile navigation devices, Internet-based mapping applications, and government and business solutions. NAVTEQ creates the digital maps and map content that power navigation and location-based services solutions around the world.
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2007-09-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

Navigating the future of GPS

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Louisa HearnSeptember 28, 2007 - 2:07PM
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Nokia N95
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There has never been a better time to buy an in-car GPS navigation system; entry level models now retail for as little as $399, and for just a few hundred bucks more you can buy a unit that will also synch in with your phone and iPod.
But a shadow is looming over the sector as mobile phone giants seek to muscle in on the action, much as they did with cameras a few years ago.
Total unit sales for the in-car navigation sector are expected to swell to 1 million next year as the early adopter crowd gives way to the mass market, delivering annual growth of 200 to 300 per cent. Given these glowing predictions it's hardly surprising the mobile giants want a slice of the action.
Nokia and BlackBerry are just two of the handset makers pushing a range of high-end GPS-enabled phones, while phone service providers Telstra and Vodafone are peddling satellite location services to mobile customers with compatible phones.
______________
Fast Forward Blog: would switch your GPS for a mobile phone?______________
But Chris Kearney, marketing manager for portable GPS manufacturer Tom Tom, believes an inherently problematic issue for in-car navigation on a mobile phone will be the screen size.
"The big screen of in-car devices is what people are asking for so, in the short to medium term, we do not anticipate cannibalisation from mobile phone makers," he says.
He adds that screen size is one of the features that customers are happy to pay a premium for, along with features such as Bluetooth connectivity, synchronisation with a mobile phone and music player functionality.
However Nokia's director of multimedia business, David Watkins, argues that screen size is becoming much less of a consideration for customers.
"Our screens have 2.8-inch displays and the way we are rendering the information means you don't actually need a bigger screen.
"We believe single purpose devices like in-car navigation, which are not connected to the internet, will become quite niche players," he says.
He adds that the location based market has far more sweeping applications than in-car use, providing consumers with access to world maps and local content suitable for those finding their way around a city by foot.
"For instance if I want to find a Croatian restaurant in the middle of Sydney I could locate one and maybe even read their menu and check out some reviews," he says.

It is this flexibility that he believes will win the race in the navigation wars.
But for now most mobile product offerings are still out of reach of the masses, with GPS-enabled handsets tending to cost about $1000.
Phil Moujaes, Bing Lee general manager, believes that the market for in-car navigation will survive for a long time to come, in spite of the new generation of mobile offerings.
"Not everybody wants to have a mobile phone as a navigation product, and downward price movement means you will now only pay between $399 and $900 for a dedicated in-car navigation system, whereas many of the devices were originally priced at around the $1000 mark," he says.
And along with the lower prices come an enticing range of new features. Pay a little extra for Bluetooth connectivity and your telephone address book can be transferred to enable hands-free phone calls, with incoming calls displayed on the screen. Some devices will even connect to your iPod or play music from a memory card. Another compelling feature coming soon to Australian users will be live traffic reports, helping drivers to dodge accidents and traffic jams.
Citing parallels with the camera market, Mr Kearney says that, while mobile phones try to do lots of things well, car navigation system manufacturers try to do just one thing well.
"Cameras have not gone away and, if anything, people have become more and more aware of the different products out there," he says.
But Jerson Yau, IDC wireless research analyst, says the mobile navigation market is evolving quickly, with high-end navigation features likely to reach the middle market within two years.
"In that time frame I would expect these location-based services to be as commonplace as a camera on mobile phones. It will be a basic function of the phone and users will choose whether or not to use it," he says.
So will consumers ultimately be swayed by the richness of a dedicated navigation unit, or will the convenience of having everything they need in one small, portable device win the toss?
Nokia's Watkins says that there is a clear trend of mobile phones slowly taking over the camera business.
"Nokia has sold more than 170 million megapixel cameras and we are the largest manufacturer of cameras and digital music players in the world. You will see that trend in the navigation market as well," he says.
However Yau argues there is no guarantee that either platform will ultimately dominate the space.
"My opinion is that future cars will have a touch screen about the size of A4 that will become an interface for your phone and any other devices that you carry with you. This will all be driven by a sophisticated operating system built into the car and it's very likely that car manufacturers will partner with big brand names in the computing field.
"There are a lot of ways to get the consumer to where they are going and it may simply be a case of who gets there first."

2007-09-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

My thoughts on Consumer LBS

Posted Wednesday, August 15, 2007 4:06 pm
The other night at Mobile Monday, I ended up in a circle conversation that included David Rolf who used to be at Gate5 (an LBS company that was sold to Nokia) and is now a VP at Vantage Point. The topic came around to Location stuff, and since I have developed some very clear and concise thoughts on Location Based Services, I proceeded to expound on them, forgetting for that moment what Gate5 did... Doh! David objected a bit, but we didn't get a chance to really get into it. It was a good reminder that I haven't posted about LBS online before, and I wanted to correct that now.
I actually refrained from getting too much into the subject for a long while as I had worked at an LBS company, and didn't want to be too negative and bash an old employer. But it's been a few years now, so now let me state my definitive opinion on location services:
Most LBS applications are a black hole of wasted time, effort, money, and opportunity.
I think that's pretty clear, no? LBS has been the next big thing for years now, but it's never, ever, ever, ever going to be big in a way the proponents of the technology think it will.
That's not to say LBS stuff is useless - far from it. Mapping services and location is an absolutely incredible technology, which - thanks to companies like Navteq, TomTom, Garmin and Google - is becoming more accessible every day. I love having Google Maps on my phones for example, and my kid loves to explore Google Earth on my PC. Mapping, satellite images, location finding, turn-by-turn directions, and even street level pictures are all super cool and super useful applications of the technology. LBS is definitely not an easy, off the shelf commodity technology either - it takes a lot of technology and manpower to translate a street address into real lat/long coordinates, and it takes even more technology to do things like routing, "geofencing", real-time updates, fleet tracking, etc.
What I'm talking about is the "magic". You know, the idea of consumer-facing LBS applications that will integrate seamlessly into our every day lives. Virtual graffiti, alerts that a friend is close by, location based coupons for Starbucks, etc. Most of the LBS proponents think that just about any social situation can be improved and made "must have" just by adding location information. If online dating is good, online dating with location added must be awesome! If shopping is good, shopping with location is even better. You get the idea. This is the stuff I'm talking about when I say that LBS is just a waste of time and effort.
Let me just go through my basic reasoning:
LBS is not magic. The technology is flaky as hell - another *several* generations of improvements and infrastructure upgrades are needed before it has the accuracy and reliability it would need to make most of the pie in the sky ideas possible. Getting a "fix" from satellites is usually a time and power consuming process that generally requires being outdoors to make it work. And the accuracy will always be sketchy - the level of detail I need when I'm going down a highway in my car is not the same level of detail that you'd want or need inside your apartment.
Location isn't really that important. First, the Internet has made location less important to daily life in general. My parents are in New Hampshire, my friends live and work in different cities or even different countries from me, but they're all in my IM list. Knowing where they are at any moment won't do much for me. Not only that, but most everyone is in one of three places: home, work/school, somewhere else. Not only do we spend the vast majority of our time in the first two places, we also have a pretty limited number of places we go in the "third place" as well. In general, location is just another data point. If you could somehow magically add location information to every one of my Facebook contacts, it would just be one more piece of information about them in the stream of status updates. Sometimes that location data is relevant, most of the time it's not.
My gadget's location isn't always relevant. Most of the location information I need on a daily basis is for places I'm going *to*, not about where I am, since I know where I am for the most part. If I do a job search or a local business search, I type in my zip code. It's not onerous, and it works, is flexible, and can be in my current city or a city somewhere else. Automation actually hinders that process. This is the same for posting photos online - if I take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, for the most part I want the coordinates of the *bridge* to be included in the meta data, not of where I happen to be standing when I took the shot. I could be a mile away. And if I took a bunch of photos, and wanted to upload them later? Again, my location at that point isn't relevant.
We're all paranoid. The most common response I got when pitching "child tracking" to Soccer Moms years ago was the most straight-forward: "Wait a second, exactly WHO is going to know where my kid is?" Just about every Mom I talked to were psycho that even if they could somehow get their kid to lug around a tracking device everywhere they go, that some predator/uber-hacker was out there just waiting to break into the Internets and steal the information and kidnap their child. Insane but true. Beyond that, no one particularly likes the idea of having their daily movements tracked constantly by anything, even an application that they themselves have turned on.
Interesting LBS apps are niche apps. This is my final thought, based on the above example and one of the only company I've heard of that's doing something worthwhile in the consumer space. My friend Spencer Nassar and his partners at Bones in Motion have a great app - you can set your GPS-enabled phone to track you while you're out jogging, and then post the results to your weblog or online community. Great! Except that I'm not a jogger, and amusingly neither is Spencer. It's a great idea and implementation, but it's very specific as is just about every *useful* LBS app you can think of (fleet tracking, package tracking, etc.). The only *general* uses for LBS are the ones that are the most obvious, to simply help me find out how to get to a business or an address somewhere. I used to use the yellow pages and a paper map, and now I use an online search and an online map. If I have a GPS device, I can even ask it to help me drive there. It's just an improvement on the technology, not a magic service that is going to allow us to do more, just what we did before, faster and easier.
I hope that helps clarify my thoughts on the matter. If you have opinions, I'd love to hear them - email 'em over or post them to your blog.
-Russ

2007-09-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Budget in-car GPS runs Windows CE

Sep. 27, 2007Taiwanese device-maker Holux Technology has announced a low cost, in-car GPS system that runs Windows CE 5.0. The "GPSmile 55" features a 4.3-inch wide touchscreen and Bluetooth.(Click here for a larger view of the GPSmile 55)Holux says the GPSmile 55 is based on a Samsung S3C2440A processor clocked at 400 MHz. Its memory complement includes 64 of DRAM and 64 MB of flash, plus the option of expanding storage via an SD slot.The unit's resistive touchscreen display features 480 x 272 pixel resolution and an auto-backlight adjustment. And, while the company's data sheet provides no information about supported formats, the device is said to display not only maps, but also still pictures, video, and eBooks.The GPSmile 55 can pair with a phone to offer hands-free calling via Bluetooth, says Holux. In addition, purchasers get the expected speaker and 3.5-mm headphone jack, though a microphone is not listed.According to Holux, the GMSmile is also available with an optional Traffic Message Channel (TMC) module. Using the FM Radio Data System, this plays back only those audio alerts that are relevant to a user's present position. (TMC is currently broadcasting in several western European countries with others expected to come online soon, according to TMC Forum, the TMC trade association.)While Holux's data sheet does not name the device's GPS chipset, it is rumored to be the 20-channel SiRF starIII receiver found in a host of other handheld navigation devices. This seems likely, since SiRF's part is used in Holux's GPSmile 52, an otherwise-similar device that has a 3.5-inch screen.Key specifications that have been released by Holux include:
Processor -- Samsung S3C2440A, clocked at 400 MHz
Memory -- 64 MB DRAM; 64 MB flash
Storage expansion -- up to 2 GB via SD slot
Display -- 4.3-inch touchscreen TFT LCD, 480 x 272 pixel resolution
GPS receiver:
built-in antenna, plus MMCX connector for 2.8-V external antenna
20 parallel channels
Speed of operation:
reacquisition of signal -- 0.1 second average
hot start -- 1 second average
warm start -- 38 seconds average
cold start -- 42 seconds average
Other I/O -- mini-USB connector
Battery type, life -- 1150 mAh lithium-ion battery, 3-5 hours
Dimensions -- 4.7 x 3.2 x 0.9 inches (122 x 80 x 22 mm)
Weight -- 6.7 ounces (190 g)Holux has provided no software, pricing, or availability details. However, a likely indicator of cost is the fact that the earlier GPSmile 52 is currently available from various U.S. retailers for under $140.

2007-09-27T19:25:00.000-07:00

Tele Atlas Maps Featured in New Mio Personal Navigation Devices

New York — September 27, 2007 — Tele Atlas (FSE: TA6, EUNV: TA), a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic content for navigation and location-based solutions, announced it will provide Mio Technology, Ltd. with digital maps and rich navigation content for its new devices, the Mio DigiWalker™ C720t, Mio DigiWalker™ C230 and Mio DigiWalker™ C320, which were unveiled this week at the DigitalLife technology conference. “Our consumers are seeking GPS solutions that offer rich navigation and digital entertainment features that play a central role in their everyday lives,” said Kiyoshi Hamai, North American sales director, Mio Technology Ltd. “The latest digital map data and content from Tele Atlas, combined with our range of product offerings deliver the navigation experience right for the GPS fanatic or first-time user.”The new Mio devices feature Tele Atlas digital maps for the United States and Canada and content for millions of points of interest (POIs), to help provide users with a range of shopping, dining, sight-seeing and entertainment information. To help provide a clear, user-friendly navigation offering, the devices offer turn-by-turn routing and Tele Atlas Voice Maps. Notably, the C720t delivers an industry-leading 12 million POIs and expanded map coverage, with full maps of the United States and Canada and additional map information for Mexico City, Guadalajara, Aguascalientes and major roads throughout Mexico.“Today’s savvy technology consumers seeking portable GPS offerings want devices that enable them to find more of what they’re looking for, arrive at their destinations with greater ease, and also fit in with their digital lifestyle,” said Quan Vu, vice president, personal navigation, Tele Atlas. “As Mio continues to deliver innovative, easy-to-use GPS technology products that offer unique, feature-rich experiences, we’re excited to continue to support and help expand their success in the market.”About Tele AtlasTele Atlas delivers the digital maps and dynamic content that power some of the world’s most essential navigation and location-based services (LBS). The information is the foundation for a wide range of personal and in-car navigation systems and mobile and Internet map applications that help users find the people, places, products, and services they need, wherever they are. The company also works with business partners who trust its digital map data to deliver critical applications for emergency, business, fleet, and infrastructure services. Through a combination of its own products and partnerships, Tele Atlas offers digital map coverage of more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. The company was founded in 1984 and today has approximately 2,400 full-time staff and contract cartographers at offices in 24 countries and uses a sophisticated network of professional drivers, mobile mapping vans, and more than 50,000 data resources to deliver highly accurate and up-to-date digital maps. Tele Atlas is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (TA6) and on Euronext Amsterdam (TA). For more information, visit www.teleatlas.com.About Mio Technology Ltd. (MTL) Mio Technology Ltd. (MTL) operations are worldwide. Foreseeing that the mobile lifestyle and mobile commerce will be mainstays of life in the near future, the company is dedicated to the development of enabling devices. Its main business is the sale of Mio DigiWalker™ - branded mobile communication products, such as smartphones, Pocket PCs and handheld GPS systems. For additional information on MTL and its products, the North American headquarters are located at 47988 Fremont Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538. Phone (510) 252-6950 · fax (510) 252-6930 · e-mail at sales@miogps.com. The company is online at www.mio-tech.com

2007-09-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

New Demand for Portable Navigation Devices

location based services

Greater public awareness, lower entry price points, more sophisticated features, and additional channels of distribution are all key trends contributing to the surge in demand for consumer navigation devices.

Portable navigation devices (PNDs) remain the most popular segment of the consumer navigation market, representing 62 percent of the total worldwide market and nearly doubling in size with 93 percent growth over last year. IDC expects the entire consumer navigation market to grow by 53 percent worldwide in 2007.

By far the largest regional market represented in IDC's forecast is Western Europe, where the PND segment has been historically strong, followed by the U.S. However, IDC also expects increased demand for PNDs in Asia-Pacific where China already owns a GPS satellite network.

IDC suspects the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will spark PND popularity in China as the world navigates to the games.

According to IDC's special study, PNDs are not the only segment of the consumer navigation market that will experience sizable growth and additional revenue opportunities. Consumer interest in outdoor activities and fitness will likely contribute to growth for outdoor and fitness-focused GPS devices as well as marine products, which IDC says are expected to represent $1.2 billion in revenues collectively by 2011.

While in-vehicle navigation solutions are currently growing at a slower pace than their PND peers, IDC believes this segment will remain strong in many markets around the world as long as technology providers work more closely with auto manufacturers to introduce lower-cost solutions into future new model year designs.

As in-vehicle navigation interest grows, IDC says it will increasingly compete with aftermarket PND category.

The huge opportunities for the entire consumer navigation ecosystem has a number of second- and third-tier players such as LG, Navigon, and Dash, entering the market to get their piece of the pie. IDC believes these new market players will create a shift in product differentiation from traditional hardware offerings to new forms of content and additional services, as vendors focus on total solutions instead of just devices.

"It's clear that services will become an increasingly important part of the navigation picture going forward as these devices compete with other consumer devices such as mobile phones," says Diana Hwang, IDC research manager. "IDC expects overall consumer navigation device growth to remain strong as GPS technology and additional services become integrated into a variety of product offerings affecting the way consumers live, play, and interact in the future."

Labels: asia-pacific, ce, china, device, gps, mobile, wireless

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2007-09-22T23:36:00.000-07:00

IDC: Portable navigation market to soar

location based services
portable navigation devices

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FRAMINGHAM, Mass.

The portable navigation device market will nearly double in 2007 as prices drop, technology improves and public interest grows, said market research company IDC on Monday.

Portable navigation devices are the most popular segment of the consumer navigation market. They represent 62 percent of the worldwide market and have grown 93 percent over last year, IDC said.

IDC expects the entire consumer navigation market to grow by 53 percent worldwide in 2007, with Western Europe by far the largest regional market, followed by the U.S.

IDC also sees growing demand for portable navigation devices in Asia, and predicts the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will spark their popularity in China.