“Apple’s new series of iPhone ads may hint at new features that were previously unmentioned. The ad entitled ‘Calamari’ shows a button at the bottom of the screen that reads ‘Directions To Here’ which would mean that the iPhone has GPS [Global Positioning System] capabilities,” LoopRumors reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, there’s another obvious posssibility here: the user could be required to tell the phone where it’s currently located in order to get the proper directions.
“A local trucking company also confirmed that an AT&T salesman pitched selling the company a large number of iPhones at a discount, as low as $249 for a bulk order of over 100 phones,” LoopRumors reports. “‘He promoted the iPhone as “a great way to monitor and track where the trucks were throughout the country by using its GPS functionality.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Not sure what’s going on with this bit, but if we had a nickel for every time a salesman pitched us something incorrectly…
Full article here.
Apple’s iPhone “Calamari” ad:
If it had GPS functionality, don’tcha think Steve would’ve mentioned that by now? Or that it would’ve been mentioned somewhere on the website? I don’t think so. The Google Maps feature works by setting a preference with your current zip code.
The AT&T guy that offered the discount must be a fool. By all accounts, there will be a short supply. Why discount when you have more people wanting to buy the product than have products available?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Kind of a jump thinking that. Clearly Google maps has the same thing on your computer and the you type in your starting address.
Nice way to get hits though.
these type of stupid rumors bring downa stock price after an anouncement – lets stop building castles in the air.
MDN – pls do not even publish this nonsense – cos on Jun 29 people will say its a great phone but no GPS
A good reason for Jobs not to have mentioned GPS functionality in the iPhone is that doing so would allow their competitors to add similar functionality to their newest phones. You can be sure that since the January announcement/unveiling of the iPhone, Apple’s competitors in the phone biz have been scrambling to patch together new phones which in some cosmetic respects will appear to be in a class with the iPhone. Why help them?
ITS CONNECTED VIA WIFI PEOPLE!!!
jeeeeeze – why does common sense never prevail?!
why does it have to be some far fetched idea instead of ‘hmm- te wifi signal bars are present in the pics – maybe ‘direction to here’ works EXACTLY the way it does currently on google maps. you either have a profile set up with a ‘home’ location – or – you input your current location… and its found VIA WIFI.. or slowly via edge… by simply connecting to maps.google.com
crikey.
Todays news total: 13 stories
Todays iPhone stories: 7
iPhone, while very cool, has gotten alot of press today…
It’s just a freakin’ phone people.
It makes calls.
It receives calls.
what the hell else does it need?
The world is not such an interesting place that a reporter can have interesting news to report all the time. So, they make stuff up. Some reporters are not very good at finding the existing interesting things so they tend to make up more stuff than average. They are just looking for something interesting to say. It doesn’t have to be true, just interesting.
Reporters are very similar to lawyers in many regards.
“at a discount, as low as $249 for a bulk order of over 100 phones”
I think I see an investment opportunity here. Could I buy 100 phones at $249 and sell them on ebay when all the stores run out? Easy 2 bagger at least, in my estimation. Maybe more.
-c
alot is not a word. Look it up bozo!
If you look at the context of the ad. ‘Get directions to Here’ refers to the seafood place the user just searched for.
…and iPhone will get a lot MORE press in the coming weeks and months. Just get used to it. Or perhaps MDN needs to add another site “iPDN”…
Here’s the Reason, you nailed it. The truth is always an optional component to any news story.
The maps locations are arrived at by triangulation of the telco cell towers. They each have a specific IP address and location. The same system that emergency vehicles use to find people in distress. wi-fi is not location specific and its ip address does not have coordiantes to work a geography from. Such system is said to be accurrate within 15 feet which is good enough for phone-map work
Oh please. When you’re staring at an entry in Google Maps, you can always click to get directions “to here” (and “from here”). Hey, I guess my computer has GPS in it!!
noticed that the “get directions to here” buttons appear greyed out. Perhaps there is an add on similar to the Nike+ kit but for GPS is in the future?
It’s that E-911 aGPS stuff, I tell you.
It’s a requirement of all phones in America.
It’s what Verizon uses for their VZNavigator service.
Like “Truth failed you children” said, it probably works with Google maps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E911
“Mobile phone users may also have a selection to permit the location information gathered to be sent to other phone numbers or data networks, so that it can help people who are simply lost or want other location-based services. By default, this selection is usually turned off, to protect privacy.”
“It’s just a freakin’ phone people. It makes calls. It receives calls.what the hell else does it need?”
A widescreen touch display iPod and a breakthrough Internet communicator.
With GPS, iPhone could partner with a car maker to have dedicated integration as a Magellan type device, with a car-mode and stereo replacing everything stealable from a dashboard. A destination address could be uploaded before hand or even texted in by a friend whose house your going to. it could even manage an fm tuner imbedded benieth the dash, and all from factory installed steering wheel buttons. Maybe even simultaneously sending a video to an lcd screen in the back for the kids! Are you listening steve?
It’s just a freakin’ phone people.
It makes calls.
It receives calls.
what the hell else does it need?
————————
For $500-$600, it needs to do a hell of a lot more than make calls. GPS would is a very nice feature.
Addon to above: Integration with googles new Streetview with GPS navigation
You probably enter your default location somewhere in settings. Most people use their phones in a limited geographic location. If you’re out of town, you can probably just change the default location while you’re out of town.
http://www.MittensRomney.com/
The Truth failed you children
The truth is there for those who want to see it.
I have a feature like this on my V600i here in the UK. It locates where you roughly are and provides you with local POI’s.